Latest Smoke Alarm Installation Planned In Alexandria Neighborhood

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Smoke alarms will be installed in Alexandria's East Lynhaven Gateway neighborhood as part of an effort to ensure all homes in the city have working smoke alarms.

The smoke alarm installations will happen at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1. The Alexandria Smoke Alarm Safety Installation Taskforce, a partnership between the fire department, Friendship Firehouse and American Red Cross, works to install smoke alarms at locations around the city. Since 2017, the task force has installed hundreds of smoke alarms in various neighborhoods, such as Old Town, Hume Springs, Del Ray, Warwick Village, Lynhaven Gateway, Quaker Village, Seminary West and more.

"Fire can spread rapidly through your home, leaving you as little as one or two minutes to escape safely once the smoke alarms sound," said Fire Chief Corey Smedley on the task force's web page. "Smoke alarms are an important part of a home fire escape plan and can save lives during a fire. With the help of our partners at American Red Cross and Volunteer Alexandria, the Alexandria Fire Department's ASSIST program will continue to make an effort to educate residents on fire prevention and make sure they have working fire alarms."

Smoke alarms are associated with reducing fatalities and injuries from fires. According to the National Fire Protection Association, smoke alarms should be installed on every level of a home and in all rooms where people sleep. From 2014 to 2018, 41 percent of U.S. fire fatalities were in homes with no smoke alarms, and 16 percent were in homes with no working smoke alarms.

The task force works with Volunteer Alexandria to recruit volunteers to help install smoke alarms in residents' homes. Volunteers may sign up through Volunteer Alexandria or sign up through Red Cross by entering ZIP code 22304 and clicking on "In Home Fire Safety Visits – Sound the Alarm Alexandria, VA." Volunteers will report to the Leonard "Chick" Armstrong Recreation Center (25 W. Reed Ave.) at 8 a.m. on Oct. 1 for a briefing.

Residents may request a smoke alarm installation for their neighborhood through the task force.