Next Smoke Alarm Installation Planned Near Alexandria's Lee Rec Center

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Smoke alarms will be installed in the neighborhood around Nannie J. Lee Recreation Center in southwest Old Town as part of an effort to ensure all homes in Alexandria have working smoke alarms.

The smoke alarm installations will happen at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10. 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," says 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."

As smoke alarms can help against fire injuries and fatalities, the National Fire Protection Association recommends smoke alarms 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 smoke alarms not properly working.

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. Red Cross volunteers can sign up through Red Cross, search for an event with ZIP code 22304 and click on "My Shifts Sound the Alarm – Regional Events."

Volunteers will report to the Nannie J. Lee Recreation Center, 1108 Jefferson St., at 8 a.m. for a briefing. Volunteers are asked to dress appropriately for the weather.

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