Chattanooga Fire, Red Cross mark time change by installing smoke alarms

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — The Chattanooga Fire department and the American Red Cross came together Saturday morning to make sure residents had working smoke alarms in their homes.

Firefighters and the Red Cross went from home, to home, despite the rainy weather to make sure every house had one.

Chattanooga Fire Marshall William Matlock says despite all the fires that have happened in the past few months here in Chattanooga, they do this every year.

“We do it every year at the time change so Spring and Fall we make sure we are out in the community and different areas installing smoke alarms. So again it’s something we have done for the past 8 to 10 years and we continue to plan on doing it,” Fire Marshall Matlock says.

After firefighters installed the smoke alarms into the residents home, they gave them a card that had escape plans.

One resident says doing this is very important.

Local resident Alejandra Ceniceros says, “It’s important because it’s safe for me and for my family.”

And to the Red Cross they say it’s important because they want to save lives.

“It’s important for us to have um, the community ready for any type of emergency and we want to reduce uh the fatalities that comes with a home fire to a minimum,” says Jeffrey Mbarushimana with the Red Cross.

The fire department want everyone to make it a habit that every time a time change happens, it’s time to also put fresh batteries in the smoke alarms.