BY LANCE GAITHER

lance.gaither@bluegrassnewsmedia.com

The Danville and Boyle County fire departments have partnered with the American Red Cross to install smoke detectors to residents throughout the county at no cost.

“It is a win-win situation for the whole community,” said Danville Fire Marshal Scott Lawson. “Red Cross has provided everything. The departments we have in the county don’t have the budget for smoke detectors. It is hard to get grants for them. Without the Red Cross it wouldn’t be feasible. Plus, we get to go out in the community and do good things.”

The program also provides systems to the deaf and hard of hearing.

“In Danville, there are more than 500 elderly people who are deaf or hard of hearing,” said Dawn-Marie Beals American Red Cross Bluegrass Chapter disaster program manager. “That doesn’t include those in school and things like that. We offer bed shakers and strobes for living areas. We cover the cost for all those things.”

So far the program has helped provide 22,000 alarms in Kentucky.

“We lose seven people a day,” Beals said. “Every 8 minutes the Red Cross gets a call for home fires and similar disasters. I have been on the scene of a child fatality three times this year, and I am over it. I don’t want to imagine what the firefighters on the scene go through.”

Anyone interested can request smoke detectors through the city or county fire department, or online atredcross.org/local/kentucky/about-us/our-work/home-fire-campaign.html. The program is not available for multi-family dwellings.

Smoke detectors should be tested regularly with the batteries being changed yearly or as needed. For best performance, detectors should be changed every 10 years.