SAVANNAH, Ga (WSAV) — The American Red Cross and Chatham Emergency Services partnered to host a ‘smoke alarm blitz’ in a Savannah neighborhood Saturday morning, serving more than 50 people.

The season of space heaters and cooking for the holidays is approaching quickly,  which are common ways of sparking a fire inside. So, it’s about time to recheck those alarms. WSAV spoke with Michael Foley, a Disaster Action team member with the American Red Cross.

“We’re doing smoke alarms. we go to each house, and we’ve got five teams. each team has two volunteers and two firefighters,” Foley said. “We go into a home, and we can put up to four smoke alarms in each home… in the bedroom and the hallway.”

By the end of the shift, 51 alarms were installed serving 71 people in the neighborhood.  Foley told us they are saving lives.

“We had people call us and tell us that the only thing that woke them up when their house caught on fire was a smoke alarm that we put in that saved their life.”

Chatham EMS installed multiple alarms in minutes. Foley said from past experiences, he knows this reminds a lot of people about a device that is always somewhat disguised.

“In fact, we just went into one house and tested their alarm, and it didn’t work. So, we showed them that it didn’t work. He was grateful we came in and put in active alarms with 10-year batteries.”