ALBANY, Ga. (WTXL) - Most families have about two minutes to leave a house after a fire starts inside.
But without a working smoke detector this can become nearly impossible to do.
Grason Passmore sat down with the American Red Cross in South Georgia.
A seemingly simple device could save the lives of you and your children.
"A working smoke alarm can cut in half the likelihood of there being a death in a home fire," said Andy Brubaker of the American Red Cross.
In the terrible event of a house fire, every second to get out of the potentially deadly situation counts.
"You may only have two minutes to get out of your house from the time you recognize the signs of a fire and hear your smoke detector go off," Brubaker said.
Unfortunately many families can't afford to maintain their smoke alarms. That is why the American Red Cross and the Albany Fire Department provided over one hundred smoke alarms to over 50 homes in the Albany Dunes Mobile Home Park.
They are seen as a necessity after a great-grandmother and three of her great-grandchildren were killed in a house fire on Monday.
"The hard part for us is the tragedy we experienced in Dougherty County this week happens seven times a day throughout this country," Brubaker said.
That makes installing the smoke alarms more important than ever.
"To go out and install smoke alarms means we're doing our best to help prevent and eliminate human suffering in the event of emergencies," Brubaker said.
