Last week two fellows from the Red Cross came to our Mount Vernon home, checked all our fire detectors, and installed three new ones, all free of charge.

And here is the really good news. Red Cross does this all over the state of Maine. I learned about the program at an AARP seminar and called the Lewiston office expecting that it would take some time before they came to our house. Surprisingly a few days later, they arrived.

Chris Swan and Kinkani Zakary did a superb job of checking all my detectors, finding two of them in good shape, replacing the two that were not in good shape, and installing a new one in a new location. The detectors they install are good for 10 years. And they are all donated by Kindle.

Both men were very friendly and they left us lots of information about fire safety in the home. And I told Kinkani, who did the installations, that I was very glad he came to our country from the Congo four years ago. His smile told me he was happy to be here.

In addition to detectors, they also offer bedside alarms and even a device that will shake your bed and wake you up if it detects a fire. That’s amazing.

Chris told me that so far the program has saved over 400 lives. He also said the state is divided into four sections for the fire detector program. You can link up with the program by calling one of their offices that’s close to you. Here they are:

Portland 309-677-7272

Bangor 941-2903

Topsham 729-6779

Caribou  493-4620                                                      

Lewiston  795-4004   626-7837

Biddeford  571-0726

To learn more or to request a home visit from one of our teams, call 874-1192 x113 or visit SoundTheAlarm.org/Maine

I encourage you to take advantage of this great program. It could save your life.