Red Cross volunteer program helps install fire alarms in homes

A house fire can turn deadly in just two minutes, but many families still aren't prepared.

Through a life-saving program at the American Red Cross, volunteers go door to door across Los Angeles, helping people protect their homes and families before a fire ever starts.

The volunteers part of the Red Cross's "Sound the Alarm Program" are known as hot shots. The trained volunteers head out into communities across LA several times a month to help protect families by installing smoke alarms and making sure people have an escape plan.

Joris Hoogsteder and his wife had no working smoke alarms when Ken Takata and his team showed up at their house in Long Beach.

"I saw you guys at a neighborhood event, and we said we need the experts," Hoogsteder said.

Since the "Sound the Alarm Program" began 10 years ago, the Red Cross says it has helped save nearly 2,600 lives nationwide.

In Los Angeles this past year, the Red Cross installed more than 3,000 smoke alarms. Some of those numbers include hundreds of specialized, flashing, or vibrating alarms for those with disabilities, the deaf, or hard of hearing.

"By having working smoke alarms. It reduces the risk of dying by 50%," Takata said.

Takata is the lead for his team of hot shots in the Long Beach area. He said it's shocking to see a high number of homes in 2025 without alarms.

The Red Cross says everyone needs to practice a two-minute escape drill, the amount of time it takes for smoke to fill a room, and identify two ways to escape every room.

The Red Cross installs smoke alarms in every bedroom and hallway and they say they are needed in almost every room of the house.

"We don't install them in kitchens anymore," Takata said. "Because we are finding people tend to take the alarms down because of so many false alarms from cooking."

Red Cross volunteers say these few minutes of education and planning can make the difference between life and death. For homeowners like Hoogsteder and his wife, it's more than just new smoke alarms; it's knowledge they'll carry with them long after the door closes.