American Red Cross volunteers recently went door-to-door at Auburn’s Leisure Manor mobile home park, installing hundreds of free smoke alarms and educating residents about fire safety.

The event was part of the nationwide Home Fire Campaign that the Red Cross and its partners launched in October 2014.

In two years, more than 110 lives have been saved and about half a million smoke alarms have been installed.

Volunteers from Amerigroup and Red Cross – with the help of Valley Regional Fire Authority – installed 85 smoke alarms and visited more than 140 mobile homes at Leisure Manor.

“We have had home fires in this community before,” said Nancy Thai, Red Cross Regional Preparedness specialist. “Having community members go out, put the actual hardware in the home and talk about home fire safety is a good reminder because we are all busy and safety is not the first thing we think about.”

This year in King County the Red Cross already has installed more than 1,200 smoke alarms in 477 homes.

During the month of October in homes across the country, the Red Cross plans to install a record number of smoke alarms – 45,000.

“In this country, seven people lose their lives every day from a home fire,” said Regional Executive Director Terry Pollard. “Any loss of life from a home fire is tragic. Over the next few years, the Home Fire Campaign will keep on going to help protect people and prepare them for emergencies like a fire in their home.”

The campaign is a multi-year effort to reduce the number of home fire deaths and injuries by 25 percent. Working with fire departments and community groups across the country, the Red Cross is installing smoke alarms in homes in neighborhoods at high risk for fires and teaching residents about fire prevention and preparedness.