AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Red Cross volunteers are busy this month making sure homeowners have a little more protection in case a fire breaks out.

Teams in Austintown were armed Friday with dozens of new smoke alarms to install around the area. This is all part of the agency’s “Sound the Alarm” program across Northeast Ohio.

Volunteers will be delivering the free alarms along with important safety information to about 17 homes in the area.

“We know with the materials that are in homes now they’re going up faster in a fire, so making sure people have that adequate notification that a fire is happening and having those working smoke alarms that’ll give them the notice so they can get out,” said Kristen Gallagher, a spokesperson for the American Red Cross.

Red Cross volunteers have distributed more than 2.5 million smoke alarms across the country since the agency’s “Home Fire Campaign” started back in 2014.

If you’re interested in having your home equipped with new smoke alarms, you can call your local American Red Cross office to make an appointment. To find out more, go to the redcross.org.