MARYSVILLE – About 100 volunteers with the American Red Cross installed hundreds of smoke alarms in residential communities around town Saturday.

Neighborhoods that received the free Sound the Alarm help were Glenwood, Midway Gardens and Emerald Hills Estates.

Jeraud Irvin of Snohomish volunteered for the third time. He was at Glenwood Saturday with some other volunteers. They installed two new ones in a home where the previous ones had been painted over. A third one they checked and was working. Irvin said they were going to eight residences and expected to volunteer just a few hours.

They also replaced batteries in existing alarms and helped families create home fire-escape plans.

A Red Cross news releases says home fires kill seven people every day in the U.S.—most often in homes without working smoke alarms. Nationwide, the effort has reached more than 1.7 million people and saved more than 500 lives.

Throughout the Northwest Region, volunteers and local partners have installed more than 20,956 free smoke alarms, made more than 8,500 households safer and reached more than 11,387 children through youth preparedness programs.