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Red Cross Responded to Nearly 100 Fires in Bushwick in Last 2 Years

By Serena Dai | September 25, 2015 10:49am | Updated on September 28, 2015 9:02am
 Red Cross is offering to install smoke alarms in Bushwick.
Red Cross is offering to install smoke alarms in Bushwick.
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Red Cross

BUSHWICK — The Red Cross is launching a campaign to install hundreds of free smoke detectors in homes in Bushwick, considered one of Brooklyn's top five neighborhoods at risk of fire.

There have been nearly 100 blazes in Bushwick in the last two years, according to Red Cross data.

To combat fire-related deaths and injuries as the weather turns cooler — and fire incidents tend to spike — the Red Cross is preparing to install free smoke detectors in neighborhood homes, according to Abigail Adams, regional communications director for the Red Cross.

Three out of five home-fire deaths occur in homes without working smoke alarms, according to a study by the National Fire Protection Association, and the risk of dying in a fire is reduced by half with a working smoke alarm.

"Our goal is to reduce fire deaths over the next five years," Adams said.

Any Bushwick resident can request a free smoke alarm installation on the Red Cross website. Volunteers will be in the neighborhood on Saturday, Oct. 3 for appointments.

Red Cross, which is called to fires to help victims with emergency needs, has deemed Bushwick one of the five busiest neighborhoods in the borough, Adams said. City Line, East New York, Canarsie and East Flatbush also have high fire rates, according to Adams, and the nonprofit hopes to target other neighborhoods in the future.

Red Cross isn't called to all home fires, but it is requested at most blazes to ensure that victims' housing, clothing and food needs are covered.

"Our goal is to educate and promote awareness, and at the same time install hundreds of detectors," Adams said.