RALEIGH--  As the number of fire deaths continues to rise in North Carolina, Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, who also serves as the State Fire Marshal, has organized a team of firefighters and volunteers to be out in force on Saturday — not to battle a blaze or answer medical calls, but to conduct a smoke alarm canvass in local neighborhoods across the state.

Starting at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday June 23, 2018, the Office of State Fire Marshal will join forces with the American Red Cross, Kidde, Nationwide Insurance, and dozens of fire departments statewide to install more than 3,300 smoke alarms in homes across North Carolina. Kidde donated 750 smoke alarms to this event.

“While the Office of State Fire Marshal has conducted many smoke alarm canvasses, we have never canvassed the entire state in one day with free smoke alarm installations,” said Commissioner Causey. “We want to educate as many people as possible and more importantly, provide them with smoke alarms and the resources they need to take extra precautions from home fires,” Commissioner Causey added.

The door-to-door event aims to prevent fire deaths in North Carolina through fire prevention education and the installation of new smoke alarms in homes that need them.

OSFM organizers, American Red Cross volunteers, and fire department members will be checking homes for the presence of working smoke alarms and installing new ones where needed at no charge to residents.

So far in 2018, there have been 91 fire deaths in North Carolina and in many of those incidents there was no working smoke alarm present. To put that in perspective, in the entire year of 2017, 83 people lost their lives in North Carolina because of fire.

The statewide smoke alarm canvass also features 89 events across the state

With the assistance of Kidde, fire departments in at least 30 other locations across the state will each be receiving 60 smoke alarms and accompanying materials from OSFM.