Red Cross, Kentucky Power install free smoke alarms on MLK Day of Service

WHITESBURG, Ky. (WTVQ) – Volunteers spent Monday installing smoke detectors in the homes of several families in Letcher County.

Kentucky Power, the American Red Cross Eastern Kentucky Chapter and three volunteer fire departments participated in the smoke alarm install during the Martin Luther King Jr Day of Service. The Red Cross partners with community volunteer fire departments to canvass targeted low-income areas and provide smoke detectors to those in need. It is the second smoke alarm install to be funded by a $40,000 grant from the American Electric Power Foundation awarded in 2019.

A third installation is planned for Pike County later this year.

According to the Red Cross, it responds to about 300 house fires in eastern Kentucky every year.