Several escaped a burning apartment home Thursday morning, just three months after Springfield firefighters installed smoke alarms in the structure.
The smoke alarms sounded, notifying residents in two first-floor apartment of a fire that engulfed the second floor apartment Thursday morning.
During a safety canvass in June, firefighters installed a new smoke alarm and replaced a dead battery in another alarm in that building. They found no working some alarms in the unit where the fire started.
"This is a great example of why Project RED Zone is so important," Fire Chief David Pennington said in a statement. "As a result of the program, we have already visited nearly 5,000 homes to make sure the occupants have working smoke alarms. This morning's fire was devastating for those involved, but could have been so much worse without the assurance of working smoke alarms."
The Springfield Fire Department's Project RED Zone program is designed to ensure that residents know how to prevent and react to fires at home. Areas that are colored red on a city map indicate the highest fire danger to residents and RED stands for Reduce, Educate, Deliver.
The program started in April and allows firefighters to install smoke alarms and replace batteries.
Fire officials said they have installed 900 new smoke alarms, replaced 250 batteries and inspected nearly 2,000 smoke alarms.
