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Volunteer disaster responders with the American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern

Illinois responded to 14 fires from Monday, October 28 through today in the Chicago & Northern Illinois

area including fires in Algonquin, Bloomingdale, Glenwood, Lindenhurst, Rockford and more, with eight of

these fires taking place in Chicago.

Our volunteers assisted 80 individuals, including 47 adults and 33

children. The Red Cross helped with temporary housing, food,

clothing and comfort kits with toiletry items, information about recovery

services and health and mental health services.

The American Red Cross responds to 3 to 4 home fires every day in

Northern Illinois. The Red Cross recommends two easy steps to help

protect your home and loved ones from a fire: get a smoke alarm and

create a fire escape plan. The Red Cross installs FREE smoke alarms

year-round. To schedule an appointment to get a free installation in

your home, visit http://www.getasmokealarm.org.

This past Saturday, Red Cross volunteers also installed 77 smoke

alarms and provided fire safety information in 24 homes in Chicago.

In addition, our volunteers installed 54 smoke alarms in 27 homes in

Manteno, Illinois last Friday. This was a joint effort with the Manteno

Fire Department and the Kankakee Community Emergency

Response Team. For more Red Cross fire safety and preparedness

information visit http://www.redcross.org/prepare.