TCHULA, Miss. - One year after a deadly house fire killed six children in Holmes County, Miss., the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), and the Mississippi High-Risk Fire Safety Task Force have joined together to provide and install nearly 9,000 smoke alarms in homes throughout the entire county. The project will put a smoke alarm in every home in the county.

NFPA president and CEO James M. Shannon and community leaders announced the program at the Tchula, Miss. Fire Department as part of Fire Prevention Week, which took place Oct. 5-11.

According to NFPA, Mississippi, particularly Holmes County, has been hit hardest by fire deaths in homes without working smoke alarms. Of more than 50 fire deaths recently investigated in Mississippi by the State Office of the Fire Marshal, not one occurred in a home with a working smoke alarm.