KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- It’s National Fire Prevention Week, and the Kansas City, Kansas Fire Department is teaming up with the American Red Cross to sound the alarm on the importance of smoke detectors. "There's about 2,600 fatalities every year from a house fire. Last year in KCK, I believe we had about seven, and so our goal today with the Red Cross is to bring that number down to zero," Assistant Fire Chief Scott Schaunaman said. During Saturday's event, firefighters distributed 200 smoke alarms to families in the St. Margaret's Park neighborhood. The initiative began in 1911 to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire that killed more than 250 people and destroyed more than 17,000 buildings in 1871. Annual Overland Park event connects community and first responders According to the National Fire Protection Association, while 94% of American homes today have at least one smoke alarm, more than one third of them don't work. "It could be finances, not everybody can afford a smoke detector. Or it could be they've moved into the home, they don't know how old the smoke alarms are, it's not the first thing you think of," Executive Director of the Greater Kansas City American Red Cross, JoAnn Woody said. Research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology shows that if every home in the U.S. had working smoke alarms, fire deaths could drop by 36%. Local animal shelters joining forces to find homes for hundreds of pets That's why experts say testing and replacing your home's smoke alarms is crucial. "If you do have a smoke detector in your house, please make sure it's working. You're supposed to test it monthly, replace the batteries yearly," Schaunaman said. "And then the other thing is, just make sure that you replace smoke detectors every ten years. If it's older than ten years, you probably need to get a new one."