VIDEO: Fire experts say you have as little as two minutes to escape a burning home before it's too late to get out. Having a working smoke alarm is crucial. Until you hear your smoke alarm beeping because you need to replace the batteries, you probably don't think about your smoke alarm. “People feel a lot safer knowing they have working smoke alarms in their home. It’s something that just gets in the background of your home and maybe you don’t think about it a lot but it’s really important to have," said Madison County Firefighter and Red Cross Volunteer, Sam Paris. The American Red Cross's Sound the Alarm program is making it easy for people to not only have working smoke alarms in their home but also to not have to change their batteries for 10 years.