The Picayune Fire Department and the American Red Cross are on a mission, and by the time the mission is over, they hope to have a smoke detector installed in every home in Picayune.

Saturday, Picayune firefighters and members of the American Red Cross were installing detectors in homes on south Telly Road.

Fire Chief Keith Brown said the efforts are part of the home fire prevention campaign, and it is a continuation of an old program that hasn’t seen much action in the past five years.

“We’ve been trying to find a way to do this again,” said Brown. “It’s a team effort between the fire department and the American Red Cross.”

Last weekend and next weekend, Brown said the teams will target areas of Picayune that didn’t get much attention five years ago, when firefighters last went out installing smoke detectors.

“It’s a four year program and, in the next four years, we’ll be doing this. We’re targeting specific neighborhoods this weekend that we didn’t get to five years ago,” said Brown.

Brown said he and his men will be out next weekend, too. He has no idea how many homes he’ll target, but hopes to do 40 to 50 per weekend.

“We’re going to do everything we can do. I hope that by the time we get through, every home in Picayune will have a smoke detector,” he said.

The process is simple enough. The firefighters and the American Red Cross workers walk through neighborhoods and, if a house doesn’t have a detector, firefighters will install one. If no one is home, the Red Cross will leave a door hanger on the front door and the resident can call the fire department to return.

One area resident, Sherry Bochman, said she appreciated the program. Saturday firefighters were installing a smoke detector at her parents’ home on Proctor Street, and she said she was glad they were doing it.

“It’s good because they’re 80 and 82,” she said of her parents. “They need something to wake them up in case of a fire.”

To learn more about the program or to request a smoke detector, call 601-582-8151.