Alina Shevtsova is sounding the alarm as a volunteer with the American Red Cross' Home Fire Campaign.

The initiative sets up smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and teaches people how to prevent and react to fires. The Red Cross says the program has saved more than 2,000 lives nationwide.

"People don't think that a disaster could indeed happen at any moment in time,” Shevtsova said. “So, this is just providing the education allows people to think about these things again before that disaster happens."

Shevtsova started with the campaign a year and a half ago as a way to complete some graduate school requirements. She chose to help with the Red Cross because of their work during the war in Ukraine, where she grew up. 

"My family's there,” she said. “All my friends are still there. So I saw the way that a lot of Red Crosses, Red Crosses from around the world, were evacuating people. So I was like, why not give back to the American Red Cross?"

Shevtsova has been busy with installations and fire safety education ever since. As a team lead, she also trains other Home Fire Campaign volunteers.

"I think it's more, more like an extension, right, of the greater good,” Shevtsova said. “So whatever I do, I want to exponentially increase it."

Recently, she installed smoke alarms and a carbon monoxide detector at Josefina Matos' home in Washington Heights.

"I can be sure and positive that if any room get some fire or get some sort of, incident… the fire alarm is going to go off, and we're all going to know that something is going on," Matos said through an interpreter.

And Shevtsova has been able to see the results of her training. She recalls making a routine stop in Brooklyn last year and realizing there was a gas leak.

"They approved that case for five more life saved that would go toward that 2,266 lives at that point,” Shevtsova said. "This is all about preparedness, right? We prepare for disaster before it happens."

For helping keep New Yorkers safe, Alina Shevtsova is our New Yorker of the Week.