Red Cross teaming up with local fire departments through Sound the Alarm program
House fires are a life-changing event, but working smoke detectors can give families a much better chance of surviving should one occur. The American Red Cross is currently teaming up with local fire departments to provide free 10-year smoke detectors for area homeowners.
Every day in America seven people die in home fires, most in homes that lack working smoke alarms. Sadly children and the elderly disproportionately lose their lives. The American Red Cross wants to improve the odds and save lives, and that is why it launched the Home Fire Campaign in 2014.
A critical part of the campaign is Sound the Alarm, a program that promotes home fire safety as well as smoke alarm installation. Red Cross volunteers, along with local fire departments and other partners, are ready and willing to visit any homeowner who would like to have a free smoke alarm installed, and all it takes is a few moments of time and a willingness to hear some advice on aiding families in both fire prevention and safety education.
Locally the push to continue the trend toward safety and education is being made through the teaming up of American Red Cross Lake Erie Heartland Chapter and area fire departments. Lara Kiefer, executive director of American Red Cross Lake Erie/Heartland Chapter, has made promoting this program a priority in her counties.
Together, Red Cross and local fire departments are partnering to build fire safety and awareness while volunteering to install free 10-year smoke detectors in area homes.
“We had no idea when we started how moving this initiative would be,” Kiefer said. “It has already touched a lot of lives.”
Dave Crilow, a member of Holmes Fire District 1 out of Millersburg, has volunteered to serve as the community volunteer lead to all of Holmes County’s fire departments.
Kiefer said that is huge because of the many benefits.
“Not every community looks like that,” Kiefer said of Holmes County. “That is such a huge benefit to have someone who is connected throughout the county and can maintain the momentum. Dave was perfect because of his passion to help people and his ability to get a foot in the door to all of the county’s fire departments.”
In Wayne County both the Wooster City and Wooster Township fire departments have gotten on board with the fire safety smoke alarm project, and in both counties, in addition to the five other counties Kiefer serves in Northeast Ohio, the fire fighters or trained and qualified Red Cross volunteers are going out into communities to install the smoke detectors.
In addition to installing brand-new smoke detectors that are expected to last a decade without having to replace batteries, Kiefer said the benefit of having qualified fire fighters enter the home is a major plus.
“You’ve got fire fighters going in to people’s homes and not only installing new smoke detectors, they are teaching them about fire safety measures, like what is the best escape route, and they are educating the families on different fire hazards they might encounter.”
Kiefer said American Red Cross is all about educating and preparing individuals for anything related to health and safety.
The Sound the Alarm program began nearly a quarter-century ago in Cleveland by a fire department there, where the intent was to reduce home fire fatalities by 25 percent. The department contacted the Red Cross, and the local chapter started installing smoke detectors in 2014.
With little fanfare, Kiefer said it was an extremely slow start, and progress was negligible.
Covering Wayne, Holmes, Ashland, Richland, Huron, Erie and Lorain counties, that meant the Red Cross had to figure out the best way to get word out to more than 770,000 people in those counties.
The Red Cross felt the best way was to work with the local fire departments and canvas certain high-risk fire areas. They started to deliver door-knockers to homes, letting people know they were going to be in their area at a certain time on a specific date. Volunteers would canvas areas by toting buckets of smoke alarms and educational material.
That was how the program has operated throughout the U.S. The free smoke detectors they supply have a built-in battery and are dated when they are installed and should last for 10 years until they need replaced.
Kiefer said documented cases have shown a much greater survival rate for families who have working smoke detectors installed, citing a recent fire in which a couple and their nine children escaped a nighttime fire unscathed, thanks to the smoke detectors.
“It’s a real win-win for everyone involved,” Kiefer said. “One of the biggest downfalls over the years is that even when people have received smoke alarms, the alarms often don’t ever get installed or the batteries start beeping and they simply get pulled out, which makes the smoke detector useless. With our initiative they have to be installed by a local member of the fire department or one of our volunteers, and the education has to go with it, and that has proven to save lives. It is a small price to pay for that kind of safety.”
The program is all about keeping people safe, and this initiative presents a great opportunity to create a better outcome should fire strike.
“A smoke detector with a working battery is awake when people are asleep,” Crilow said. “It’s that simple. It is looking out for you. This is a very cheap way for families to add to their chances of escaping when a fire strikes.”
Reasons for not wanting smoke detectors in homes vary, like not having time to install them, to the annoying beep-beep-beep of the detector when the battery dies, to a family being unable to afford the purchase of smoke detectors, to simply the belief that fire will never strike their home.
With the smoke detectors coming at no cost, being installed by a professional who knows the best areas in the home to install them and a 10-year battery, most of those excuses are no longer a reason not to take advantage of this free offer.
Crilow said the new smoke detectors even come with a nuisance button that can turn a smoke detector off if someone burns something while making dinner and sets off the alarm accidentally.
He also said all of Holmes County’s fire departments are currently on board with the program, meaning they can canvas the county quite well in their efforts.
“All people need to do to have smoke detectors installed is contact their responding fire department,” Crilow said.
Kiefer said while homeowners are invited to take advantage of this offer, it is not designed for apartment owners with multiple units.
Crilow said Fire District 1 has its safety trailer that goes out to public and parochial schools to present fire safety tips. This initiative goes beyond the children to include the adults and homeowners of how they can become safer.
“Kids remember very well, but it is also important for parents to better understand because they are ultimately responsible for the safety of their family,” Crilow said.
Jolene Taggart, a marketing manager for Hummel Group Insurance and Wealth Management, said they have recognized the value of the Sound the Alarm program, and they are currently working on finding ways to better inform all of their clients about ways to improve safety, including getting out the word about this free smoke alarm program.
“Obviously we feel this is very important to take the initiative to get involved," Taggart said. “Our aim is to help our customers identify and manage risks, and this is one of the biggest risks a family could face. When we learned more about this program, we wanted to take steps to help get the word out because it is only benefiting our community.”
Taggart said a fire disaster recently affected one of their own when one of their agents in their Wadsworth branch’s home burned down. Thanks to working smoke detectors, the entire family including eight children were able to escape unharmed.
“That it close to home for all of us,” Taggart said.
Kiefer said there are both national and local efforts to continue to raise funds to support the purchase of smoke detectors. Many organizations and local donations from people who have been touched by the effort of local fire departments and the Red Cross continue to fund the program.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to the initiative may do so by calling Kiefer at 330-641-1462. Donations can even be made to remain local, simply by signifying they’d like it to stay in the county by denoting Red Cross Disaster Services.
Crilow said anyone wanting to have smoke detectors installed can call their local fire department, or they can call him for information on bringing in the safety trailer at 330-231-5001.
“If they pick up one bit of worthwhile information when we install the smoke detectors, that makes it worth it,” Crilow said.
In its first year of the program, Holmes County has installed more than 450 smoke detectors. There are plenty more for anyone wishing to take a major step in helping to secure their family should fire strike.
“It’s nice to be partnering with an organization we can trust in the Red Cross,” Crilow said. “The nice thing is that we are both here to serve our communities, and we would love to be so busy with this that there is a waiting list.”