Arming Families With Lifesaving Smoke Alarms
State Farm and the Red Cross team up for fire safety
When Red Cross volunteers entered a Central Ohio home earlier this year, they discovered no working smoke alarms, so volunteers installed new ones throughout the home. Little did they know it would be a lifesaving moment.
Eleven days later, the house burnt down when a candle caught a box of clothing on fire. Luckily, the smoke alarm sounded in one of the bedrooms. The entire family escaped to safety thanks to their gift from the Red Cross and State Farm.
Home Fire Preparedness Arms Families
The American Red Cross Home Fire Preparedness Campaign rolled out across the country in October, 2014. The goal? To reduce the number of deaths and injuries from home fires by as much as 25 percent over the next five years by installing smoke alarms for families who need them.
Across the country, the Red Cross, along with local fire departments and community groups, are canvassing neighborhoods and teaching people about fire safety.
Safe in their Mother’s Arms
“If it weren’t for the smoke alarm, we wouldn’t have had time to get out,” North Hills, CA resident Irma Ceto shared.
An electrical failure started a fire in her son’s bedroom. There was no smell of smoke, but when she got up to go to the bathroom, she heard a smoke alarm beeping non-stop.
When her son called out to her, she knew something was wrong. Irma and her three children ran from the apartment with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.
Once they were safely outside, she realized everything in her apartment had been destroyed. But more importantly, her family was safe.
Arm Your Family with an Exit Strategy
In honor of National Fire Prevention Week, Oct.7-13, the American Red Cross is urging people to take steps to protect their homes and loved ones.
The theme of this year’s Fire Prevention Week is “Have Two Ways Out,” and the Red Cross recommends households develop a fire escape plan and practice it at least twice a year with everyone who lives in the home.
People should know two ways to escape from every room and designate a place to meet outside the home in case of a fire. National Fire Prevention Week is observed in the United States and Canada, during the week in which October 9 falls. In the United States, the first Presidential proclamation of Fire Prevention Week was made in 1925 by President Calvin Coolidge.