More than a half-dozen people have been killed in D.C.-area home fires this year, and the American Red Cross is looking for volunteers to help spread the word about fire safety.
The “Sound the Alarm” campaign aims to install 100,000 free smoke alarms in at-risk communities nationwide and to raise money for lifesaving services.
“There’s opportunities to do a lot of different things during the day,” American Red Cross President and CEO Gail J. McGovern told WTOP regarding events that are being held locally and nationwide.
Participate as a volunteer and you’ll be trained in the morning. Then, you’ll join teams to go out into neighborhoods that are expecting you, and you’ll give fire safety information and install free smoke alarms.
“We literally show volunteers how to use the drill, how to install an alarm,” McGovern said. “If you’re not comfortable using the step ladder or installing with the drill, you can be the ‘educator’ and sit down with the family and come up with an evacuation plan.”
Events locally are being held Saturday in D.C., and May 18 in Alexandria and Sterling, Virginia.
Last Saturday, about 100 volunteers participated in a Sound the Alarm event in Capitol Heights, Maryland.
Around the area so far in 2019, there has been one fire fatality in Fairfax County; two in Alexandria; and two in Calvert County. In Prince George’s County, two people have died in home fires. Last year, a total of 12 died in the county.
“When you have government, nonprofits and members of the community coming together to serve, this is what we mean when we talk about being ‘Prince George’s proud,'” Chief Benjamin M. Barksdale of the county’s Fire/EMS Department told WTOP in an email.
“Educating our residents that homes with working smoke alarms are safer and see fewer fire-related injuries and deaths is central to our mission as a fire department,” Barksdale said, adding that the department couldn’t have been more excited to partner with the American Red Cross for the event.
The chief fire marshal for Loudoun County, Virginia, explained to WTOP how the nature of modern homes makes timely alerts to fires all the more critical.
“Fifteen years ago, based on the type of furnishings that we had in homes, escape time could be as much as 17 minutes,” Linda Hale said in an email. But toxic smoke produced by modern synthetic materials and decorations, which burn faster, reduce viable escape opportunities down to about three minutes.
“So, from 17 minutes to three minutes, that’s a significant change, and that’s not a lot of time to escape,” Hale said. “Assure you have working smoke alarms — less than 10 years old — on every floor and inside every bedroom for you and your family’s safety.”
The American Red Cross recently conducted surveys about fire safety, and McGovern was concerned about some of the findings.
- About 90% do unsafe things such as leave kitchen food or BBQ grills untended, or leave candles burning when they go to sleep.
- Most people don’t realize they have only a few minutes to safely evacuate a burning home.
- One in 10 said they couldn’t afford a smoke alarm.
“Probably the most surprising thing is that 2 out of every 5 people think they have a better chance at winning the lottery than having a home fire, and clearly, that’s not true,” McGovern said.
