Seven times a day, someone in this country dies in a home fire. Home fires kill more people in an average year than every other domestic natural disaster combined.
To help combat this problem, the American Red Cross has launched a multi-year nationwide initiative to reduce deaths and injuries from home fires by 25% by 2020.
The Home Fire Campaign is focused on outreach, education and awareness. Working in conjunction with local fires departments and other community partners, the Red Cross is building coalitions in communities across the Central and Southern Illinois Region. These coalitions are helping the Red Cross organize volunteer teams to visit homes and install free smoke alarms, replace alarm batteries and help residents make home fire escape plans.
Since 2014, the Red Cross, in partnership with fire departments and other local groups, has visited homes installing free smoke alarms, replacing batteries in existing alarms and providing fire prevention and safety education to prevent needless tragedies.
The Red Cross recommends two easy steps to help protect your home and loved ones from a fire: get a smoke alarm and create a fire escape plan. For more Red Cross fire safety and preparedness information visit redcross.org/prepare.
Create a Home Fire Escape Plan
This fall, the Red Cross will launch Sound the Alarm, a series of home fire safety and smoke alarm installation events nationwide. Volunteers will install 100,000 free smoke alarms in high risk neighborhoods, culminating in the installation of the one millionth smoke alarm!
As part of this bold new initiative to make our families and communities safer, the Central and Southern Illinois Region will host large Sound the Alarm events this fall in Bloomington, Peoria and the Quad Cities with a goal of installing more than 1,600 free smoke alarms. We will also continue to collaborate with local fire departments and other community partners to install free smoke alarms in high risk neighborhoods across the region.
To achieve our goals, the Red Cross will rely on local community volunteers to assist with installing smoke alarms and sharing home fire safety information with local families. If you can help Sound the Alarm to save lives in your community – please visit one of the links listed below. If you would like more information on volunteering for a Sound the Alarm event, please email Sam Evans.
Upcoming Sound the Alarm Events:
- Saturday, September 23, 2017 – Bloomington, Illinois
- Saturday, September 30, 2017 – Peoria, Illinois
- Saturday, October 14, 2017 – Quad Cities, Illinois/Iowa
American Red Cross 