Sound the Alarm events held in April and May resulted in 1,129 alarm installations in NH and VT homes
In April and May, Red Cross volunteers, partners, and staff installed a total of 1,129 alarms in homes in and around Barre, VT and Keene, NH to help alert families to the presence of smoke and carbon monoxide. This was the result of coordinated “Sound the Alarm” events focused on these two communities for 2019, with day-long installation efforts held in both cities and additional installations completed the week after. A total of 828 smoke alarms, 294 CO alarms, and 7 deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) bed shaker alarms were installed in 256 homes. Almost all homes had multiple alarms installed.
Sound the Alarm is part of a year-round Red Cross effort called the Home Fire Campaign, which aims to make homes safer by installing alarms, educating families about home fire safety, training volunteers, and implementing school-based fire safety programs. To date, the Red Cross has documented 589 lives saved through the Home Fire Campaign efforts nationally.
“The Home Fire Campaign is a program directly responsible for saving lives. We saw this in our very own region this year when three lives were saved after a family in Rochester, NH was alerted to a fire by smoke alarms installed by our teams,” said James Segerson, Regional Disaster Officer for American Red Cross New Hampshire and Vermont Region. “Everyone played a role in this success, whether it was installing smoke alarms, providing education, supporting logistics, or even sharing information on social media. We thank our amazing group of volunteers as well as our outstanding partners from the Barre Fire Department and Keene Fire Department who gave their time to make these communities safer.”
A total of more than 100 volunteers contributed to the Sound the Alarm events. They were part of a national effort to Sound the Alarm against home fires sponsored by the American Red Cross, with support from regional sponsors C&S Wholesale Grocers, National Life Group, Community National Bank, and Vermont Mutual Insurance Group, corporate sponsor The Melanson Company, Inc., and in-kind sponsors CO Alliance, L. Brown & Sons Printing, Stonyfield Yogurt, and Chickadee Bakery.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies more than 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org/nhvt