As part of the nationwide Day of Service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the American Red Cross and other organizations will be teaming up to improve community safety through the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign.
Seven times a day someone in this country dies in a fire. The Red Cross Home Fire Campaign focuses on reducing deaths and injuries from home fires. Together with fire departments and community groups nationwide, we install smoke alarms in communities with high numbers of fires and encourage everyone to practice their fire escape plans.
The Red Cross along with the Alvernia University, Exeter Fire Department, UGI and other local partners will be going through Exeter, PA, to install smoke alarms and to educate families on home safety. The meeting point will be the Exeter Fire Department on 5880 Boyertown Pike, Birdsboro 19508, Monday, January 16, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
“Installing smoke alarms cuts the risk of someone dying from a home fire in half, so we’re joining with groups from across our community to install smoke alarms,” said Adrian Grieve Executive Director of the Tri-County Chapter. “Home fires are devastating for the people involved and also responsible for a number of deaths and injuries. That is why our Home Fire Campaign is so important. We want to help save lives by installing smoke alarms in homes that don’t have them and educating people about home fire safety.”
The installation event is part of the National Day of Service, a nationwide movement that promotes “A Day On, Not A Day Off” on the federal holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It encourages everyone to participate in a day of service that helps strengthen our local communities. If you’re interested in volunteering with the Red Cross that day, visit https://volunteerconnection.redcross.org/?nd=form__6316.
131 LIVES SAVED The Red Cross Home Fire Campaign, launched in October 2014, is a multi-year nationwide initiative to reduce deaths and injuries caused by home fires by 25 percent. Since the start of the campaign, the Red Cross and its partners have helped to save at least 131 lives and installed more than 619,000 smoke alarms in 8,400 cities and towns nationwide.
Working with more than 3,700 partners, the campaign has reached more than 721,000 people and made nearly 263,000 households safer, replacing more than 39,000 smoke alarm batteries and helping create more than 220,000 home fire escape plans. Through programs like The Pillowcase Project, the campaign has also helped teach more than 657,000 young people about home fire preparedness and safety.
WHAT PEOPLE CAN DO People can visit redcross.org/homefires to find out more about how to protect themselves and their loved homes from fire. To find the location of smoke alarm installation events or to become a volunteer, contact 610-865-4400. People can help by donating to Red Cross Disaster Relief by visiting redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Donations to Disaster Relief will be used to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small. We respond to nearly 70,000 other disasters every year, from home fires to wildfires and more. Learn more about how Disaster Relief donations have helped people affected by previous disasters including home fires.