by Krystal Smith, American Red Cross Regional Digital Communications Specialist
Congratulations! North Texans have helped make 1,060 homes safer!
Between April 28-May 13, American Red Cross, local fire departments and thousands of volunteers partnered together to Sound the Alarm on home fire safety.
The Sound the Alarm campaign is part of the Red Cross Home Fire campaign that launched in 2014 aimed at reducing the number of deaths and injuries attributed to home fires by 25%. As part of the campaign, volunteers go door-to-door in at-risk communities to test smoke alarms, change batteries in existing smoke alarms, install free new smoke alarms and provide fire safety education, including a home fire escape plan.
To date, the Home Fire campaign has installed more than 1.3 million free smoke alarms and have been credited for saving more than 400 lives by installing a smoke alarm in a home that soon after experienced a fire. The residents were able to make it out safely due to the smoke alarm sounding.
In North Texas, more than 450 volunteers participated in 14 events held in Arlington, Benbrook, Cedar Hill, Canyon, Everman, Fort Worth, Glenn Heights, Lancaster and two events in Amarillo, Dallas, and Mesquite. These events were generously sponsored by Energy Transfer Partners, FedEx, Greyhound, Lehigh Hanson, and State Farm.
Feeling a personal connection to helping end home fire tragedies, former NFL and Dallas Cowboys’ player, Byron Bell, joined the Sound the Alarm campaign to honor his late brother Isaiah who passed away in the family’s 2007 home fire. You can read his full story here or watch an interview with his mother, Sandra Bell.
In total, more than 53 corporate and civic partners join the campaign by volunteering at an event, and donors and corporate partners contributed more than $200,000 to help continue this lifesaving initiative.
The American Red Cross is grateful to everyone who participated over the last three weeks. While the campaign has ended, the Red Cross commitment to help end home fires has not. We will continue installing free smoke alarms and providing home fire safety education throughout the year. Register as a Red Cross volunteer at redcross.org/volunteer to learn about events near you.
For more fire safety tips visit redcross.org/firesafety or download the Red Cross emergency app at redcross.org/mobileapps.
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