The Red Cross Club at NC State, working with the American Red Cross, visited several neighborhoods in Wake County Saturday to educate people about fire safety and to test and install fire alarms for residents living in homes particularly prone to house fires.
Over the course of the event, volunteers visited more than 300 homes in Wake County and installed about 200 alarms in homes with a high risk of catching fire.
Red Cross Club President Apita Waters said the event is important for the Red Cross because of the sheer number of lives that were lost during the past year due to house fires.
Seven people die and 36 people are injured from home fires in the United States every day, according to the American Red Cross.
“One of the best things we can do is install fire alarms in people’s homes and check the batteries in them,” Waters said.
Each year, the American Red Cross holds a home fire preparedness event during Marin Luther King Jr. weekend where volunteers make an effort to encourage people to be better prepared for disasters.
Lu Esposito, the regional communications officer for the American Red Cross, said this year marked the launch of the American Red Cross’s five-year fire prevention campaign.
The campaign’s goal is to visit communities demonstrated as being prone to fires in the past and ensure working fire alarms are installed in the homes, according to Esposito.
“We know which zip codes are more likely to suffer fatalities from fire, so we targeted those zip codes to go out and make sure people have working fire alarms,” Esposito said.
Attendees consisted of the members of the American Red Cross, first emergency responders from around Wake County, Raleigh-area businesses, faith-based organizations, civic groups and public volunteers. About 120 people participated in the event to install 500 smoke alarms.
“We were shooting for as many people as possible so we could reach as much territory as possible,” Esposito said.
The American Red Cross’s statistics showed nearly 100 people in North Carolina lost their lives to house fires last year.
Coach of the Carolina Panthers Ron Rivera’s home accidentally caught fire and caused about $500,000 worth of damage at the beginning of this month, according to ESPN.
“It’s one of the big goals of the American Red Cross to stop people from having that happen to them,” Waters said.
For this event, volunteers were grouped into teams of four people. The groups were sent into 21 different areas within Wake County. Each group consisted of two installers, a documenter and an explainer, who would relay to the owner of the house what the American Red Cross would be doing.
“If they have an alarm, we will test their alarm, and if they don’t have one, we will install one for them,” Esposito said.
Esposito said it is surprising how many homes don’t have working fire alarms. Many of the homes in these neighborhoods had a high risk of catching on fire, but many people do not fully understand the importance of having a smoke detector in a high-risk home, according to Esposito.
“Most people suffer a home fire only once, thankfully, in their lifetime, but they may not think about it until they need it and then it’s too late,” Esposito said.
Waters said she wanted the club to participate in an event that would directly benefit the community.
“The fire safety event was just the perfect opportunity for that,” Waters said.
