New Gloucester’s first Red Cross-sponsored ‘Sound the Alarm’ program to install smoke alarms in area homes was a huge success on Sunday. By the end of the day, eight teams had installed 82 alarms in 33 homes, reaching 89 residents. Teams uniformly reported that residents were enthusiastic, appreciative and thankful – not only for the new smoke alarms but for the education and information that were provided.
Early Sunday morning, 22 Red Cross and BLING volunteers, and Chief Craig Bouchard and members of New Gloucester Fire Rescue gathered at the fire station to learn the basics of checking existing fire alarms, installing new ones and providing fire safety tips and education. Teams of two or three were formed with assigned roles of installer, educator and documenter. Each team had a trained Red Cross member as the installer.
Each team did a walk-through of the resident’s home, identified and tested existing smoke alarms and batteries, made suggestions regarding placement of alarms, and installed new ones or batteries where appropriate. For many people, hearing an alarm go off in the middle of the night – often randomly – was a motivator to get their systems checked out. At least two homes had previously experienced a fire or a smoke alarm alert and were particularly vigilant about making sure their alarms were working and placed in the proper locations.
In addition to testing batteries and placing new alarms, each team’s educator reviewed safety tips with homeowners. Did you know that 45 percent of fires are caused by cooking equipment, resulting in 19 percent of civilian fire deaths and 44 percent of civilian fire injuries? Reminder: Keep an eye on what you fry!
Other major causes of fires are related to heating equipment and electrical distribution and lighting equipment. Reminder: keep furniture, dish towels, anything that can catch fire – 3 feet from the heat.
Here are other tips educators shared:
• Test your smoke alarms monthly including any 9-volt, long-life and hardwired alarms in your home.
• Change your batteries every 6 months – when the Spring forward, Fall back time changes happen is a good reminder.
• Make a plan, and practice it, to escape from your home. The ideal fire escape time is less than 2 minutes.
• Identify a safe meeting place – preferably in front of your house at a fixed location.
At the end of the day, there were lots of high fives and stories of satisfied and grateful residents. Many thanks to Tova Zsampar, the Southern Maine Red Cross Disaster Program Manager, NGFR Chief Bouchard, the members of New Gloucester Fire Rescue, and BLING volunteers for making this happen. We are especially grateful to the Red Cross team who have been diligently supporting the Lewiston community but were committed to making this event happen in New Gloucester.
It certainly takes a village to make our town a safer place to live. This was a great team effort and lots of fun for a brisk but sunny Sunday!
NOTE: The Red Cross Home Fire Campaign team in Southern Maine will continue to do smoke alarm installs year-round, so if you have any neighbors or friends we might have missed or who want a home visit, please refer them to this website where they can submit a request at any time or call 1-800-464-6692 (option 4). This program is open to everyone – there are no eligibility or income requirements.
Interested in becoming a Red Cross volunteer? Email Steve Thomas at steven.thomas@redcross.org
— Julie Fralich, for BLING: Building Livability in New Gloucester
