Your Red Cross Update

Spring push kicks off with ‘Signature Events’ on April 27

On average, home fires kill 7 people and injure another 36 — every single day in the United States. That’s why the American Red Cross launched its nationwide Home Fire Campaign in 2014 with the goal of reducing the number of home fire deaths and injuries.

A key component of the campaign is a series of Sound the Alarm – Save a Life smoke alarm installation events in which Red Cross volunteers, working with local fire departments and other partners, visit high-risk neighborhoods to offer to install free 10-year smoke alarms, replace batteries in existing alarms, and help families create escape plans. It is believed that the Sound the Alarm neighborhood visits, in which more than 1.5 million alarms have been installed, have already saved more than 550 lives throughout the United States since the Home Fire Campaign began.

During the month of April, many more impactful Sound the Alarm events were held in the American Red Cross’s Northern California Coastal Region.

These installations included the first of the “Signature Events” that are part of an extra Sound the Alarm push that American Red Cross volunteers and our partners are making nationally from April 27 through May 12 this spring. The goal of this national effort is to install 100,000 smoke alarms during that three-weekend period.

General Events:

• April 13 — In San Mateo County, Red Cross volunteers installed 127 smoke alarms in 32 homes.
• April 18 — In Napa and Sonoma Counties, Red Cross volunteers installed 40 smoke alarms in 24 homes.

Signature Events (Saturday, April 27):

• In San Benito County, Red Cross and Hollister Fire Department volunteers installed 130 smoke alarms in 55 homes, making 177 residents safer. (See a group photo of the volunteers in Hollister.)
• In San Mateo County, Red Cross volunteers installed 25 smoke alarms in 11 homes, making 21 residents safer.
• In San Francisco, Red Cross volunteers installed 16 smoke alarms in 4 homes, making 8 residents safer.
• In Contra Costa County, Red Cross and community volunteers installed 374 smoke alarms in 124 homes, making 365 residents safer. (See the photo album of this “kick off” Signature Event.)
• In Lake and Mendocino Counties, Red Cross and AmeriCorps NCCC volunteers installed 80 smoke alarms in 31 homes.
• In Humboldt and Del Norte Counties, Red Cross volunteers installed 144 smoke alarms in 52 homes, making 101 residents safer. (See the photo album of the volunteers in action in Crescent City.)

Signature Events (Sunday, April 28):

• In San Mateo County, Red Cross volunteers installed 11 smoke alarms in 7 homes, making 22 residents safer.
• In Napa and Sonoma Counties, Red Cross volunteers installed 91 smoke alarms in 30 homes, making 115 residents safer.

A number of spring Signature Events are still planned in our region, and volunteer support is still needed. To sign up to volunteer at an event near you, please go to our region’s campaign web page.

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Supporting our ‘Sound the Alarm’ home visits: This work is made possible thanks to generous financial donations from our national partners: Airbnb, Delta, and Nissan; and our regional partners: Pacific Gas and Electric Company, CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer, Dignity Health, Linden Root Dickinson Foundation, Camille McCormack, State Farm, John and Marcia Goldman Foundation, Karen Turner Sanford, and Veritas.

Thanks also to our amazing volunteers and partners, who are making our region’s contributions to this national Red Cross campaign so successful!