Your Red Cross Update

Red Cross Volunteers bring home fire safety to the floating homes of Sausalito

“You’re on the water.  You’ve got wildlife out your window.  You’ve got the sun playing off the water.”

That’s how Flo Hoylman describes living aboard a houseboat in Sausalito, Calif., just north of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. But Flo, who serves on the board of the Sausalito Floating Homes Association, knows she and her neighbors on the water are just as susceptible to fires as any other Californians. 

“We still burn. And if there was a fire, like there was in Santa Rosa, the embers would come down on us, too.”

So, Flo contacted her local Red Cross office and asked for help.  On a recent sunny winter morning, about 30 Red Cross volunteers and staffers gathered on the floating homes’ docks with ladders, tools and boxes of smoke alarms. After a short training session, and a meal from the local Salvation Army Corps, they set out to make the floating homes safer. In teams of two or three, the volunteers installed new working smoke alarms and gave home fire safety information.

The day of service was part of Sound the Alarm, a nationwide Red Cross campaign started in 2014.  Since then, the efforts of volunteers, Red Cross staffers and community partners have resulted in more than 2,577 documented lives saved across the country. That means those free Red Cross smoke alarms alerted families to a home fire in time for them to evacuate safely.

There are more than 400 floating homes in Sausalito. Victoria Joy has lived there for more than 20 years.

“I raised a daughter in this community which has been a really beautiful village and a unique experience just in terms of safety and connection and community support.”

Victoria says the Red Cross Sound the Alarm program will make her community even safer.

“I thought it was a really generous offering from the Red Cross, and I didn’t want to pass it up because I knew that would be a blessing to have four smoke alarms, and preventative safety always feels like a good choice,” said Victoria.

Mom and daughter Red Cross volunteers Lesley Carmichael and Claire Cannariato teamed up at the floating homes smoke alarm event. Lesley sat down with houseboat residents and taught them vital safety information – such as how to create a family evacuation plan in the event of a fire. Seventeen-year-old Claire helped install the new smoke alarms. Both mother and daughter say it was a rewarding and eye-opening experience.

“Some people just don’t even have any smoke alarms, so it was surprising to see that,” said Claire.

“And also how close these homes are to each other,” added Lesley. “Smoke alarm installation for these homes that are so close together is so crucial.”

DeDe Thoma, who has lived in her houseboat for ten years, was grateful to the Red Cross for installing the new alarms.  DeDe was especially happy that the volunteers placed the alarms where she can reach them for regular testing – with the help of a stepstool.

“It’s been great! …I really appreciate it and I hope everybody else does and more people sign up,” said DeDe.

By the numbers, the Sausalito Floating Homes Sound the Alarm event was a success. The Red Crossers installed 135 new working smoke alarms in 50 homes, making 81 people safer from fires.

And Flo says it’s especially important for many of her neighbors in the Floating Homes community.

“They’re very grateful to be getting the smoke alarms.  It’s an increasingly elderly population, and to have somebody come in and do that for them is awesome,” said Flo.

Throughout the month of April, we will be hosting our Sound the Alarm signature period throughout the region. Consider joining us and learn more about the Red Cross Sound the Alarm campaign at redcross.org/sound-the-alarm.