Preparedness | Your Red Cross Update

Tag Archives: Preparedness

At the end of the day, we do good for people

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Kathryn Hecht

By Debbi Behrman

Ed Silva with City of Oakland Battalion Chief Zoraida Diaz. Photo: Ziji Zhou | American Red Cross
_____

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit Florida and Louisiana causing catastrophic damage and loss of life. It was the deadliest hurricane in the United States since 1928. A month later, Ed Silva saw that help was still needed, and he called the Red Cross to volunteer. Ed went in one day for training, and the next, he was on a plane to Florida.

This past year, Ed received the Clara Barton Award for Meritorious Volunteer Leadership. It turns out that Katrina was just the beginning of an action-filled volunteer career with the Red Cross that spans 15 years.

Homepage Posts — Other

JJ Lara, American Red Cross San Francisco 2019 Volunteer of the Year

Posted on February 5, 2020 by Kathryn Hecht

by Marcia Antipa

JJ, center front, surrounded by fellow Red Crossers at the 2019 Bay Area Holiday Party. Photo by Eric Carmichael | American Red Cross
_____

“Bringing people together for a great cause and a great organization.” That’s how JJ Lara describes his role as a volunteer for the American Red Cross, and it is key to his winning the San Francisco Volunteer of the Year award.

From Fleet Week to the Leadership Council, and a few roles that might surprise you, JJ has spent seven years giving to the organization.

Homepage Posts — Other

11-year-old who alerted her family to a fire is honored as Red Cross hero

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Barbara Wood

Berlin Gomez-Muniz, 11, received a Red Cross “Hero” medal for alerting her family to a Dec. 19 fire in San Jose. Her mother, Frankie, and Silicon Valley Red Cross chapter board chair Terry Unter look on. Photo: Mark Butler/American Red Cross

Berlin Gomez-Muniz stood quietly as a 3-inch diameter “Hero” medal was draped around her neck at the Jan. 16 Silicon Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross board meeting, but when it was the most important, the 11-year-old says, she yelled so loud her throat hurt after she alerted her extended family to a fire just before Christmas. Read more

Homepage Posts — Other

Red Cross-installed smoke alarm alerts mobile home residents to fire

Posted on January 10, 2020 by Barbara Wood

These volunteers were among those installing smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in the Sunshadow mobile home park on Feb. 19, 2019, six months before two residents’ lives were saved when the smoke alarms alerted them to a fire. Photo Credit: American Red Cross/Oleksii Nazaruk.
Click here for more photos from the event.

San Jose resident Nguyen Robson had been an American Red Cross volunteer for less than a year when he was called to help two mobile home residents displaced by a fire and received a vivid lesson about his volunteer work’s impact.

When Robson arrived at the Sunshadow mobile home park in San Jose, the two residents — waiting safely outside their home — greeted him with grateful recognition in their native Vietnamese. They remembered Robson as one of the volunteers who had installed smoke alarms and helped them prepare an evacuation plan for their mobile home only six months earlier. The alarm woke them from a mid-afternoon nap and allowed their escape.

Homepage Posts — Other

10 Thanksgiving Cooking Safety Tips

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Cynthia Shaw

Did you know that more home cooking fires occur on Thanksgiving than any other day of the year?

In fact, this year, an American Red Cross survey showed that about 70 percent of people have left the kitchen while cooking on the stove.

Because of this, the Red Cross is urging everyone to brush up on these home fire prevention steps prior to the holiday, so they can enjoy their Thanksgiving feast safely.

Clean and clear the area around the stove before turning on the heat.
Move items that can burn away from the stove. These include towels, bags, boxes, paper, and curtains.
Avoid wearing loose clothing or dangling sleeves while cooking.
Keep children and pets at least three feet away from the stove.
Turn pot handles to the back of the stove, so no one bumps them or pulls them over.
Fires can start when the heat is too high. When frying food, turn the burner off if you see smoke or if the grease starts to boil. Carefully remove the pan from the burner.
Keep a pan lid or a cookie sheet nearby. Use it to cover the pan if it catches on fire. This will put out the fire. Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled.
Keep an eye on what you fry. Stay in the kitchen and never leave cooking food unattended. If you must leave the kitchen, even for a short period of time, turn off the stove.
Use a timer to remind yourself that the stove or oven is on.
Check the kitchen before going to bed or leaving home to ensure all stoves, ovens and small appliances are turned off.

The Red Cross also advises people to test their smoke alarms and practice their home fire escape plan until everyone in their household can get out in two minutes or less. Visit redcross.org/homefires for more information and free resources, or download the free Red Cross Emergency App (search “American Red Cross” in app stores or go to redcross.org/apps).

Homepage Posts — Other

Red Cross was there when she needed it says woman whose home burned in fire

Posted on November 15, 2019 by Barbara Wood

This is another in a series of stories we are posting on this regional blog related to the American Red Cross response to the Kincade Fire disaster:

KerryAnn Laufer, who lost her home on Chalk Hill Road in Healdsburg during the Kincade Fire, says she doesn’t know what she would have done without the help of the Red Cross after the fire. (Photo Credit: American Red Cross/Barbara Wood)
_____

KerryAnn Laufer lost her home in the Kincade Fire, but she says her experience with the American Red Cross at the Local Assistance Center in Healdsburg on Nov. 5 helped her when she needed it the most.

“I’m so grateful for the Red Cross. You guys bailed me out when I wasn’t in a good place there,” she said of her visit to the assistance center. She arrived shaken after having seen the long line of people seeking help in the parking lot of the Healdsburg Community Center.

“What has been a big emotional piece of this for me has been the scale of it,” she said. That the fire had left many people in need “was very apparent in the parking lot,” she said. “It rattles me, even more than my personal loss.”

« Older Entries Recent Entries »