Every day, seven people die in home fires and we want to do everything we can to prevent these needless tragedies – that’s why we launched our Home Fire Campaign in 2014. As part of this campaign, volunteers work alongside fire departments and other local groups, canvassing at-risk neighborhoods to install free smoke alarms, replace batteries in existing alarms, educate families about fire prevention and safety, and fundraise to help sponsor this life-saving mission. Read on to find out how the Home Fire Campaign helped save the Simpson family when a fire broke out in their home.
Meet the Simpson Family
On December 10, 2018, Kenneth Simpson and his family were alerted to a fire in their basement by the piercing sound of their smoke alarms. The smoke alarms were installed in the Simpson’s Avondale home by Red Cross volunteers in May 2016 as a part of the Cincinnati-Dayton region’s Sound the Alarm event. Kenneth recalls seeing Red Cross volunteers canvassing his neighborhood that day and calling them over to install alarms in his home.
Upon hearing the alarms the morning of the fire, Kenneth instructed his two teenage boys to help get all of their family members out of the house. The family gathered at their predesignated meeting place at the bottom of the front porch steps. Kenneth credits the fire evacuation plan to the Red Cross volunteers who visited his home in 2016 as the reason his family safely escaped the home.
The four Red Cross volunteers who installed the alarms in the Simpson home that year were part of 580 local volunteers taking part in the Sound the Alarm. The Cincinnati Fire Department was, and continues to be, a key community partner in their area.
Sound the Alarm to Save Lives
Join us to sound the alarm and help install free smoke alarms in your community April 27 – May 12, 2019. One day of your life can change someone else’s forever.
