Red Cross chapter promotes fire safety

American Red Cross information

Seven times a day, someone in this country dies in a home fire. Countless others suffer injuries.

To combat these tragic statistics, the American Red Cross has launched a nationwide Home Fire Preparedness Campaign to reduce the number of deaths and injuries due to home fires by 25 percent over the next five years.

As part of this campaign, the local chapter of the American Red Cross installed smoke alarms for a family of five in Van Wert, but the local disaster response team hopes to install even more free smoke alarms in the community.

“Installing smoke alarms cuts the risk of someone dying from a home fire in half, so we’re joining with groups from across our community to install smoke alarms,” said Derek Stemen, executive director of the West Central Ohio Chapter. “We also will be teaching people how to be safe from home fire.”

“It was a pleasure serving a family in Van Wert County that had concerns when it comes to fire safety,” said local Disaster Chairman Mark Klausing. “This is free to the community and our disaster team would love to come and help you assess fire safety and help make up a fire escape plan for your home.”

Anyone wanting to have the Red Cross disaster team visit their home and install smoke detectors can call the local Red Cross office at 419.238.9977 to schedule an appointment.