Courtney McIntosh, Communications Intern
Volunteering with the American Red Cross is an amazing way to become active in your community. A local volunteer, by the name of Nicole, recently took the plunge into volunteering by taking part in the home fire preparedness canvassing event in Milwaukee’s Thurston Woods neighborhood. Each team was divided into three people having their own job for the day; One fire cadet, one preparedness educator and one recorder. The fire cadet was responsible for checking, testing, and installing smoke alarms in one of the blocks of homes. Nicole was the preparedness educator, her responsibility was to ask families are their own emergency plans and walk them through the fire safety checklist. The final person of the group was a recorder, they documented the addresses that were visited and the steps taken with each family.
It was really incredible to me to be able to see the impact of our work in just the single block we covered. Every home our team entered was missing at least one working smoke alarm. Two of the homes we entered did not have any. We also found and replaced smoke alarm units in several homes that were testing OK but were being used well beyond their 10-year lifespan. As the preparedness educator, it was fun to see that while many families had not practiced their plan, many of the kids knew multiple ways that they could escape in case of a fire. And, they were really thrilled to have a chance to map out their escape routes using the graph and dry erase markers we were gave to them.
It was a great event to be a part of and I can’t wait to see us expanding it in the years to come. I highly recommend volunteering if you have the opportunity.
- Nicole
Take part in your own home fire safety preparedness! Use this Home fire safety checklist to make sure your family is prepared in case of such a disaster.
Check out this video for further information about how volunteers assisted with the installation and education of fire safety in Milwaukee neighborhoods.
