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Red Cross to install smoke alarms, implement evacuation plans for locals

OBSERVER Photo by Jimmy McCarthy Between Sept. 23 and Oct. 15, the American Red Cross will team up with fire departments, volunteers and partners to bring the Sound the Alarm initiative with home fire safety and smoke alarm installation events. Ken Turner, Western and Central New York regional disaster program director for the American Red Cross, discussed the initiative at a Monday press conference at the American Red Cross’ Jamestown office. County Executive Vince Horrigan and county legislator Lisa Vanstrom, on behalf of state Sen. Cathy Young, were also in attendance.

An awareness campaign by the American Red Cross is looking to help local residents implement proper fire safety measures in their homes.

Local officials gathered with Ken Turner, Western and Central New York regional disaster program director, on Monday at the American Red Cross’ Jamestown office to “Sound the Alarm” about fire safety. Between Sept. 23 and Oct. 15, the American Red Cross is teaming with fire departments, volunteers and other partners to bring adequate home fire safety to homes in Chautauqua County.

The goal of the Sound the Alarm, a national campaign, is to reduce the number of home fire deaths and injuries by 25 percent.

Within 30 minutes, Turner said Red Cross volunteers will go through a person’s home, replace smoke alarms if inoperable and place new batteries in existing alarms if needed without cost. Volunteers will also help residents with a home fire escape plan, which Turner said many do not have.

“In my opinion, that’s probably the best 30-minute investment that anyone can do,” Turner said. “Something that my mother used to say a long time ago was people may say I might not need the alarm or I might not need the evacuation plan. But my mother had a quote: ‘It’s better to have than not need than to need and not have.'”

Turner said the Red Cross responds to over 64,000 disasters a year. He said the Red Cross has responded to 35 disasters in Chautauqua County, most of which involved single-family fires.

See ALARM, Page A5

On average, Turner said seven people a day are killed in house fires.

Since 2014, Turner said 270 documented lives have been saved through the home fire safety campaign. In Western New York, he said there have been two documented save situations involving 19 people, with one in Buffalo and the other in Rochester.

“We know we’re making a difference with our smoke alarm and installation of it,” he said.

The goal of the Red Cross campaign locally is to install more than 250 smoke alarms in communities throughout Chautauqua County. Turner said it wouldn’t be possible without National Fire Adjustment Co. and National Grid as major sponsors.

County Executive Vince Horrigan was in attendance to show his support for the campaign. A former director of the Red Cross’ Southwestern New York chapter, Horrigan said he saw tragedies from house fires. He said they are preventable.

“It’s complacency that tends to cause disaster. ‘It won’t happen to me. That smoke alarm, I’m sure it works,” he said. “All it takes is batteries to be inoperable or somebody stealing the batteries to use them for something else.”

County legislator Lisa Vanstrom, who spoke on behalf of state Sen. Cathy Young, R-Olean, commended the American Red Cross for its critical and effective efforts in disaster relief. With the Sound the Alarm campaign, Vanstrom said it’s assisting communities by bringing awareness.

“It’s really effective and it makes a difference,” she said.

Individuals who want volunteers to check their alarms and help them create evacuation plans can set up an appointment by calling 878-2353 or by visiting www.soundthealarm.org/wcny.

“I encourage everyone to get your alarms, and more importantly, your evacuation plans,” Turner said.

Since the campaign began, 1,640 smoke alarms were installed in Western New York homes.

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