Stars of the FOX drama “9-1-1,” Aisha Hinds and Oliver Stark became real-life lifesavers as they joined the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region to Sound the Alarm against home fires this past Saturday.
The Long Beach event, which resulted in 813 alarms installed and 304 households made safer, is part of a national push by the American Red Cross to install 100,000 free smoke alarms in 100 high-risk cities across the country. The final event in the series will take place in East Los Angeles on May 18.
SEE: Photo album from Sound the Alarm event in Long Beach (Flickr)
The TV celebrities kicked off the event before joining volunteers to install free smoke alarms in Long Beach homes. “On ‘9-1-1’ we play firefighters and we do get a chance to see the devastating impact that house fires have on communities and on families,” said Stark and Hinds. “And this Sound the Alarm event helps to prevent that, so we can help to change this … by one simple act, installing a smoke alarm.”
Home fires are responsible for more fatalities in the U.S. than all other natural disasters combined in a typical year, killing an average of seven people every day. Most of these deaths occur in homes lacking working smoke alarms.
“Every death by disaster is a tragedy in its own right, but home fire fatalities are particularly heartbreaking for the simple fact that so many might have been avoided with a few simple precautions,” said Veronica Garcia Dávalos, Executive Director at the Long Beach, Rio Hondo, and South Bay Chapter of the Red Cross. “With functional alarms and regular testing, ending home fire deaths is within our grasp.”
Sound the Alarm was launched by the Red Cross in 2014 to reduce fire deaths and injuries. So far, it has reached more than 1.7 million people and saved more than 500 lives nationwide. In 2018, the Red Cross of Los Angeles:
Installed more than 10,400 smoke alarms
Reached more than 8,600 youth through preparedness programs
Made more than 3,350 homes safer through home fire safety visits
People interested in helping can register now at RedCross.org/sta-eastla to volunteer and raise funds for lifesaving services.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCrossLA or @CruzRojaLA.