By Bethany Bray Patterson, American Red Cross Regional Communications Manager

Theresa Young woke up to the sound of screaming in the middle of the night on March 3, 2022.

She threw on her shoes and coat, ran downstairs and when she opened her front door, Young immediately felt an intense heat on her face. A half-second later, she realized there were flames coming from the house across the street, and the screams that woke her were from her neighbor.

In that moment she realized her daily work, leading staff and volunteers that respond to home fire-related emergencies as the executive director for the Delmarva Chapter of the American Red Cross, was about to land too close to her very own home. 

Multiple generations lived in the Newark, Delaware home; one member of the family had evacuated but there were others still inside.

The actions that Young took next recently earned her the Red Cross Certificate of Merit, the highest award given by the Red Cross to those who save or sustain life using skills learned in a Red Cross training course.

“It’s still very real in my memory, over one year later,” Young says of the incident. “My first and immediate concern was for that family.”

That March night, Young immediately dialed 911 and was on the phone with an emergency dispatcher as she crossed the street. One by one, the neighbors came out of the home and Young persuaded them to fight against the instinct to go back into the burning home to find others.

“I knew there was nothing to do but get them across the street, so they couldn’t go back into the home,” Young recalls.

Smoke alarms woke two people who were sleeping in the basement of the home. Young credits those working alarms with saving the lives of those two gentlemen – and, most likely, the entire family.

“If those alarms hadn’t been working, I don’t know how many of my neighbors I’d be able to talk with today,” Young says. “We know lives were saved that day because of properly working smoke alarms.”

When the matriarch of the family made it out with her husband, Young could tell she was injured but she wasn’t sure how. The woman was in shock and suffering from smoke inhalation, Young recalls, and she passed out multiple times in Young’s arms.

Young stayed with her, administered first aid, calmed her and made sure she was safe until an ambulance arrived. 

Once first responders were on the scene, Young made another phone call, this time to 1-800-RED CROSS to activate her disaster response team. Young put on her Red Cross vest and joined volunteer responders from the Red Cross of Delmarva who comforted the family, ensured they had a safe place to stay and connected them to Red Cross resources, including financial assistance to help get them back on their feet in the days and weeks after the fire.

Young’s neighbors were some of the more than 6,600 individuals supported by the Red Cross of the National Capital and Greater Chesapeake Region after a devastating home fire in 2022.

Ultimately, all five of the home’s occupants survived; unfortunately, one of the family dogs died in the fire. Young cared for the family’s two surviving dogs after the fire while the family received medical care and transitioned into temporary housing.

Young says she had the skills to help – and the ability to stay calm and focused – that March night because of her experience with Red Cross preparedness programs and first aid training. Home fires and other emergencies happen all the time, and Young urges everyone to seek training to be able to help until first responders arrive.

“My Red Cross experience helped me process the confusion faster and help respond,” Young says. “The more people who are trained in CPR and first aid and who prepare with home fire escape plans, the more ready we are for emergencies.”

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This week is Fire Prevention Week, and the Red Cross urges everyone to take important steps to prepare their household for the possibility of a home fire.

• Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, inside bedrooms and outside sleeping areas.

• Test smoke alarms every month. If they’re not working, change the batteries.

• Talk with all family members about a fire escape plan and practice the plan twice a year.

• If a fire occurs in your home, GET OUT, STAY OUT and CALL FOR HELP. Never go back inside for anything or anyone.

> More at RedCross.org/FireSafety