This spring, Red Cross volunteers and community partners worked together through a national Sound the Alarm effort to educate people in at-risk communities about home fire safety. On May 8, the Red Cross hosted a day of action, where volunteers met with families by appointment outside their homes to review a home fire safety checklist and create an escape plan to practice their two-minute drill.

This annual Sound the Alarm initiative is a key part of the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign, which has saved at least 864 lives since launching in 2014. During this year’s Sound the Alarm, Red Crossers and community partners across the nation helped educate more than 73,000 people on how to protect themselves against home fires.

“You never know when something is going to happen, you can never be prepared afterward,” said Mayor Gomez of the City of Tamarac. “Being prepared helps remove fear and when you remove fear, you can conquer anything.” 

In 2018 the Red Cross South Florida Region partnered with the city of Tamarac during the Sound the Alarm initiative that year to install smoke alarms in homes throughout the city. During this campaign, the city’s Mayor, Michelle Gomez, recalls, “The ability to join the volunteers, to go in with our fire rescue team, to help our residents, those are my personal experiences…I’ve had the pleasure of going into their homes, seeing the importance of what the Red Cross is doing for them…it helps me see how much good that you do.”

Most of us don’t realize we have just two minutes to escape a home fire. That’s why the Red Cross prepares communities year-round to act quickly through our Home Fire Campaign. Follow these steps to help protect your family:

• Create an escape plan with at least two ways to exit every room in your home.
• Practice your plan until everyone in your household can get out in less than two minutes.
• Place smoke alarms on each level of your home, including inside and outside bedrooms and sleeping areas. Change the batteries at least once a year if your model requires it.
• Check the manufacturer’s date of your smoke alarms. If they’re 10 years or older, they likely need to be replaced. Follow your alarm’s manufacturer instructions.

In 2021 alone, the South Florida Red Cross has supported more than 1,544 people following more than 360 home fires. The Red Cross helped with urgent needs such as emergency sheltering, financial assistance, and recovery planning.

When asked why the messaging of preparedness is so crucial in preventing home fires, Fire Chief Jonathan McNamara of Sunrise, Fla. responded, “Proper preparation prevents poor performance and you certainly don’t want to perform poorly at that moment that could be a life or death situation. I do think the messaging [of the Sound the Alarm campaign] is profound."

Every second counts when there’s a home fire. Home fires are extremely dangerous that they claim more lives in a typical year than all natural disasters combined. But working smoke alarms can cut the risk of dying in a home fire by half. The sooner an alarm alerts you to a fire, the sooner you can get out.

To learn more about how to prepare for a home fire and ensure the safety of you and your loved ones, visit redcross.org/SFLHomeFireCampaign.