In March of 2016, the Sheehan family was forever changed after Christian Sheehan died in a house fire that occurred in his rental home in Champaign just two days after his 23rd birthday.
“He was everything you would want in a son,” Christian’s Mother, Joy Sheehan said. “He was very much about diversity and helping those around him.”
Christian grew up in Champaign and was a student at Parkland College, who also served as the Student Trustee on the Parkland Board of the Trustees. Following Parkland College, Christian had plans to attend UIC and further his education in Social Justice.
His friends and family remember him as humble, loving, gentle and as someone who always looked to help those around him that were not given the same opportunities he had.
“My brother was very good at helping people and had a kind heart,” Christian’s Sister Olivia Dibble said. “If he saw people that needed something, he always wanted to take the opportunity to make sure that they got what they needed.”
It was that mantra: ‘Do what you can to help others;’ that stuck with Christian’s family a year after his death when they were approached by the Champaign Fire Department to help install smoke alarms in homes throughout the community.
“We were around 8 weeks out from the anniversary of his death, and we were all dreading it,” Joy said. “I thought, ‘Well, wouldn’t it be cool if we could have something to look forward to and see his friends again.’”
With the Sheehan family motivated to help turn their family tragedy into a positive community movement and the Champaign Fire Department dedicated to limit the amount of home fires in the area, the two groups came together for the first Smoke Alarm Blitz in memory of Christian Sheehan in 2017.
That first year, not only did the family agree to help make the community safer by installing smoke alarms, they installed them in the very neighborhood they had lost Christian in just a year ago.
“It’s a heavy thing to carry when you lose a loved one to a fire,” Deputy Fire Marshall of the Champaign Fire Department Jeremy Mitchell said. “They were looking for a way to channel that into something positive. The family formed the Christian Sheehan Memorial Foundation and asked the fire department if something like this was feasible, and it was.”
The group’s drive and determination to help end home fires in the area, also naturally led to a partnership with the American Red Cross. Over the years, the Red Cross has supported the annual event by providing alarms, equipment, food and drinks, safety information and more.
“I don’t know what we’d do without the Red Cross,” Joy said. “The donations they’ve made with smoke alarms, the tools and everything they bring is above and beyond.”
Since 2017, the family has been able to rally teams of volunteers to install around 1,000 smoke alarms in the homes of Champaign residents and make their community a safer place to live.
“The numbers that we reach are associated with all of you guys,” Joy said. “What do numbers mean if it’s not people doing it from the heart?”
After being forced to pause their installation efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Smoke Alarm Blitz returned on May 18, 2024, when around 75 volunteers once again went door to door to install free smoke alarms and keep Christian’s memory alive.
“I want this memory to stay alive so the kids can see that good can come out of bad,” Joy said. “Good can come out of a tragedy. Smoke alarms save lives.”
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