By: Amelia Keefer

A life-long resident of Licking County, Doug Marston’s work with the Red Cross began back in 2005 in conjunction with his job at the local bank. The bank’s philosophy was simple: to be successful, you must be a part of the community. “As part of that, I was asked to join the Red Cross board, then I became board chair. After I retired, I made the fatal mistake of telling Rod Cook that if he still needed me, to give me a call. Now, here I am.

“I’m what they call a Community Volunteer Leader. It’s a catch-all title. Basically, I’m the shadow of our East Central Ohio Chapter Executive Director, Rod Cook, as he needs me to go represent the chapter. Any task he needs help with, I help.”

Doug also leads the East Central Ohio Chapter Sound the Alarm program. Sound the Alarm is a large part of the American Red Cross’ Home Fire Campaign, working to make thousands of homes safer nationwide. The program provides free fire alarm installations to the public, alongside crucial fire safety education and escape route planning. Each appointment takes only about fifteen minutes. “There are no qualifications whatsoever for the program,” Doug assures. “We won’t turn anybody down. A life saved is a life saved.” Most installations are done through canvass events, which Doug plans, year-round for the chapter. During a canvass event, four or five crews go door-to-door in a targeted neighborhood. One of the most important questions they ask is: Are there working smoke alarms in the house? “And more than 60% of the time, the answer is no,” Doug notes. “Or, they have them but they’re outdated, so I still mark them as ‘not-working '. I’ve been in a house where the alarms were 25 years old!”

The thing about smoke alarms is that they’re a two-part system: a battery and an interior chemical reaction. Inside the alarm is a chemical that’s sole purpose is to detect the presence of smoke. What you may not know is that that chemical’s half-life–aka the time until that chemical decays to half of its initial effectiveness, making it ineffective—is only about 8-12 years. “If that alarm is 10 years old, we need to replace it. Even if you replace the battery, that doesn’t mean the thing is going to work,” Doug says. “It’s part of my work to educate people and get them to act. And, by doing so, you’ve hopefully strengthened their ability to survive in the event of a fire. One of the best things about my work is knowing that people will go to bed that night safer today than they did yesterday.” Just recently, for example, there was a woman in Cambridge, Ohio who, thankfully, had had the Red Cross out to replace her alarms in March. She had a fire in October. The alarms woke her up, and her life was saved because she had new smoke alarms. It’s life-saving stories like these that keep the momentum going, and that show the true impact of the Sound the Alarm program. Her story could’ve ended very differently.

As a part of his work, Doug also meets with local fire departments on a weekly basis; learning what their needs are, what the trends are, and what more we can do for them. It’s also about educating firefighters on the resources open to victims after a fire. “We do more than just put people up in a hotel, or hand them a blanket. That’s what a lot of people think - that we just hand them a blanket and say goodbye. But we do more than that. A lot more than that,” Doug assures. “It’s also refilling prescriptions, replacing glasses and dentures…” It’s about long-term recovery planning, not just short-term support.

“At the end of the day, it’s not about me. I learned a long time ago, leave your ego at the door. Do the best you can. If you flip the Red Cross business card over, it says to prepare, prevent, and respond to disasters. That’s what we’re all here for. Every single Red Cross volunteer. And people are so thankful for it, when we come in the door and offer to help them protect their lives.”