By Briana Phillips, Red Cross volunteer
NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 28, 2022 - While home fires are the most common disaster the Red Cross sees, Alissa Moreno’s story is anything but common.
In 2008, Alissa wrote lyrics for the song “Every Day” sung by Rascal Flatts, which caught the Red Cross’ attention. The Red Cross partnered with the band and volunteers were featured in the music video for the song. Notably, the video had a scene depicting a woman being assisted by a Red Cross volunteer after a home fire. The video garnered over one million views on YouTube and the song went on to earn a Grammy nomination. At the time, Alissa had no idea that the Red Cross scene in the music video would be foreshadowing future events.
Fast forward to June 2022 and Alissa, along with her parents, husband, and three kids, were awakened to a home fire in the middle of the night. “It was actually my husband, Jason, that heard a loud noise on our deck outside first,” she recalled. “I had a sound machine on and my parents didn’t hear from their room, so I’m so thankful that he heard it and got up to check.”
Jason found out that the source of the noise came from their hot tub which had started a fire. As Jason tried to put out the flames, the smoke alarms came on and finally woke Alissa up. “I could feel that the danger was so obvious, that I needed to grab my kids and parents and get out of there as quickly as possible,” she said. “I didn’t grab the cash that was sitting on the table right next to me. I didn’t even get dressed and I just ran outside in my underwear.” It was fortunate that she did because the fire soon got out of control and their house quickly went up in flames.
Their fire only took a mere ten minutes to engulf the home. After going through the experience, Alissa strongly felt that not stopping to grab personal items was the key to her and her family’s survival. “If I had to give any advice, I would tell people to get out of the home as quickly as you can,” Alissa stated. “One of my neighbors joked about the fact that I was only in my underwear after the fire. But then someone brought up the fact that if I had decided to take the time to get dressed, I might not be here anymore!”
As the firefighters arrived to put out the fire, she got a call from the Red Cross asking how they could help. It was like the Red Cross scene in the “Every Day” music video was being played out in real life. “It was so weird being on the other side at that point,” Alissa said. “I was involved with the Red Cross all those years ago with my music and now I was getting help after a home fire. It was a very full circle moment, and they were so awesome to work with.”
While Alissa’s story is unique, home fires are unfortunately a very common occurrence in every community. To help assist those who have experienced a home fire, or to learn more about fire safety, visit redcross.org/tennessee for more information.