By: Olivia Bayuk, Northwest Region Volunteer

Around midday on November 12, 2022 Kennewick firefighters reacted to the sound of the tones dropping for a structure fire at the Tri-Cities RV Park. Moving swiftly to the garage, they donned their gear and jumped into ambulances, command vehicles, engines, and ladder trucks, racing to the scene. Despite the best efforts of all involved, one child, tragically, did not survive the fire. A second child survived, but with serious injuries. Three days later, firefighters returned to this same mobile home park for yet another RV fire. Fortunately, no residents were killed this time, although a couple of pets sadly could not escape the blaze. In total, Kennewick firefighters responded to three fires at the Tri-Cities RV Park in late 2022 despite winter being in its infancy.

After these heartbreaking events, and to prevent more such tragedies in the future, Kennewick Fire Department’s Fire Chief Chad Michael and Deputy Fire Chief Michael Heffner reached out to the American Red Cross’s Executive Director for Central and Southeast Washington, Michele Roth. They asked Michele about the possibility of utilizing the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign to host a Sound the Alarm event at the Tri-Cities RV Park.

“Usually, our install events with local fire department partners are held in the spring,” Michele Roth said. “Despite the upcoming holidays and freezing temperatures, everyone agreed this one was urgent. Kennewick Fire and our volunteers didn't hesitate.”

As a bit of background, the American Red Cross Home Fire Campaign helps save lives by installing free smoke alarms in homes that do not have them and by educating residents about home fire safety. Launched in October 2014, the Home Fire Campaign has three primary goals: to reduce home fire deaths/injuries by 25%, increase the number of American Red Cross home fire responses by 10%, and improve assistance provided to home fire victims. Nationally, the Home Fire Campaign has saved at least 1,583 lives since launching. In the Central and Southeastern Washington Chapter, the Red Cross has installed more than 2,900 smoke alarms, making more than 900 homes safer.

Under the Home Fire Campaign umbrella, Sound the Alarm events involve American Red Cross staff and volunteers coming out in force on a designated date to install large numbers of free smoke alarms in at-risk communities. The American Red Cross and the Kennewick Fire Department have an incredible relationship going back several years and consisting of working on these and other such events. For example, on May 16, 2022, the American Red Cross and Kennewick Fire Department banded together to install 176 smoke alarms in a different mobile home park in Kennewick.

When asked about the Sound the Alarm event at the Tri-Cities RV Park, Kennewick Fire Chief Chad Michael stated, “I was already thinking about it, but when we had that second fire, I just said we can’t wait, we need to get over in this community and we need to really work to make sure that everybody has working smoke alarms. So, I reached out to Michele and said, ‘I know we’ve already done an event this year, but can we do a second event?’ and she said, without question, ‘Absolutely, we’ll make it happen.’”

The Kennewick Fire Department and the American Red Cross settled on December 10, 2022, as the day when they would descend on the Tri-Cities RV park to assist residents in making their homes safer by installing smoke alarms and discussing fire safety.Cody Campbell, the American Red Cross Northwest Region Senior Disaster Program Manager, attended the event that chilly morning. “The (American Red Cross) volunteers and (Kennewick Fire Department) firefighters were paired together on install teams and assigned a certain area of the park to conduct door knocks and talk with residents about working smoke alarms and home fire safety,” Campbell said. “Each team was comprised of two Red Cross volunteers and one Kennewick firefighter. The Red Cross volunteers helped document the installation by recording how many alarms were installed and how many residents lived in the homes to ensure we captured how many people were educated about home fire preparedness. The Kennewick firefighters usually conducted the install and answered any complex questions the resident may have had about the alarm or further preparing their home.”

As for how the event went, Cody stated they received a warm welcome from residents. “A lot came out just to say thank you to the firefighters and Red Cross for being there and making them feel part of the community,” he said. “We had a decent install number for the day, but what was more important was the interaction we had with the community.”

Kennewick Fire Chief Chad Michael also attended the event that day and categorized it as a huge success. “I felt really good as we left that community that day that we had done a lot of good work in there,” he said. “We definitely put people in a better position to be protected than they were before we started.”

In the end, the event was a rousing success, with firefighters and Red Cross volunteers installing 41 smoke alarms in local residences. Besides physically installing smoke alarms, fire personnel and American Red Cross members also took the chance to cover some basic fire safety tips with the residents. More of those home fire prevention tips can be found here.

Even though winter is now winding down, the weather often stays cool enough in the spring months to warrant central heating, space heaters, extra blankets, and warmed food. Hopefully, following the American Red Cross and Kennewick Fire Department’s successful Sound the Alarm event and resulting discussion of home fire safety, everyone will make it through to summer without any further home fires and especially without any more tragedies like the one at the Tri-Cities RV Park on November 12th.