This weekend I participated in an event called "Sound the Alarm", organized by the American Red Cross. The Red Cross does a lot more than the blood drives most people are aware of. They provide disaster relief; from helping communities hit by large disasters (floods, hurricanes, wildfires), to making sure a single family who's house just burned down has a place to stay for the next few nights... They also provide training and certification including first aid, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Automated External Defibrillator (AED), Basic Life Support, as well as swimming (adult and child lessons), Life-guarding, and Certified nursing Assistant (CNA) training. They also provide many services to our armed forces, especially while deployed. The Red Cross is typically how service members are notified of emergencies at home, and how command verifies emergencies in order to makes decisions on granting emergency leave. The Red Cross also helps arrange transportation and financial aid to get service members back home during emergencies.
"Sound the Alarm" is another Red Cross program. These events are part of the "Home Fire Campaign", launched in 2014. According to the American Red Cross, 36 people are injured and 7 people die every day from home fires. The Red Cross set a goal of reducing these numbers by 25%. The Sound the Alarm events work towards this goal by canvasing at-risk neighborhoods, installing free smoke alarms, and providing fire prevention and safety training. This program relies on fire departments and other local community partners... i.e. volunteers, and LOTS of them.
This weekend's event took part in a mobile home community in San Bernardino, CA. Along with the Red Cross and the County Fire Department, there where volunteers from the San Bernardino Police Department, San Bernardino police Explorers, San Bernardino County Fire Explorers, San Bernardino City CERT, San Bernardino County CERT (volunteers came from several neighboring cities), several members from a local high school "Red Cross Club", and several groups from local businesses as well as individuals volunteering their time. There where over 100 volunteers in total.
The Red Cross set up a 'base camp' in the communities park area. They had several tents set up to provide shade for the volunteers while they registered, got their team assignments, and received training on what they would be doing today. Did I mention that it was going to be in the mid 90's today? There was also a tent set up with water and some snacks. It was definitely important to stay hydrated while working this event.
For the actual work, volunteers where divided into teams. Each team consisted of 4 main jobs.
- Educator- This person is responsible for the fire prevention and safety training; including assisting the resident in developing an escape plan and going over it with everyone in the home.
- Installer- This person is responsible in determining where smoke alarms are required, installing the alarms, and going over the test and silence procedures with the resident(s)
- Documenter- This is responsible for documenting all work performed, how many smoke alarms where installed, and completing the visit checklist
- Safety/communications - This person is responsible for the overall safety of the team, and also handeling all communications between the team and 'base camp', including regular check-in's and any requests from the team (refills of water, or more smoke alarms).
Most teams also got a 'helper' for the installer. Its nice to actually have enough volunteers :)
I opted to sign up as a safety worker and was assigned to a team. After registration was complete, each job broke off into groups to receive training specific to the jobs they would be performing. As safety, I was provided a radio to stayin communication with base camp durring the event. We used 'family radio service' (FRS) radio's for this event and they performed well over the limited area of operation... After the training was done, we took the group photo above, and then broke out into our teams. The documenters had a map of our assigned area, so we walked over with our installer to pick up his cart of tools and supplies and head out to our area.
Here is our "Dream team". We tied for the most alarms installed (36). We didn't have a single resident say 'no' when we offered to come in and install the free alarms. Our educator, Nora, was very friendly and knowledgeable about the program (she is a Red Cross community outreach volunteer, so this wasn't her first rodeo). Our team was awesome, and worked well together. Within a half hour of starting the installs, I was calling into base camp to get a resupply of smoke alarms.
Here are a few more images of other teams during the event:
Red Cross Volunteers asking permission to enter a home and install alarms
Fire and Police Explorers installing free alarms in a home
It was a really fun time and I met a lot of really great people. I highly recommend taking part in a Red Cross "Sound the Alarm" event if there is one in your area (or contacting the red cross to help get one in your area if there is not already one). It really was rewarding... Oh, and they fed us lunch afterward :)
Maybe, if you put together your own "Dream Team", hustle all day, and install the most alarms of any team; you can even get an awesome trophy like me :)~
Actually, as there where 2 teams that tied, there where not enough trophies to go around. I opted for a 'picture with a trophy' and let someone else take home this fine piece of hardware ;)
