Red Cross urges public to take safety steps

The American Red Cross NMI Chapter has responded to several home fires this year—in Garapan, Chalan Kanoa, and most recently, in Puerto Rico on July 4, 2017.

The Red Cross provided clients with their immediate emergency needs for food clothing and shelter for clients who needed it.

“We’re deeply saddened for those who were impacted by these fires,” said J.D. Tenorio, Emergency Services director of the NMI Chapter of the American Red Cross. “As we continue to help them, we urge everyone to take steps to minimize the risk of a fire occurring in their home.”

Home Fire Campaign

Seven times a day someone in this country dies in a fire. The Red Cross has been working to reduce that number through its Home Fire Campaign, a multi-year effort to reduce the number of home fire deaths and injuries by 25 percent. Launched in October 2014, the campaign has already saved many lives and installed hundreds of thousands of smoke alarms in nearly 10,000 cities and towns.

Here in the CNMI, the Red Cross has installed 317 smoke alarms throughout Saipan, Tinian, and Rota since October of 2017. The Red Cross will continue its efforts throughout this year, visiting neighborhoods and installing more smoke alarms on all three islands.

Simple steps to save lives

The Red Cross is calling on everyone to take two simple steps that can save lives: practice fire drills at home and check existing smoke alarms.

There are several things families and individuals can do to increase their chances of surviving a fire:

If someone doesn’t have smoke alarms, install them. At a minimum, put one on every level of the home, inside bedrooms and outside sleeping areas. Local building codes vary and there may be additional requirements where someone lives.

If someone does have alarms, test them today. If they don’t work, replace them.

Make sure that everyone in the family knows how to get out of every room and how to get out of the home in less than two minutes.

Practice the fire escape plan. What’s the household’s escape time?

Red Cross apps

People can download the all-inclusive Red Cross Emergency app, which combines more than 35 emergency alerts to help keep the user safe. And there is a special mobile app—Monster Guard—designed for children, teaching them to prepare for emergencies at home by playing an engaging game. Users can find the apps in smartphone app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.

What people can do

People can visit redcross.org/homefires to find out more about how to protect themselves and their loved homes from fire. They can become a Red Cross volunteer by contacting the local chapter office at 670-234-3459 or by visiting our website at www.redcross.org/nmi. They can also help by donating to Red Cross Disaster Relief by visiting redcross.org. Donations to Disaster Relief will be used to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small. We respond to nearly 64,000 other disasters every year and most of these are home fires.