Colorado and Wyoming volunteers along with a host of partners stepped up to provide a day of service in support of the 2017 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, and installed over 400 smoke alarms.
To quote from Martin Luther King, Jr., “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’.” The American Red Cross and the thousands of Red Cross volunteers answer that questions every day. Whether it is helping a family recover from a home fire or helping hundreds of people affected by floods, wildfires or tornadoes, we have put our open hearts and open arms to those in need.
As a demonstration of our compassion, the Red Cross implemented a national campaign designed to reduce by 25 percent the number of deaths and injuries caused by home fires. The campaign began in the fall of 2014 and through the end of 2016 more than 500,000 smoke alarms have been installed across the country. Those installations, and the education that has gone with them, can be attributed with saving more than 130 lives.
The 2017 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service found the Red Cross deeply committed to saving lives through the Home Fire Campaign. Across Colorado and Wyoming teams of volunteers partnered with local fire departments, local organizations and individuals.
During the period of January 14 through January 21 the Red Cross and partners installed over 400 smoke alarms bringing the total number of smoke alarms installed in Colorado and Wyoming since October 2014 to nearly 10,000 with more than 5,000 homes made safer through the education portion of the campaign.
- Saturday, January 14 Red Cross volunteers and the Arvada Fire Department joined with dozens of other volunteers to install 160 smoke alarms in Arvada.
- Monday, January 16 the Red Cross volunteers in Wyoming joined with local fire departments to install 70 smoke alarms at the Wind River Indian Reservation.
- Saturday, January 21 found Red Cross volunteers in Pueblo where they visited more than 100 homes and installed 175 smoke alarms.
- Saturday, January 21, Red Cross volunteers in Fort Collins visited 43 homes and installed 15 smoke detectors.
We want to give a huge shout out to all of our partners including local fire departments, churches and other organizations, as well as hundreds of individuals who also volunteered.
If you would like to be part of the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign in Colorado and/or Wyoming visit our website, www.redcross.org/colorado/firesafety or www.redcross.org/wyoming/firesafety.