Smoke Alarm – Gold Country News and Notes

15-Year Volunteer Jim Horning on Why Sound the Alarm is So Important

Jim Horning STA Team — Sound the Alarm Volunteer Lead Jim Horning (white shirt, center) stands with his San Joaquin County team.

By Nick Blasquez, Red Cross Volunteer

Did you know: The risk of dying in a house fire drops by 50% in homes with a working smoke detector? Yet nearly 5 million houses across the United States do not have one installed.

That’s the message Jim Horning, a 15-year Red Cross volunteer, would like you to know.

Jim is the volunteer lead for the Red Cross Sound the Alarm campaign in San Joaquin County.

The national Sound the Alarm program has been rescheduled out of an abundance of caution during the coronavirus outbreak. Once it is rescheduled, some 27,000 Red Cross volunteers will install 100,000 smoke alarms nationwide for free.

WATCH: Horning helped the Gold Country Region educate donors on the importance of the ERV

Around Stockton, Jim and his team of 15-20 volunteers will install smoke detectors in 250 homes and educate the residents on the importance of fire preparedness.

They have protected 9,000 homes to date throughout the region, Jim said.

The death rate is much higher when a smoke alarm was present but not working during a fire than in homes that had no smoke alarms at all.

The number one cause of non-operational alarms? Dead batteries.

“Protecting people and their lives feels really good,” said Jim, who began his volunteer journey after watching Hurricane Katrina ravage New Orleans back in 2005.

After deploying to five major disaster sites in a six-month period, it’s safe to say that he takes great satisfaction in being part of the solution. “Red Cross is there every day, every year, for every major disaster.”

With over two million smoke alarms installed thus far (and many more to come), enthusiastic volunteers are welcomed and appreciated. From donations to joining an installation crew to starting a social media fundraiser, everyone can make a life-saving impact in their community.

In addition to free smoke detector installations, the American Red Cross will educate at-risk communities on fire safety essentials while fundraising to help families prepare, respond, and recover from home fires.

In the Gold Country Region, the goal is to install 1,100 smoke alarms this year. According to Jim, “The satisfaction is in the work. Come get trained and change some lives. You’ll be a changed person.”

Jim is a former Gold Country Region board member and chair of our golf tournament. With the realignment of our regional boundaries, he and his team will be working with the Northern California Coastal Region once Sound the Alarm resumes.

We are so appreciative of Jim’s work with the Gold Country Region and know he will continue to inspire NCCR volunteers with his dedication to Sound the Alarm and all the Red Cross does.

NOTE: As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic grows, the American Red Cross continues to work closely with public health officials to deliver our lifesaving mission where and when it’s safe to do so. To protect everyone’s safety, we have postponed all Sound the Alarm events, home fire safety visits and preparedness presentations until further notice.

In the Eyes of a DAT Volunteer

Just when you though that Placer County would NEVER get another DAT call it happened early this morning.

At 1:30 a.m. the phone rang. It was our Disaster Program Manager (DPM) Tami Martin. Poor telephone connection but we finally communicated. I had been deep in sleep so it took me awhile to get dressed – out the door at 1:45 headed for the back hills of Auburn. Tami invited some others to respond and Arry Murphy said yes! OK – we were a team. I was pleased that Arry said yes. She had only limited experience with 901s, even less with CAS2.0 or DCSOps. But, when given a task, she plows ahead and asks good questions. Dependable, reliable, accurate, smiles, laughs, doesn’t take herself too seriously, all great attributes.

At 2:30 a.m. I finally arrived at a very busy scene. Probably 8 fire trucks all with flashing lights were easy to see once I got close to the address. I found the incident Commander and he pointed out one of the occupants (the wife). As is typical the front yard was strewn with household items that the firemen had been able to salvage.

The fire started in the garage of the one story ranch style home then quickly spread to the attic and across the whole home. After the fire reached the other end of the home, where the bedrooms were located, the home had filled with smoke and the smoke alarm finally went off. It certainly saved this family of three plus their four animals (1 dog, 3 cats). By the time the fire department reached this remote home, it was fully engulfed.

Arry and I learned that the family would stay with friends and that they had structural insurance so we provided them with food and clothing allowances plus comfort kits. The 7-year-old daughter was well behaved, but it looked like she would sleep for a week once she finally got into a bed.

We left at 4:00 a.m. with CAC card authorized and the clients very appreciative of our support. My take home… the mother’s smile. Genuine, sincere, caring, grateful. It was a good night.

I fell asleep at 5:30 a.m. after driving home, eating a toasted English muffin with peanut butter and finishing the paperwork.

For other DAT volunteers, if you have not done so already, ask about how to put your availability into DCSOps. If your not in DCSOps we don’t know about your availability. Need help, just ask. PLACER DAT ROCKS!!!

Best Regards, Heath Wakelee American Red Cross Volunteer Placer DAT Team Captain

Saved by the Smoke Detector

In the early morning hours on June 2, two homes on Tilden Drive in Roseville were caught on fire. Neighbors spotted smoke coming from the homes and called their local fire department, which arrived shortly after.

Homeowner Jim Meron was asleep when the fire broke out, but his smoke detector’s loud alarm alerted him to danger.

“It’s surreal,” Meron said. “You’re not awake and you can’t believe it’s happening. You’re awestruck. No doubt, no doubt, the smoke detector saved my life.”

The two-alarm fire completely destroyed one of the homes, and the other home was damaged by smoke. Thankfully, everyone made it out safely.

Incidents like this are a clear reminder of why the American Red Cross Gold Country Region is pushing to reduce the number of home fires with the Home Fire Campaign.

The number of residential fire death actually increased by nearly 15% in 2013. Smoke alarms cut the risk of death from a fire in half, so the Red Cross is focusing the efforts of our coalition of organizations on installing smoke alarms in homes in some of the most fire-affected neighborhoods around the country.

We’re joining with fire departments and community groups to canvass neighborhoods, install smoke alarms and deliver fire prevention information in places we know have high numbers of fires.

The Red Cross also is asking every household in America to join us in taking the two simple steps that can save lives: checking their existing smoke alarms and practicing fire drills at home.

Here are some alarming facts:

On average, seven Americans die in home fires every day.

When smoke alarms fail to operate, it is usually because their batteries are missing, disconnected or dead. Almost one-quarter of smoke alarm failures are due to dead batteries.

Nearly two-thirds of all fire deaths happen in homes that have no smoke
alarms or malfunctioning units.

Our region’s goal was to install 1,000 Smoke detectors in 2014-15, and with help for our local fire departments and volunteers, we have been able to install 1,131! Our other accomplishments include:

-2,190 homes canvased

-781 emergency plans developed

-436 CO monitors installed

-339 batteries in smoke alarms and CO monitors replaced

Round of applause and a big ‘thank you’ goes out to everyone who made this happen.

People can visit redcross.org/GoldCountry to find out more about how to protect themselves and their loved homes from fire and find out the location of local smoke alarm installation event.