Red Cross Raising Fire Safety Awareness By Going Door-To-Door
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Few will think of fire safety when asked about the American Red Cross.
However, they are working to change people's attitudes and to eliminate the dangers of fires one household at a time.
Today, a group of volunteers went door-to-door in Arlington and Arlington Heights to pass out fire safety information.
"We expect to do about 1,000 visits today to homes in this neighborhood to drop off fire safety information, information about how to get a free smoke alarm," Red Cross Regional Director of Communications Kevin Brown said.
The volunteers split up into two teams to cover more ground.
"I'm excited. I think it will reacquaint me with what the neighborhood's looking like again and hopefully I will run into some folks that will give me a chance to talk to about what's going on with the Red Cross," State Farm volunteer Robin McNally said.
Each team had neighborhood residents to help with the lay of the land.
"It takes somebody like us to go around and volunteer and go around to educate them and let them know that there is free stuff out there for them to get if they make that call and do what they need to do," Valerie Butler said.
The smoke alarms come from a FEMA grant.
"They call 311, the information line in the City of Pittsburgh, request a smoke alarm and then that information is relayed to the local fire station and the firemen will make an appointment with the homeowner and come out and actually install the alarm," Brown said.
Volunteers in Pittsburgh have visited more than 16,000 homes in the past year and more than 5,000 smoke alarms have been installed.
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