INSTALLING SAFETY
Red Cross volunteers bring smoke alarms to homes
COHOES, N.Y. » A group of dedicated volunteers went door to door in the city of Cohoes on Saturday as part of a national campaign to provide and install smoke alarms in homes.
The effort drew a mix of volunteers to the Cohoes Fire Department’s station on Ontario Street where instructions were given before the 15 teams of two or three people each were turned loose on the city.
Some of those making the early morning effort were Red Cross volunteers like Katherine Gould-Martin and Warren Lavery. Both had taken part in the project in other municipalities.
“I love these projects,” Gould- Martin said. “I came up today to do this from Red Hook, but I’ve volunteered for these projects before in Schenectady and Poughkeepsie.”
Lavery, too, has helped install the smoke alarms on other occasions. He recalled one installation in Wilton that saved someone’s life.
“We installed three or four in a modular home that had been added on to several times,” he said. “When the fire started in there the smoke alarms the team installed saved their lives.”
Other volunteers were like Alexandria Cosme, a native of New York City who is enrolled at the University at Albany.
“I’ve seen a lot of fires in New York and I know what they can do,” Cosme said. “I thought I’d come out help bring smoke alarms to people so it doesn’t happen here.”
“Smoke alarms can cut the risk in half and by us working with local fire departments we’ve realized howmany homes are out there with none.” — Kim Venter, the director of communications for the American Red Cross Eastern New York Regions
Kim Venter, the director of communications for the American Red Cross Eastern New York Regions said the organization has come to realize that home or residential fires are the most common of all the disasters the organization receives. Getting people free smoke alarms and having them installed is beneficial means of protection, she said.
“We’re called out every eight minutes for home fires,” Venter said. “Experts
agree homeowners and their families have two minutes or less to escape a fire. Smoke alarms can cut the risk in half and by us working with local fire departments we’ve realized how many homes are out there with none.”
Venter said volunteers knocked on the doors of many of the homes a few weeks ago telling the homeowners or apartment tenants they were coming on Jan. 27.
“Education is a huge part of this campaign,” Venter said. “Yes, the alarms with their 10-year lithium batteries are important, but so is having a plan as to where
to go in case there’s a fire.”
That point was driven home by Red Cross Disaster Preparedness Specialist Oscar Paul during the instructions.
“As important as handing out the smoke alarms and installing them is the documentation that goes with it,” he said. “There is a lot of education going on here. With the documentation there should be a discussion about having an escape plan and a fire safety checklist. And once the alarms are installed leave them the box. There’s information there and hopefully they’ll read it.”
The effort drew the
presence of Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse, the president of the city council Christopher Briggs, and former mayor and now Assemblyman John McDonald III, DCohoes.
“I made it over to give them my support,” Morse said. “I was a firefighter for 26 years. There’s never a wrong time to do the right thing. Smoke alarms are the greatest line of defense from getting killed or injured.”
McDonald was equally supportive of the effort.
“Safety is a daily occurrence,” he said. “It’s great to see so many volunteers step forward to do what people take for granted.”
Once the instructions on how to greet the home homeowners and how and where to install the smoke alarms was completed, the teams were given a plastic pail containing a box of six smoke alarms, screws, a drill, protective glasses, and a plastic step ladder.
Alexandria Cosme joined Tom Hohenstein-Flac, a business owner from Troy, and Barry Washburn to become Team 5. The three set out walking down Ontario Street with their pail of goods and plastic ladder.
One of the first homeowners they saw in their area was Anna Kushnick. After explaining what they were
doing Kushnick invited the trio inside where they installed one smoke alarm in her first-floor apartment and three in the apartment upstairs.
“I’ll put too many smoke detectors in if I have too,” Kushnick said. “I’ve been in two house fires and it’s a smell you never forget. Wherever I am and I smell smoke I can tell if it’s commercial smoke or a home going up. It never leaves you.”
When they exited the home Team 5 headed off down the street knocking on more doors, seeing if anyone wanted free smoke alarms installed in their homes.