An event held over the weekend in Rochester had a goal of saving lives and also educating the community about the importance of having smoke alarms installed in their homes.
During this year’s Sound the Alarm initiative staff from the American Red Cross worked with other community partners to install smoke alarms for local families in some Rochester area homes.
Red Cross Disaster Officer Ken Turner said that even with all of the publicity through social media and traditional media outlets, it’s also important to bring this message directly to people who could be vulnerable.
“Actually, we’re going to do the old traditional foot to the pavement and going door to door knocking as well, to see if people do it,” said Turner, “because some people don’t (check out) social media. Some people don’t deal with radio. So, we’re trying to take a holistic approach. We’re going to be knocking on doors as well.”
Among the homeowners who got a smoke detector installed on Saturday is Karen Quitaldi. She said that living on a fixed income she can’t afford a lot of things that she needs, so this program is a big help for her and many other people.
“There’s a lot of elderly people that are in a financial bind also, and that’s a big concern here in Rochester, and all over New York state,” said Quitaldi. “So just hopefully, it helps somebody else too. It means a lot to me.”
Local Assemblymember Demond Meeks was among the volunteers helping the Red Cross install the smoke detectors. Meeks said that he has had personal experience with the need for the devices, noting that they helped alert him in the past when he had a small house fire.
“Because without that smoke detector, I probably would have potentially lost my home," noted Meeks, "so I know the importance firsthand of a smoke detector. I think that if more people have them, we could save more lives. “
The Sound the Alarm initiative, which was held in Rochester on Saturday, was part of a national campaign. It was supported locally by a number of area companies and organizations.
