Home Fires Are A Real Disaster

Article Posted by North Carolina Gazette  Photo by Staff Photographer David Lear

Charlotte--During 2014, the American Red Cross helped more people affected by home fires than all other disasters combined. Day after day and in neighborhoods from coast to coast, their biggest disaster threat isn’t from tornadoes, hurricanes and floods, but home fires. Nearly every 8 minutes, the Red Cross responds to a disaster in the community and approximately 93 percent of these are home fires.

Local American Red Cross volunteers in 12,500 communities across the nation responded at all hours of the day with food, blankets and comfort to help more than 211,000 people with nowhere else to turn after home fires in 2014. The Red Cross also provided financial support to tens of thousands of households after home fires to help replace lost belongings and begin the long road to recovery.

The work doesn’t end after the smoke clears. Red Cross volunteers across the country are helping to save lives through a nationwide campaign to reduce the number of home fire deaths and injuries by 25 percent over the next five years. Since the campaign launched in October, "we’ve already reached more than 29,000 people by installing more than 17,000 smoke alarms.These efforts have already saved five lives and we hope this is only the beginning." said the American Red Cross.

To learn more about the American Red Cross CLICK HERE