CARIBOU, Maine — In an effort to cut down on the number of Aroostook County home fires, Cary Medical Center and the northern and eastern Maine chapters of the American Red Cross held a Fire Preparedness Program press conference last week in the hospital’s Chan Education Center.
A myriad of other partners are assisting in the effort, including Loring Job Corps, WAGM-TV, NMCC, the Aroostook Association of Fire Chiefs, and the Pine Tree Burn Foundation. On a national level, the Red Cross is aiming for a 25 percent reduction in fire-related injuries and deaths, and this campaign is part of that effort.
“With only two minutes to escape a burning home, it’s more than necessary to have working smoke alarms and to know your family’s escape plan,” said Joyce Knorr, community manager of the American red Cross of northern and eastern Maine, during the Sept. 30 event.
Knorr described the three cornerstones of a plan to dramatically reduce incidents of home fires.
“We are going to be doing door-to-door testing and installation of smoke alarms,” Knorr explained. “We’re going to include youth engagement in the classroom and after-school programs with technology and science based education.
“We’re going to be working with our partners that you see here today to help market and promote this pro-active program to motivate individuals and families to take actions to save themselves by testing smoke alarms and practicing escape plans,” she added.
“The reason this is of particular importance to me is that in 2014, 25 people died from fires in the state of Maine. Twenty-four of them could have survived if they had working smoke detectors in their residence,” said Maine State Fire Marshal Joe Thomas. “One fire fatality in 2014 was not attributed to a residential fire, and in all those others we know for a fact that they either did not have any detectors, they had detectors that were missing batteries, or the detectors were well beyond their life expectancy.
“The only way that we’re going to make a difference is to go house by house throughout this state and educate people on the right way to react when their smoke detectors go off. We will teach people, from the youngest child to the oldest adult, what needs to happen and we will stop these fire-related deaths in the state of Maine,” the fire marshal added.
As part of this 5-year campaign, the Red Cross is not only providing free smoke alarms, but also offering to coordinate their proper installation. Students from Loring Job Corps and NMCC are working with the Red Cross to help install the smoke alarms.
Installation teams plan to tackle Caribou on November 7th, Houlton on January 18th, Presque Isle on May 7th, and the communities of Augusta, Madawaska and Frenchville on March 5th.
Bill Flagg, director of community relations and development at Cary Medical Center, is reaching out to civic organizations to recruit more volunteers for the installation teams.
“The more hands the better,” said Flagg. “We anticipate a strong response to this program and we would like to be as responsive as possible. This is a great service project for a civic organization, church group, or other organization.”
WAGM is assisting the cause by providing public service announcements regarding fire safety procedures. Each PSA addresses a specific issue such as escape plans, proper smoke alarm usage, and alternative heating methods.
Kelly Landeen, general manager at the station, said that WAGM is “committed to serving the community” and that “the more people know, we believe, the safer they will be.”
“The loss of nine lives in Aroostook County to fire over this past year, including young children, was heartbreaking for everyone involved,” said Kris Doody, RN and CEO at Cary Medical Center. “The Red Cross is always there to respond and they have tremendous resources to help the general public on fire safety. We felt that by working together and attracting multiple other partners we could really have an impact.”
