Ahead of the most common time of the year for fires in the home, a new campaign to promote fire safety has been created. CSAA Insurance Group, AAA of Western New York and the American Red Cross are partnering together to inform people on fire safety.“The campaign comes at a perfect time,” AAA Western and Central New York Vice President David Weber said at a news conference on Wednesday. “October is Fire Prevention Safety Month, this week marks Fire Safety Week, we’re right in the middle of AAA insurance days and we are almost at the holiday season where more house fires happen on Thanksgiving than any other day throughout the year.”
The organizations encourage people to learn more about fire safety by viewing afire safety checklist that can be found online.
“The checklist includes tips for cooking safety, a home-fire escape plan and timing recommendations for smoke alarm replacement and testing. Every time visitors click the AAA or Red Cross campaign banner on our websites they will view the home safety checklist,” Weber said.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, nearly two-thirds of home fire deaths occur in homes with no smoke alarms. Local fire stations provided 4,500 fire alarms last year.
Local Red Cross Executive Director Chuck Marra said that campaign helped save lives but the new campaign can help save even more.
“The goal of our home fire campaign is to reduce the number of fire-related deaths by 25 percent nationally over five years. Since the (previous) campaign launched nearly two years ago, it is directly responsible for saving more than 110 lives.”
In an effort to raise money for the installation of smoke alarms in underprivileged communities across the country, CSAA will donate $5 dollars to the Red Cross for every visit to the campaign’s website. You can find that link on our website, wbfo.org.