(Press Release) — American Red Cross-NMI chapter volunteers Janet Santos, Joe Jetnil, Richard Defan, and Triana Zhu responded to a multifamily home fire on Bekka Street in Susupe late Thursday evening.
Red Cross received a call regarding a structure fire in Susupe around 11 p.m. Thursday evening. Volunteers were able to help displaced residents on scene. There were a total of 16 clients from six households who were displaced by the fire.
“We are relieved that no one was hurt during this unfortunate incident,” said Janet Santos the lead caseworker on scene with the American Red Cross. “We are glad that we are able to help the families and provide them with some assistance as they recover from this unfortunate incident,” she added.
“We are grateful for all the support from our community, and most especially our donors over the years,” said Richard Defan another Red Cross volunteer caseworker on scene. “It is really because of their support that we are able to come out and provide hope and comfort to people affected by disasters,” he said.
Simple steps to save lives
The Red Cross is calling on everyone to take two simple steps that can save lives: practice fire drills at home and check existing smoke alarms.
There are several things families and individuals can do to increase their chances of surviving a fire:
• If someone doesn’t have smoke alarms, install them. At a minimum, put one on every level of the home, inside bedrooms and outside sleeping areas. Local building codes vary and there may be additional requirements where someone lives.
• If someone does have alarms, test them today. If they don’t work, replace them.
• Make sure that everyone in the family knows how to get out of every room and how to get out of the home in less than two minutes.
• Practice the fire escape plan. What’s the household’s escape time?
What people can do
People can visit redcross.org/homefires to find out more about how to protect themselves and their loved homes from fire. They can become a Red Cross volunteer by contacting the local chapter office at 234-3459 or by visiting www.redcross.org/nmi
