Nearly 30 homes in Greater Shenandoah participate in smoke alarm installation event
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Patricia Daley, American Red Cross, explains to Shenandoah Assistant Chiefs Joe Boris, center, and Joe Kayes, on how to fill out the form documenting alarm installations on March 22, 2023.
SHENANDOAH – Thanks to the American Red Cross and the Shenandoah Fire Department, about 30 homes received new smoke alarms in and around Shenandoah Borough.
Volunteers from the Red Cross and the department gathered at the Columbia Hose Co. on West Centre Street Wednesday night prior to the installations.
Shenandoah Fire Chief Rick Examitas said about 30 homes signed up from the borough, Shenandoah Heights, and the patches west of town.
Examitas said Wednesday’s installation, part of the Red Cross’s Sound The Alarm campaign, was in the works well before the recent stretch of fires in town.
All alarms were provided by the Red Cross.
Peter Brown, executive director of the Red Cross’s Pennsylvania Rivers chapter, was also on site Wednesday. The Pennsylvania Rivers chapter covers Schuylkill County, as well as the Lehigh Valley, Berks County, and the upper Susquehanna Valley.
“We appreciate the opportunity to partner with the local fire companies,” Brown told the Sentinel. “This program is really important. When a fire happens, it frequently involves more than one home, and anything we can do to keep the people safe is really important.”
Brown said the Red Cross has installed over 2 Million alarms nationwide and has been documented to have saved thousands of lives.
Over 3,500 detectors have been installed in Schuylkill County, Brown said.
“We’ve been in Pottsville, Mahanoy City, here, Ashland,” Brown said.
Examitas expressed appreciation for the partnership with the Red Cross, and the importance of smoke alarms.
“We’ve had fires here in town that smoke alarms saved people and had them get out of the house,” Examitas said.
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