ANAHOLA — How many people does it take to install a smoke detector?
Kaua‘i County Councilmembers, including Bernard Carvalho and wife Regina Carvalho, KipuKai Kuali‘i, the Kaua‘i Fire Department, including KKFD Fire e Prevention Capt. Jeremy Makepa, the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, an American Red Cross team from O‘ahu, including its house publication, ommunity residents, and more.
Diane Peters-Nguyen, the American Red Cross Pacific Islands Region CEO, praised John Blaylock of the Kaua‘i Red Cross for pulling together the diverse range of volunteers that turned out Sunday to install smoke alarms in people’s homes under the American Red Cross Hawai‘i Home Fire Campaign.
Opening in fluent olelo Hawaiian, Peters-Nguyen appreciated the community connectivity, especially DHHL.
“We didn’t do that much,” said Erna Kamibayashi, DHHL Kaua‘i District supervisor. “Primarily, we took the phone calls from residents and set up the appointments where residents could get a free alarm.”
There were teams installing alarms in Kapa‘a and the Westside as far as Kekaha.
Padraic Gallagher, the Kaua‘i American Red Cross director, said teams were installing about 70 alarms in all parts of the island on a single-day push, part of of the Hawai‘i Home Fire Campaign. Gallagher was responsible for a team that went north of the Anahola meeting site, and teams worked remotely in Kapa‘a and on the Westside.
Teams doing the installations were also provided with fire-safety material as well as instructions on how to test the batteries of existing installations, and guided to questions the team needed to ask to raise awareness about safety.
The Hawai‘i Home Fire Campaign is every day.
People needing a smoke alarm installed can visit redcross.org/local/hawaii/about-us/our-work/home-fire-campaign.html to request a virtual visit from the American Red Cross of Hawai‘i to receive a call with tips and resources for home fire safety.
The Hawai‘i campaign is part of the national Sound the Alarm, Save a Life initiative, where the ARC is rousing volunteers to install 50,000 smoke alarms nationwide.
Home fires claim seven lives every day, but having working smoke alarms can cut the risk of death by half, Peters-Nguyen said.
