Red Cross giving away free smoke alarm installations in New Rochelle. What to know
The local Red Cross chapter, which serves Westchester and Rockland counties, Greenwich, CT, and the US Military Academy at West Point, will install smoke alarms for free for residents who don't have working ones. All folks have to do is sign up ahead of the event date.
'We encourage everyone who doesn't have a working smoke alarm in their home to reach out and sign up for an appointment,' Stephanie Dunn Ashley, Chapter CEO of the American Red Cross, Metro NY North, said in an announcement for the event — 'Do it now, before you need it.'
Last minute spring break ideas: Spring break activities: Try sensory-friendly playplace We Rock the Spectrum New Rochelle
According to Dunn Ashley, home fires are this country's most frequent disaster. On average, seven people die every day from a home fire.
"Every second counts during a home fire," Dunn Ashley said. "Most people don't realize that we have just two minutes to escape."
That's why the American Red Cross started a national campaign called the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign. Sound the Alarm events are a part of the campaign, focused on bolstering home fire safety in the lower Hudson Valley.
"We do this work throughout the country and in every community," Dunn Ashley added. "But our Sound the Alarm home fire safety and smoke alarm installation events are typically held in communities where we see a higher-than-average rate of home fires, and where the people impacted may have additional obstacles to their recovery from a fire."
The Home Fire Campaign has helped save at least 2,284 lives since its launch in October 2014, according to the Red Cross. The Metro NY North chapter alone has installed over 11,000 free smoke alarms through its Sound the Alarm events in the area.
Volunteers and community partners work together with the Red Cross's Metro NY North chapter to plan a suitable time and date with those who sign up to install as many smoke alarms as a home may need for free to ensure a family's safety.
The upcoming May 3 Sound the Alarm event is for New Rochelle residents. But the Metro NY North chapter encourages all residents of the Lower Hudson Valley without working smoke alarms to request one.
Those in need of a smoke alarm and installation can request one by visiting soundthealarm.org/mnyn, or by calling 1-877-RED-CROSS (877-733-2767) and selecting Option 5.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Need a smoke alarm in New Rochelle? Get a free installation May 3
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Searchers seek missing after deadly Italy migrant shipwreck
Rescue vessels resumed a desperate search Thursday for migrants missing at sea after two crowded boats sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa, with 27 dead already confirmed. Sixty survivors were brought to shore on Wednesday, two of them taken by helicopter to Sicily for treatment and the others held in the reception centre on the island, according to the Red Cross. "Of the 58, 21 are minors. They spent a quiet night and are generally in good health," said Imad Dalil, the Red Cross official who runs the reception centre. The majority are Somali, with a few Egyptians, he added. Authorites have started efforts to identify the bodies found so far. Around 95 people were on the boats according to the UN, with the number of confirmed dead rising to 27 overnight, suggesting around eight people were missing. "At least 27 people have drowned in a tragic shipwreck near Lampedusa," said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, in a social media statement. "Over 700 refugees and migrants have now died in 2025 in the Central Mediterranean. "All responses -- rescue at sea, safe pathways, helping transit countries and addressing root causes -- must be strengthened," he said. - 'Waves took them both' - Lampedusa, just 90 miles (145 kilometres) off the coast of Tunisia, is often the first port of call for people trying to reach Europe in leaky or overcrowded boats. An Italian helicopter spotted a capsized boat and several bodies in the water on Wednesday, about 14 nautical miles off Lampedusa, the coastguard said. The boats had left Tripoli, Libya, earlier in the day, it said. According to survivors, one of the boats started taking on water, causing people to climb onto the other boat, which then capsized. A newborn baby was among the dead, according to Italian news reports. One Somali woman lost her son and husband, according to an account reported by the Corriere della Sera. "I had my son in my arms and my husband beside me. I don't know how, but we found ourselves in the water. The waves took them both away from me," she said. Five vessels searched for survivors, including one from the EU's Frontex border agency, alongside a helicopter and two aircraft. Despite the tragedy, the boats kept coming, with four others intercepted off Lampedusa overnight, according to the Red Cross. A total of 240 people are currently being held in the reception centre waiting for processing, Dalil said. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offered "deepest condolences" to the victims and vowed to step up efforts to tackle migrant traffickers. Her hard-right government took office in 2022 vowing to cut the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe. More than 38,500 people have arrived on Italian shores so far this year, according to interior ministry figures. This is slightly up on last year, but significantly less than the 100,000 reported by the same time in 2023. ar/tw
New York Times
6 days ago
- New York Times
At Least 26 Migrants Drown Off the Italian Island of Lampedusa
At least 26 people drowned on Wednesday after two boats carrying nearly 100 migrants capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa, according to the Italian Coast Guard, which said search and rescue operations were still underway. The migrants had been making the perilous journey across the central Mediterranean from Libya when the boats capsized, and 60 people were rescued at sea, said Filippo Ungaro, the Italian spokesman of UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. Italian news reports said that a baby and three teenagers were among the victims. It wasn't clear how many people may still be missing. Most of the survivors — 56 men and four women, the Italian Red Cross said — were taken to a migrant center on Lampedusa, where some told volunteers they had been traveling on two rickety boats. After one boat began to take on water, some of the migrants scrambled onto the other boat, which capsized as a result of the added weight, according to accounts told to the International Organization for Migration, another United Nations agency. The Coast Guard said the death toll was 'provisional and being updated.' More than 32,000 migrants have died in Mediterranean waters since the migrant organization began tracking deaths at sea in 2014. So far this year, 675 migrants have died or have gone missing while making the central Mediterranean crossing to Italy and Malta, but that does not include the 26 who drowned on Wednesday, said Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the migrant organization. In past reports on deaths at sea, humanitarian agencies have noted that 'the real number of dead and missing along these routes is believed to be higher as many incidents go unreported or undetected.' More than 38,200 migrants have managed to make the crossing to Italian shores so far in 2025, according to Italy's interior ministry. The boats that sank on Wednesday went down 14 nautical miles from the coast of Lampedusa, officials said. They said that the vessels left Zawiya, west of Tripoli, early Wednesday and that the causes of the shipwreck were still unknown. Vessels, helicopters and planes from the Italian Coast Guard, Italy's financial police and Frontex, the European Union's border agency, were involved in the rescue operations, the Coast Guard said. The Italian branch of Sea-Watch, the German nongovernmental organization that operates rescue boats for migrants in the Mediterranean, expressed 'rage and frustration' on X after what it described as the 'umpteenth shipwreck.' It added that civil rescue ships could have helped immediately had they been alerted. Mr. Ungaro, of the UNHCR, said search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean should be reinforced, and called on Europe to better support Italy and its coast guard. He also urged Europe to open humanitarian corridors for migrants, in particular those escaping from wars and countries where their rights have been violated. Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, expressed 'deep sorrow' over the fate of the victims and assailed human traffickers that profit from these journeys. She said the government was committed to fighting traffickers 'in the only way possible: by preventing irregular departures and managing migration flows.' Sea rescues were not enough, she added.
CBS News
6 days ago
- CBS News
Aurora house fire displaces 5 adults, 4 dogs and a turtle; investigators say cause was accidental
Investigators quickly ruled the cause of a house fire in Aurora to be accidental, but now five people, four dogs, and a turtle have been displaced from their home. The fire was called in around 7:10 p.m. on Tuesday near East 7th Avenue and North Norfolk Way, according to Aurora Fire Rescue. In total, 14 units from AFR and Falck Rocky Mountain responded to the call. Upon their arrival, firefighters found the back of the home engulfed in flames. By the time the fire was fully extinguished, the home suffered "major damage" to the interior and exterior, as well as a small detached structure in the backyard. No one was injured in the fire, and the Red Cross is now assisting those people who were displaced. And while investigators said the fire was caused accidentally, the fire department didn't offer details as to what, specifically, caused it.
