Volunteers begin Sound the Alarm installations
Sound the Alarm sets goal of 1,500 installations
Volunteers intently listen to instructions before heading into the field Tuesday morning to install smoke alarms in the Red Cross Sound the Alarm campaign. The program saves lives, Sharon Kesselring of the Red Cross said. (Photo by Jess Mancini)
Sharon Kesselring, executive director of the American Red Cross of Northwestern West Virginia, rallies a group of volunteers Tuesday morning for the Sound the Alarm smoke alarm initiative. The goal is 1,500 alarms installed on Tuesday and Saturday when the program involves fire departments in Wood and Wirt counties. (Photo by Jess Mancini)
Volunteers intently listen to instructions before heading into the field Tuesday morning to install smoke alarms in the Red Cross Sound the Alarm campaign. The program saves lives, Sharon Kesselring of the Red Cross said. (Photo by Jess Mancini)
Sharon Kesselring, executive director of the American Red Cross of Northwestern West Virginia, rallies a group of volunteers Tuesday morning for the Sound the Alarm smoke alarm initiative. The goal is 1,500 alarms installed on Tuesday and Saturday when the program involves fire departments in Wood and Wirt counties. (Photo by Jess Mancini)
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PARKERSBURG -- The goal is high, but the stakes are higher for the American Red Cross' Sound the Alarm initiative.
Red Cross volunteers and volunteers from corporate sponsors on Tuesday canvassed neighborhoods and installed working smoke alarms. The second day of the initiative is on Saturday and will involve fire departments in Wood and Wirt counties and the city of Parkersburg, said Sharon Kesselring, executive director of the American Red Cross of Northwestern West Virginia.
The goal is to install 1,500 smoke alarms, at least three per home, in the two counties, 500 on Tuesday and 1,000 on Saturday, Kesselring said.
"That's quite a goal," she said.
While the goal is high, the results are measured in lives saved, according to Kesselring. About 580 families nationwide, 25 in West Virginia and six in Wood County were saved because of a working smoke alarm installed by the Red Cross, she said.
Volunteers assembled at the Dominion Energy offices on Ashby Ridge Road Tuesday morning before breaking into teams to cover Vienna, north and south Parkersburg.
The Dominion Energy charitable foundation donated $25,000 to purchase smoke detectors for the program, Samantha Norris, a spokeman for Dominion Energy, said. Volunteers from Dominion Energy also participated on Tuesday's canvass and installation, she said.
Parkersburg has been designated one of about 100 signature cities by the Red Cross in the Sound the Alarm program, Kesselring said.
"What you do today is life-saving work," Kesselring told the assembled volunteers, which included Red Cross volunteers from other West Virginia counties, including Monongalia and Kanawha.
Representatives of several corporate sponsors said the initiative was an opportunity for them to return something to the community.
"I believe we enjoy giving back to the community and helping the community any way we can," Jim Antill of Erie Insurance said.
Safety is a key issue at Woodcraft Supply and the Sound the Alarm program ties into that, said Linda Hashman, a purchaser at Woodcraft.
"Safety is important to us," she said.
Safety programs that protect the community are important to State Farm Insurance, a sponsor of the initiative, too, Chad Graham, a State Farm agent, said.
"What better way to do that than do community events like this," he said.
Dominion Energy, besides providing a meeting area, also provided transportation, Norris said.
The utility was a sponsor of the event in Bridgeport last year, Bob Orndorff, state policy director for Dominion Energy, said. Parkersburg has among the highest concentration of Dominion customers in West Virginia, he said.
National sponsors of the event are Air BNB, Delta, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Nissan Motors. Regional sponsors are UWA MOV, Dominion Energy, the Bernard McDonough Foundation, Erie Insurance, the First Energy Foundation, WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center, the Bridgeport GFC Junior Woman's Club, the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation, Woodcraft Supply, Wood County Rotary, United Bank and State Farm.
Kesselring also thanked WTAP TV, the Parkersburg News and Sentinel, Results Radio, WVVV, IHEART Radio, WV Outdoors, J.R.'s Donuts and Subway..