The Red Cross And Home Fire Prevention Campaign

There are many areas in the fire service where potential lawsuits and liability can arise; some of these areas include, but are most definitely not limited to negligence, hazing, and not following the fire department’s SOPs/SOGs. As our society has changed, so has its expectations of those in emergency services—while many in the community may think of firefighters as the pinnacle of what an upstanding citizen must look like, there are countless moral and ethical pitfalls that firefighters can fall prey to and diminish the reputation of the fire service.

Undoubtedly, the American Red Cross has done many wonders over the course of its existence. Whether it is providing relief from disasters, aiding the less fortunate nationally and internationally or saving lives with their blood program, the Red Cross has always been there to help the world become a safer place to live in. Most recently, this organization has had a strong impact in the recovery of “Superstorm” Sandy and Hurricane Isaac, providing food and water, multiple shelters for people that have lost their homes and even counseling during such a devastating time (“Top 20 Accomplishments”).

Virtually everywhere in the United States is affected to one degree of another by wildland fires. Even if a community is not directly involved with the fire itself, chances are that some of its members have gone to help fight wildland fires in other areas of the country by providing manpower, financial support, or other humanitarian aid.

The American Red Cross is a non for profit, congressionally chartered organization. Its primary focus is to give help anywhere that is needed both here and abroad. The American Red Cross uses its resources, time, and money to help five major areas, which are aiding people affected by disasters in American, supporting members in the military and their families, collecting blood for process and distribution, health and safety education and training, and international relief and development (American Red Cross). The Mission Statement of the American Red Cross is “The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors” (American Red Cross).

In the fiscal year 2010, (O’Shaughnessy, 2012) only about 5.1%, or 3 million people, out of the 57.8 million people age sixty and over, received services funded by the Act. These services included home delivered meals, home care, personal care, or case management services on a regular or intensive basis. About 14%, 8 million people, received other services, such as transportation, congregate meals, or information and assistance on a not so regular basis. A report was made by the Government Accountability Office stating that their findings were that many older people are in need of meals and other supportive services to help remain independent in their own communities, but a large portion of them are not getting the help they are in need of. Some barriers causing this lack of help are lack of funding and lack of knowledge among the older Americans that they may be eligible for benefits and services can be available for them.

On the night of October 8, 1871 at 9:00pm, a horrible fire broke loose. Very dry weather, leaving the ground dry, the wooden city vulnerable. The abundance of wooden buildings a fire started in a barn, outside in Chicago behind the home of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary at 13 Dekoven street. The Great Chicago Fire people are saying was caused by the cow of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary kicked a lantern. No one really doesn’t know how this great fire was started but some theories say humans or a matador caused this fire.

Most of these fires are due to poor building conditions, and the deaths and injuries are attributed to the lack of escape possibilities and fire safety measures. The American Red Cross in the Greater New York Region has been taking measures to alleviate this problem. The chapter participates in the organization’s Home Fire Preparedness Campaign, in which volunteers go around neighborhoods and install smoke alarms and and distribute fire-safety information. The campaign is very active in Bronx

A national American Red Cross movement. We are interested in reaching out to our most vulnerable communities and providing them with free smoke alarms and installation in their households. Through the Home Fire Campaign, the American Red Cross will install smoke alarms in every room and hallway of a household, at no cost to the residents. We will also provide the family with preparedness education, a safety plan, and

California is notorious for its wildfires. In the last two decades San Diego County has faced some of the most destructive firestorms in state history (Brainard, 2007). Ron Roberts, chairman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, describes the county’s disposition as, "We have a very dangerous, unpredictable situation. We have some of the highest temperatures, some of the driest landscape conditions, and some of the most powerful winds - all ingredients for a perfect firestorm (Pesce, 2007)." In 2003, San Diego County was overwhelmed by firestorms, including the Cedar Fire, and at that time it was the worst in state history. However, in 2007 San Diego was once again devastated by firestorms, but this time more mighty than the preceding (Ekard, Tuck, Jr., & Steffen, 2003). San Diego has had its fair share of practice at managing firestorm response actions. The 2003 firestorms proved that there were numerous inefficiencies within the county’s emergency response plan, while the 2007 firestorms emergency response revealed the lessons learned from 2003 and improvements implemented were effective. The threat of future firestorms in San Diego County are inevitable due to the continuing drought, Santa Anna winds, climate changes, and human behavior (Pesce, 2007). Having a well-constructed Incident Command System (ICS) and the trained personnel to execute its model is the most effective measure to mitigate the degree of life lost and property damage in a disaster incident. A

Go-to place for disasters: As of right now, the Hawaii Red Cross tries to not be the go-to place virtually for the community in the time of disasters. The chapter rather wants to point people in the right direction. The communications manager said that if something major happens, they will not be the source of breaking news anyway. Therefore, the Red Cross direct virtual visitors to the National Weather Service, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, the County of Hawaii Civil Defense and such. As the Red Cross is a well known humanitarian organization, there is a lot of potential in making the people go to its social media sites or website

Since 2010, the American Red Cross (ARC) annual expenditures on domestic relief services have been between $250 million and $400 million with majority of the donations coming from private donors. Additionally as of 2015, approximately 90% of the Red Cross workforce during disasters were comprised of volunteers. 2014 the Red Cross saw an enormous influx of expenditures as a result of Hurricane Sandy. This national disasters tested the overall efficiency of the Red Cross Operations since the Hurricane Katrina debacle. One of the significant issues raised by the society was the lagged response time of the ARC. One the reasons for this delay was due to the uncertain of the responsibilities between the ARC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Much like all events and natural phenomena that pose a threat to civilization, humans have learned to cope with and prevent the loss of human life and destruction of property in devastating blazes that can break out seemingly at random. Fighting fires was not always the science it is today, but due to the use of new technologies and the fundamental understanding of what fire is, how it spreads, how it can kill, and how it is stopped, our protocol when dealing with fires has increased our success rate and continues to grow with applications of engineering, chemistry, and meteorology.

I truly enjoyed reading the material for this week 's discussion. I found it fascinating to read how these people of passion were so revered as leaders. Something I found difficult while reading the stories of these various leaders was the details of what they did within their respective industries that made them successful. Although I recognize the importance of the details, I found myself continually fanaticizing about how the many different approaches would directly translate to the fire service. Because of the uniqueness of the fire service as an industry, I found it easier to relate to themes and concepts rather than the details. 'Strengths Based Leadership ' by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie For example Simon Cooper stated: "people create memories, not things. If we ask guests what color the carpet was in their guest room, they probably won 't know. The real value comes from the ladies and gentlemen (employees) who bring that hotel to life. Ten percent is the platform, but the rest is people. (Rath & Conchie, 2008, p. 43) As I read this I couldn 't help but think of the fact that our customers in the emergency response world (fire service) likely remember more about how we treat them than what uniform we wear or what kind of apparatus we arrive in, so long as we bring true caring and compassion to their bedside. In addition Cooper 's people over platform approach was obvious in this Rath & Conchie description: "then when he talked of the night-and-day difference that a

Fire prevention is a term being heard more and more today in America. It is starting to become a standard in today’s fire departments. Fire has the ability to keep us warm and also has the ability to make us homeless. As we grow as community and the technology changes, Fire Prevention needs to be made more of a necessity in our homes today. More homes are being built out of lighter material along with being built closer and closer together. Each can lead to extreme destruction, homes being lost, people being displaced, and even death. Why should we not protect homes and defend them against an enemy that can attack at any minute? Fire prevention needs to start in the home and then be carried onward in our lives. There are very

The greatest threat facing the Modern Fire Service is the rate at which firefighters are dying in the line of duty. Excluding the terrible event of 9/11 that occurred in 2001 that forever changed the dynamics of the emergency response services1, firefighter deaths have averaged around 100 fatalities each year for the since 1990. This unacceptable rate of firefighter deaths has found its way to be a benchmark in the industry. The problem is that the benchmark should be zero firefighter deaths while on duty and every year that there is a fatality is a year that the fire service has failed its members. The number one cause of firefighter related deaths yearly is proven to be medical, stress, or overexertion related fatalities2. All of these causes of firefighter deaths can be avoided with implementation of training and awareness.