On Monday, January 18, for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday American Red Cross and HOPE worldwide volunteers joined forces in the National Capital Region to distribute vital fire safety information to help area residents prevent home fires, protect their loved ones and strengthen their community.

In the Prince William area, 36 such volunteers gathered at the new Red Cross office on Liberia Avenue. After fueling up on Starbucks coffee and donuts from Shopper’s they got their marching orders.  Five teams of volunteers distributed a Red Cross Fire Safety Tips door hangar to more than 2000 homes in  Manassas Park and the Georgetown South and the adjacent Wellington Road neighborhoods of Manassas.

Home fires are the most common disaster that the Red Cross responds to and also the most preventable. Families need to take a few simple precautions to avoid tragedies, such as having working smoke alarms on every level of their homes and having family fire escape plans in place to help get everyone out of the house safely. The Red Cross Fire Safety Tips information provided residents with lots of important information in English and Spanish.  Volunteers also provide households with Be Prepared for the Flu information provided by Prince William County.

Before leaving for their morning mission, volunteers received thanks and appreciation from Manassas Park Fire Chief John O’Neal and Robert Halsall the Deputy Coordinator/Emergency Planner for Manassas . The pair shared the importance of fire prevention education. O’Neal noted that a fire doubles every minute it burns, so the best defense is prevention. Additionally, he noted the number one cause of home fires is unattended cooking.  The number two cause is electrical overload, such as permanent use of extension cords and the number three cause is portable space heaters or other heat sources too close to combustible materials.  Halsall iterated those causes and also commented that candles are the source of many of the more deadly and damaging fires.  Unattended or abandoned candles or candles that are too close to combustibles are a frequent culprit in home fires.            

When they returned volunteers relaxed and recharged with food donated by Chipotle and beverages donated by Safeway.  Volunteers came from all areas of Prince William-Lake Ridge, Manassas, Manassas Park and even Vienna .  Many made it a family affair with elementary age children learning early about community service. Still others were long time Red Cross volunteers or volunteers from local CERT (Citizen Emergency Response Teams) that are always ready to help strengthen their community. 

This canvassing of homes was repeated by 150 volunteers throughout the National Capital Region reaching 10,000 area residents with lifesaving information. In addition, Red Cross and Hope worldwide volunteers of more 35 cities and metropolitans areas participated in a similar distribution effort.