TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo firefighters stress the importance of smoke alarms because they can save lives. And now, they are bringing awareness to the fact that not every home has them.
In an effort to change that fact, TFRD partnered with the American Red Cross and walked door to door passing out smoke alarms in a central Toledo neighborhood and educating residents on fire safety Wednesday.
Toledoan Yolanda Fisher lives one house down from a Klondike Street home that burned in a fatal fire on Aug. 10.
She said losing a neighbor was hard and it serves as a reminder to stay prepared.
A Lucas County grand jury last week indicted Devon Hall, 48, on an aggravated murder charge and two charges each of murder and aggravated arson for the fire that killed 32-year-old Ronda Scott.
TFRD Deputy Chief Daniel Brown-Martinez said the smoke alarm initiative brings the community together and hopefully prevents another tragedy.
"It just shows that we love our community," he said. "I think I know every firefighter cares about humanity. And when we are out here as you can see we have volunteers on their days off to install these life-saving devices."
The initiative to pass out smoke alarms began in 2015, according to Rachel Hepner-Zawodny, the executive director of the Western Lake Erie Chapter of the Red Cross.
"We enjoy it. We enjoy sitting down with folks, we enjoy meeting people and people are generally really grateful when we leave," she said. "They say 'thank you for making my home just a little safer.'"
After TFRD and the Red Cross visited her home, Fisher has three new smoke alarms and learned a lot about fire safety, she said.
"Get an escape plan if we have a fire, where to meet at and all kind of stuff that I didn't even think about," she said. "I figured if we were upstairs we'd jump out of the window. But I'm okay and I think me and my grandkids will be."