Sound the Alarm!

This Saturday, I’m trading in my suit and briefcase for a sweatshirt, jeans, and hand tools. Along with a team of fellow VTAJ members from across the state, we’re fanning out across Rutland with the Red Cross to install hundreds of free smoke alarms.

I suspect this won’t surprise anyone but smoke alarms save lives. But here in Vermont people still die every year in house fires because they don’t have one. Worse yet is dealing with a death because someone forgets to check the batteries if they do have one.

We’re teaming up with the Red Cross to “Sound the Alarm” because we live here, too. The good news is that in the last fifteen years the number of statewide deaths have dropped because of fire safety education campaigns and the mandated use of smoke alarms. Since 2000 the number of Vermont fire deaths have dropped to less than ten most years.

But imagine if it was your spouse or child who dies in a fire because there was no smoke alarm. As trial attorneys, we see the pain Vermonters face every day when someone is hurt because another’s carelessness caused an accident. An accident, that in this case, is virtually preventable if you have a working smoke detector.

That’s why we want to help. As a group, we’ll be going door-to-door installing detectors. We’ll also have free replacement batteries. There is no catch. There is no sales pitch. We live here, too. We want to eliminate fire deaths and we’re proud to be partnering with the Red Cross.