Red Cross Volunteers to Canvas Nāpili, Kīhei Neighborhoods

PC: Hawaiʻi Red Cross Fire Campaign file photo.

Volunteers with the Red Cross Maui chapter will canvas the Nāpili neighborhood in Lahaina today (Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016) and the Kīhei area of South Maui tomorrow (Friday, Dec. 30, 2016) to promote the organization’s Home Fire Campaign.

The canvasing in Nāpili will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. today; and the canvasing in Kīhei will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday.

A similar effort was conducted in the Piʻilani Village subdivision of Kīhei last week.  The neighborhood was the site of a residential fire reported earlier that week.

Volunteers will be sharing fire safety information and offering on the spot smoke alarm battery replacement and smoke alarm installations.

Maui Red Cross Director Michele Liberty said every eight minutes, the Red Cross responds to a disaster- and the vast majority of these are home fires. She said, “Home fires can be a deadly threat because they happen so quickly.  We are urging Maui residents to ensure that they have working smoke alarms in their homes.”

According to the Red Cross, home fires kill more people each year in the US than all other natural disasters combined.

The American Red Cross installs smoke alarms in homes in neighborhoods at high risk for home fires as part of its Home Fire Campaign. In the last two years, more than half a million smoke alarms have been installed as part of the program.