Red Cross Volunteers Help to Keep Knoxville Residents Safe Following Back-to-Back Multi-Family Fires

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., June 29, 2022 - American Red Cross volunteers respond to thousands of home fires a year in Tennessee. In fact, in the last 12 months, Red Cross has responded to more than 2,100 home fires throughout the region. Multi-family fires, like apartment fires, are always a huge challenge.  

From November 2021 to January 2022, Summit Towers, a 276-apartment unit building in Knoxville experienced three multi-family fires. Two of the fires, the Red Cross responded to and worked cases to help residents recover from their loss. Following one of the fires, the entire building had to be evacuated. Working with Knoxville's Community Development Corporation, 167 residents were sheltered while both water and all fire damages were repaired.  

“These fires were a month apart each time,” recalled Kristin Rice, disaster program manager with the East Tennessee Chapter of the American Red Cross in Knoxville. “Because of these repeated calls for fires at Summit Towers, we knew the hardships this was causing the residents. These were people who live independently but were older and had mobility issues. We saw an opportunity to educate the residents about fire safety. An inability or lack of knowledge for fire safety could lead to fatalities if not addressed.” 

Rice gathered as many disaster action team volunteers as possible and went to work. The team went back to the apartments when residents returned and educated the individual clients by educating them on fire safety checklists for the Homes Made Safer campaign. “We had information to each and every resident that we could access in the apartment building,” she said. “We went door to door and met clients in public access areas of the building to do group education sessions.”  

"People were really appreciative and thankful,” Rice added. “They were so moved by our shelter response and case work during one of the fires, but to give them the tools to prevent fires and have an escape plan was critical, and honestly could be lifesaving.”  

In all, ten volunteers worked with Red Cross staff to do the Homes Made Safer educational presentations. Today, the Red Cross is now part of a partner committee in Knox County, with city and county government partners, public safety, and medical responders to work through safety measures to help in fire rescues and to make solid plans for what happens after people are vacated in a multi-family fire call. 

To find out more about how you can become involved as a volunteer with the American Red Cross, or to find out more information on the Homes Made Safer campaign go to RedCross.org.