Increasing home fire preparedness through a home visiting program: an evaluation of the American Red Cross Home Fire Campaign

Abstract

Home fires are a major cause of unintentional injury and death in the U.S. In 2023, home fires caused nearly 3000 deaths. Smoke alarms and home fire escape plans are recommended to prevent home fires and prepare households to evacuate in the event of a fire. In 2014, the Red Cross launched the Home Fire Campaign to reduce fire-related injuries and deaths by installing smoke alarms and providing fire safety education to households in at-risk communities, documenting 2420 lives saved since its inception. To evaluate the program, in 2023, we surveyed households that received an Home Fire Campaign visit during the prior year and a comparison group of adults living in similar at-risk areas. We investigated the association between the intervention and preparedness behaviors using two outcomes: number of smoke alarms in homes and presence of home fire escape plans. We used Pearson's chi-square test for significance between the intervention and outcomes, conducted t-tests for the mean number of smoke alarms between groups, and calculated prevalence ratios for the presence of home fire escape plans. The intervention was positively associated with both outcomes. Respondents in the intervention group reported a significantly higher mean number of smoke alarms and a 36 % greater prevalence of having a home fire escape plan than the comparison group. Associations were strongest among adults 65 and older for smoke alarms and adults younger than 45 for escape plans. Findings suggest home visits are an effective way to improve home fire prevention and preparedness behaviors.