Fire Preparedness Program
Posted by Nick Pardasani
on Aug 16, 2015
This week, we had the pleasure of Margaret Arbini-Madonna from American Red Cross come talk to us about the Fire Preparedness Program in Paramount, which she is spearheading for the American Red Cross. Margaret is a long time member of Long Beach Rotary Club. With her charming personality, her knowledge of the subject and her professional presentation, she had our full attention the whole time!
She started with a general discussion of “Prepare So Cal 2.0” which is an outgrowth and updated version of her previous program “Prepare So Cal 1.0”. First, she presented us with the big picture. This program starts with Community Resilience and goes down to Individual & Household preparedness. She shared the 3 year plan for the entire Los Angeles County and mentioned that she is personally responsible for Territories 4 and 5, which include Paramount and East Los Angeles for this year.
Paramount key demographics are: Population 54,098; 14,000 Households; 78.6% population Hispanic/Latino; Average Age 28; 33% population being under 18; Average income $44,167, 22% living below poverty line.
There is a well thought out plan based on her previous experience and knowledge and understanding of the territories. They have already formulated relationships with business leaders, elected officials, school districts, local community organizations and anyone who wants to volunteer or partner.
Then there is a menu of services which starts off with the Home Fire Preparedness Campaign. There are well defined time lines from July 1 to September 30, for October 1 to December 3, for Jan 1 to March 31 and April 1 to June 30, 2016. So far, everything is progressing as per target. At this point, they are recruiting volunteers to achieve the next milestone: Soft Launch Event – Kickoff. The goal here is to install 200 smoke alarms on “San” Street on August 29th. The next milestone will be Signature Home Fire Installation Event in October.
Margaret made a request to us to provide one team of 3 people for the August 29th event. This will also include a brief training session on August 26th morning. Our club is confident that we will be able to provide a team to help with this worthy cause! Needless to say that if you have an interest in participating here, this is the time to come forward!
Margaret Arbini-Madonna from American Red Cross. To Learn more about Fire Prevention check out their website: http://www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster/home-fire