- August 14, 2022
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Mentha Antoine, Jose Bueno and Janice Moran represented the American Red Cross at the event.
Newly appointed Ocoee Fire Department Chief Thomas Smothers gave an introduction at the event and led attendees in a prayer.
Jose Bueno, American Red Cross regional preparedness manager, said nationally the organization has been able to install more than 2.3 million free smoke alarms.
Janice Moran, American Red Cross of Greater Orlando executive director, discussed the Ocoee family who were saved from a fire on Aug. 2 with the help of first responders, their smoke alarm and the safety information they learned from ARC.
Mentha Antoine, American Red Cross disaster program specialist, presented the “Sound the Alarm” award to the Ocoee Fire Department.
Ocoee Fire Department Chief Thomas Smothers and Fire Marshal Shawn Sorenson accepted the award from the American Red Cross.
Fire Marshal Shawn Sorenson, Chief Thomas Smothers and American Red Cross representative Mentha Antoine pose with the award.
Fire Marshal Shawn Sorenson said the department has installed smoke detectors in more than 200 homes through the blitzes.
Jose Bueno, Mentha Antoine, Shawn Sorenson, Thomas Smothers and Janice Moran pose with the “Sound the Alarm” award.
The Ocoee Fire Department members welcomed the American Red Cross to their station for the special event.
The Ocoee Fire Department partnered with the American Red Cross to host the “Celebration of the Lives” event on Thursday, Sept. 15.
The event honored the lives of a family that were saved from a fire by smoke detectors installed a few years earlier, a result of a smoke detector blitz conducted by the Ocoee Fire Department in 2016.
Thomas Smothers, Ocoee Fire Department chief, said the department has conducted several blitzes in the past and, although they were halted by the pandemic, the department plans to bring them back.
Smothers, Jose Bueno, ARC regional preparedness manager, Janice Moran, ARC of Greater Orlando executive director and Mentha Antoine, ARC disaster program specialist were some of the special guest speakers.
Bueno said nationally, more than 2.3 million free smoke alarms have been installed, making more than 982,000 families safer and more than 1.8 million youth have been trained in emergency preparedness.
“We can’t do this alone,” he said. “We have to work together with our fire department and with our community partners.”
