Red Cross seeks volunteers for safety alert

The American Red Cross of North Central Indiana is looking for more than 20 volunteers Saturday to go door-to-door along North Street to inform residents about fire safety.

North Street has been targeted because of the number of fires that have occurred there in the last three years, according to Rocky A.

Buffum, emergency services director for a six-county area for the American Red Cross.

“We’re doing this in all of our communities,” Buffum said. “In Logansport, we’re focusing on North Street because we’ve had a lot of fires there, especially with a lot of the older homes that have been converted into apartments. ... In the last three years, we’ve had about a half dozen fires that have displaced multiple families.”

Buffum pointed to a blaze that displaced 10 families at 903 North St. in September 2010.

“We really want to reach out to that community because it’s a high-incident area, and they do have quite a history over the last three years,” he said.

Lexi Reed, an AmeriCorps member assigned to the Red Cross, said volunteers would walk the neighborhood to let residents know about renter’s insurance, homeowner’s insurance, smoke detectors and fire prevention.

Volunteers will be served lunch after canvassing the neighborhood.

• Jason M. Rodriguez is news editor of the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at 574-732-5117 or jason.rodriguez@pharostribune.com.