Meet James D. Robinson from Moody, Alabama

James D. Robinson is chief of the Moody Fire Department in Moody, Alabama. He requested $25,000 so he could install smoke alarms in every home is his county. By securing discount pricing, he and his team can now provide free installation of 1,500 smoke alarms for low income families! What an outstanding program this is. Each alarm is equipped with a 10 year lithium-ion battery that will not need replacement over the effective life of the alarm. The battery is non-removeable, reducing the likelihood that the alarm would be disabled.

It was the statistics in James’ application that prompted us to fund this project immediately…

"In the past year, six residents of St. Clair County, Alabama died in residential fires. Among them were a 3 year old child, an 11 year old girl, an elderly couple and their handicapped son, and a 47 year old man. In each case, the homes in which the victims died were not equipped with smoke alarms."

This free installation program will focus on the lower income, target hazard areas of the county. Unfortunately, the areas that are at greatest risk for a fire have the fewest firefighting resources available. James already held an initial training session for installers last week, which was attended by representatives of the Moody, Springville, Davis Lakes, Pinedale, Pell City, Riverside, Gallant, Odenville, Shoal Creek, and Argo Fire Departments. More than 20 installers were trained at this session, with other training sessions being scheduled. James also plans to train and use the assistance of civilian volunteers to help identify and schedule the installations. He hopes to ultimately deploy more than 75 trained installers into the community. He anticipates that the 1,500 alarms will be installed before the end of summer, maybe sooner.

With a little help from James' co-worker, Joe E. Nobles, Sr., who is Moody's Fire Marshal/Captain, we were able to get the local papers and news cameras to the station just in time for my phone call to James (aka "Doogie"). We timed it just perfectly - Doogie had a mouthful of food when I called! He told me about the lives lost in their community, saying that one of the people who died in a fire was a close friend, so this means a lot to him and the department. Once the smoke alarms are installed, focusing on seniors and children, James estimated that 1,500 to 2,000 people will be protected. This is an outstanding project and I hope everyone lets James know what a hero he truly is.

Diary Starts Here

July 2, 2008
James just sent us a newspaper article about the "installation blitz" which appeared in The Leeds News last week.

May 29, 2008
We're getting close! Installation is in two days! The installer training is complete and the fire fighters who volunteered came from eighteen different departments. Each 3 to 4-person team has been given a ladder, cordless drill, and toolbox with supplies to carry out the installations. Also helping out are volunteers from civic and church groups as well as the Boy Scouts. They will be conducting an "installation blitz" on Saturday, going door-to-door to lower-income and at-risk homes. Residents should be expecting them thanks to a front page story in today's St. Clair Times.

With a little help from the weather, they will likely install almost all of the 1,600 smoke alarms, for FREE. How inspirational to see what can be accomlished when giving and caring people come together.

May 7, 2008
The smoke alarms finally arrived! Chief Robinson said it was a little bit intimidating to look at the two large plastic-wrapped pallets of alarms. There's a lot of work to be done. They will finish training the installers on May 18th, and the plan is to do a door-to-door installation blitz on May 31. The installers will work in more than 10 neighborhoods that day to install as many alarms as possible. The chief says, "While one life saved will justify all of our efforts, this project will provide a blanket of protection over dozens of families for the next 10 years."

April 21, 2008
Well, things are moving quickly. The order for the smoke detectors has been placed and they are being shipped as we speak. Doogie says it's been a whirlwind since we called and they're looking forward to proceeding with the installation once the units arrive.