NEWCOMERSTOWN, Ohio — The American Red Cross is reaching out to the people of Newcomerstown after a fatal fire that killed six people rocked the community last month.
The organization is teaming up with Newcomerstown officials to provide fire safety visits to the neighborhood, install free smoke alarms and offer information to the immediate area of the deadly fire.
“This event, tragic as it is, has allowed us to partner with community groups and village officials to help make Newcomerstown a safer community,” said Tim O’Toole, Regional Disaster Officer for the American Red Cross of Northern Ohio, in a news release.
In April, the efforts will continue, during the annual Red Cross campaign, Sound the Alarm. Save a Life. Volunteers will re-visit the affected neighborhood, targeting even more families, to help plan two-minute fire escape plans.
“We hope this larger, community-wide event will help us rally the community around the fire safety theme,” O’Toole said in the news release. “It’s important for people to know how having working smoke alarms can reduce by half the risk of serious injury or death due to home fires.”
On December 26, 2022, Leroy Elliott and Terrin Hendricks and their girls: 13-year-old Addison, 9-year-old May, 7-year-old Abby, and 4-year-old Alyssa, perished in a fire.
Brian Peterman, investigations assistant bureau chief for the state fire marshal's office, said at the time, a wood burner, kerosene heaters and electrical space heaters were being used to heat the home, and that the heating devices were "most likely not used in the proper manner."
The fire remains under investigation.
To learn more about the Red Cross, click here.
Editor's Note: The following video is from a previous, unrelated report.
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