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Firefighters respond to smoke in downtown building

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Once bustling Ashley Yards rail site may bustle again with distribution business

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; More than 50 volunteers from the Wyoming Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross fanned out across the city&#8217;s Parsons and Miners Mills sections distributing and installing free smoke detectors as part of the organization&#8217;s Sound the Alarm campaign Sunday morning.</p><p>Volunteers, both experienced and first-timers, broke up into groups before descending on the city to help install smoke alarms and pass along information packets on fire safety from the Red Cross in partnership with the Wilkes-Barre City Fire Department.</p><p>Statistics from the American Red Cross show that seven people die each day from house fires.</p><p>&#8220;What you are doing today is lifesaving,&#8221; Bill Goldsworthy, executive director for the American Red Cross of Northeast Pennsylvania said to the room full of volunteers gather at the group&#8217;s Sherman Street headquarters.</p><p>Assistant Wilkes-Barre City Fire Chief Edward Snarski reaffirmed Goldsworthy&#8217;s statement.</p><p>&#8220;You guys are doing a really good job out there,&#8221; Snarski said. &#8220;You don&#8217;t think you are saving a life. But at some point you will. We can&#8217;t be everywhere at once. By installing these smoke detectors you are making a difference.&#8221;</p><p>In January, the Pittston City Fire Department was honored by the American Red Cross for the first local &#8220;save&#8221; recorded in December 2017. Earlier that summer, the Pittston City Fire Department partnered with Goldsworthy for the Home Fire Campaign, installing over 200 smoke alarms. The first local &#8220;save&#8221; happened at a house that a smoke alarm was installed in.</p><p>&#8220;I remember arriving at the scene and seeing two women wrapped in a blanket immediately come up to me and thank me for installing the smoke detectors in their home a few months prior,&#8221; Goldsworthy recalled. &#8220;So the work we do today makes a difference.&#8221;</p><p>Goldsworthy said the Red Cross has already canvassed the Parsons and Miners Mills section of the city weeks ago.</p><p>&#8220;People know we are coming,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We are hoping to install about 400 smoke detectors. If people weren&#8217;t home, we left a hang tag saying they will come back if they want.&#8221;</p><p>Goldsworthy estimates the Red Cross will probably install another 100 to 150 smoke detectors from that.</p><p>People who do not have a smoke detector in their home and who are interested in having one installed are encouraged to call 570-846-3328. Goldsworthy said people who call should leave their name, phone number and address so the Red Cross can set up an appointment to install a smoke detector.</p><p>&#8220;People think the American Red Cross shows up to fires and disasters,&#8221; Goldsworthy noted. &#8220;We are much more than that. We are trying to educate people and prevent them.&#8221;</p><p>Members of the King&#8217;s College Anime Club volunteered their time to help others. For Tyshawn Love, installing smoke detectors hits close to home.</p><p>&#8220;Installing fire alarms is extremely important,&#8221; said Love, a freshman at King&#8217;s. &#8220;Personally I had a fire that wrecked about a third of my home. If we didn&#8217;t have a smoke detector, we would have lost a lot more.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I feel bad for people who have gone through it,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want anyone to have to go through what I went through.&#8221;</p><p>The Sound the Alarm event is going on throughout the U.S., helping install more than 100,000 free smoke alarms.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Tracy Persing, of Wilkes-Barre, helps her grandson Anthony Aviles, 8, pick out a Red Cross T-shirt at the Sound the Alarm event in Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Sound-Alarm-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Tracy Persing, of Wilkes-Barre, helps her grandson Anthony Aviles, 8, pick out a Red Cross T-shirt at the Sound the Alarm event in Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Sound-Alarm-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">John Byrd, of the Red Cross, right, registers volunteers Sunday at the Sound the Alarm event in Wilkes-Barre. From left: Cheslsea Nace, of Carlisle; Madison May, of Long Island, N.Y.; Emily Harden, of Larksville; and Rita Walsh of the Red Cross. The three women are King&#8217;s College students that created the Red Cross Club at the school. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Sound-Alarm-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>John Byrd, of the Red Cross, right, registers volunteers Sunday at the Sound the Alarm event in Wilkes-Barre. From left: Cheslsea Nace, of Carlisle; Madison May, of Long Island, N.Y.; Emily Harden, of Larksville; and Rita Walsh of the Red Cross. The three women are King&#8217;s College students that created the Red Cross Club at the school. </caption1><photoCredit1>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Sound-Alarm-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Scooby Weiss, right, of the Red Cross, partnered with Daniel McBride, of Hazleton, to install smoke alarms in the Parsons and Miners Mills section of Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Sound-Alarm-3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Scooby Weiss, right, of the Red Cross, partnered with Daniel McBride, of Hazleton, to install smoke alarms in the Parsons and Miners Mills section of Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Sound-Alarm-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre assistant fire chief Edward Snarski, left, thanks volunteers for their efforts to install smoke alarms in Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. Standing next to Snarski is Bill Goldsworthy, executive director for the American Red Cross of Northeast Pennsylvania. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Sound-Alarm-4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wilkes-Barre assistant fire chief Edward Snarski, left, thanks volunteers for their efforts to install smoke alarms in Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. Standing next to Snarski is Bill Goldsworthy, executive director for the American Red Cross of Northeast Pennsylvania. </caption3><photoCredit3>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Sound-Alarm-5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kathy Jackiewicz, lead volunteer for the Sound the Alarm campaign, explains the process needed to install smoke alarms on Sunday. To her right is Seth Hoch of the Red Corss. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Sound-Alarm-5.jpg</photo4><caption4>Kathy Jackiewicz, lead volunteer for the Sound the Alarm campaign, explains the process needed to install smoke alarms on Sunday. To her right is Seth Hoch of the Red Corss. </caption4><photoCredit4>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Red Cross installs smokes alarms in Wilkes-Barre</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dan Stokes</p><p>dstokes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Dan Stokes at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @ByDanStokes</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Save the Alarm events aims to save lives