January 26, 2024
By: Shelby Wells, Regional Communications Manager

“You cannot imagine the pride I had when hanging up these two pairs of blue jeans and two shirts that my neighbor gave me, because that’s all I owned in the world,” Robert Harris recounted his first day of recovery after he experienced a total-loss home fire in late December. He overlooked the rubble where his Mount Hermon home stood just five days prior.

There are some situations that no training can prepare you for, and watching a lifetime of memories go up in a blaze is certainly one of them. Even for Robert, an Army veteran, former law enforcement agent and current Chief Operations Officer of the Louisiana Red Cross, the immediate aftermath of a home fire is hard to grapple with. Despite the difficulty of starting completely over, the tragedy reminded him of what is truly irreplaceable in life.

“I’m alive. My family is alive. This was stuff,” he motioned toward the piles of ash, “and while there are a ton of memories in this stuff that cannot be brought back, what I cherish the most is my family living next door, our dogs and cats walking around right here, and the horses out there. Everything else came from money, and money can’t replace those you love.”

The night of the fire was normal by anyone’s standards. Robert had gone to a friend’s birthday dinner, returned home to enjoy a fire in the living room, and eventually settled into bed with his service dog at his feet.

He was jolted awake by the screeching of smoke alarms and heard an unfamiliar roar coming from the living room. He checked his doorknob quickly and, feeling no heat, opened the bedroom door to investigate. Whenever he opened the door, the fire was instantaneously in the room with him- along with black, putrid, suffocating smoke.

“It instantly took my breath away and it took my sight from me. My eyes burned so badly. It was worse than the gas chamber that I went through with the military,” Robert recalled.

Blinded and choked, Robert grabbed his panicked service dog by the collar and quickly made his way to the bedroom window. A few moments of struggle with the locked window latches used up the rest of the air in his lungs and he thought I’m going to die right here. Unable to take another breath, Robert took one last second to calm his mind. He used his singular focus to successfully unlatch the window, freeing his pup first and then himself.

“I had always been told through Red Cross training that you had two minutes to get out from the time a house fire started- but I never believed it. I always thought I would have more time.”

Two minutes is the amount of time that fire experts say you may have to safely escape a home fire before it’s too late. In only five minutes from the initial ignition, 100-foot flames had busted through Robert’s roof and the glow could be seen from miles away. While the firefighters were unable to save his house, they successfully defended his daughter’s house next door.

Robert escaped with only moments to spare, and he credits his survival to the smoke alarms installed a few years ago by Red Cross volunteer Wanda Cooper and Disaster Program Specialist Luke McQuade after a Sound the Alarm community event.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, without any hesitation, I can say that the reason I'm sitting here and talking to you today is because that smoke alarm went off,” Robert said. “If it had not gone off, there’s no way I would be alive- the smoke would’ve gotten me before I made it out of bed.”

Year-round Sound the Alarm. Save a Life. events are an important part of the Red Cross’ Home Fire Campaign, which aims to save lives from the nation’s most frequent disaster. Since it's inception in 2014, the Home Fire Campaign has seen 2.6 million free smoke alarms installed nationwide, with 46,560 installed in Louisiana. The campaign has documented 2,012 lives saved, including 27 in Louisiana. Robert’s life will soon be counted in that total.

“A smoke alarm is not going to save your home. It’s going to save the most precious thing you have, and that’s the people inside,” Robert reflected.

Only a few charred items were salvaged from the rubble, including a photograph of Robert’s daughter as a baby, two newspapers (one from 9/11 and the other from Hurricane Katrina), and pieces of his grandfathers’ WWII uniforms and burial flags. A friend is helping to restore the treasured burial flags by sewing the repairable parts into new American flags.

Recovery can be disheartening, even with a strong support system and community. While dealing with his insurance, replacing essential identification documents, obtaining copies of diplomas and grappling with the future, this experience only made him grow in appreciation for the services offered by the Red Cross.  

“It’s daunting. I just get up each day and put one foot in front of the other, but it’s unimaginably hard to know where to take that first step,” Robert admitted. “That's what the Red Cross does. They give you that time to be able to figure out what that next step is. Just to have a place to stay for a couple of days, food, your initial clothing, it’s everything.” 

While Robert didn’t utilize Red Cross recovery assistance, he is working with the Red Cross’ Service to the Armed Forces team to get his prized military awards reissued, honoring his years of service.  

Families can take steps now to make their homes safer before a fire. Robert urges families to install and check their smoke alarms, rehearse their two-minute fire drill, and practice two ways of exiting every room in the house. People can also prepare for the unthinkable: store scans of important documents in Cloud-based storage, do a video inventory of your belongings, and consider keeping records of major purchases.  

“Tomorrow is a new day,” Robert said. He pointed to a chunk of melted and re-crystalized glass resting on a nearby wall. “That is the glass from the window I climbed through to save my life. I think I'll keep it and put it in my next house as a reminder of how far I’ve come, and what really matters.” 

To help Robert and others who have tragically lost everything to a home fire, donate here. To request a home fire safety visit, including a free smoke alarm installation, and learn more about the American Red Cross’ initiative to #EndHomeFires, visit SoundTheAlarm.org/Louisiana.