August 3, 2007 - Youth Basketball Team Trying to Save Lives

Group partnering with fire department to install smoke detectors

Carl Harris said that at the end of each season as coach for the areas AAU youth basketball program, he tries to find a civic project for the members of his team to be a part of. This year is no different. This weekend Coach Harris and his LA RoundBallers will join members from the Shreveport Fire Department to give away and install life saving smoke detectors in the Allendale neighborhood near downtown.

The coach and his group of a dozen or so 16-17 year-olds will meet Saturday, August 4^th at 9:45 a.m. in the parking lot at Booker T. Washington High School where they will partner with Shreveport firefighters and Investigators for the project. It is a great opportunity for the team, which coach Harris said recently returned from the national AAU Basketball tournament in Florida where they placed fifth in the nation, to give back to the community. The fire department is thrilled to see area youth involved in something that truly impacts family, friends, and neighbors and a positive way.

Nearly 3000 lives are lost each year to residential fire related deaths and there is no better fire prevention tool available than an active smoke detector. National Statistics show that individuals in homes with working smoke detectors are 70-percent more likely to escape a fire without serious injury or death than those residences without the devices. ###