By Mary Jo Blackwood, Red Cross of Colorado Public Affairs
Imagine this happened to you:
We heard fire engines outside but thought the problem was somewhere nearby. It was cold and rainy, so I put on some warm clothing and decided to go investigate. When I opened our apartment door, black smoke poured in! I slammed it closed and told my husband: We’re trapped! He broke a window and we climbed out of our half-basement level apartment with little but the clothes on our back. That was the last time we were in our apartment for more than two weeks.
This might have been a time to really panic, but Sandy Serrano and her husband Michael had a resource they didn’t even know existed: the American Red Cross.
Most people, when asked, know about some of the Red Cross services.
- If they are in the military, they know about the Red Cross’s Congressional mandate to provide services and emergency messaging to military and their families.
- They may have taken a Red Cross first-aid, CPR or lifeguarding course.
- They may be active blood or platelet donors.
- The news is full of Red Cross response to large national and international disasters.
Many fewer people know that nationally Red Cross responds to single-family and multiple unit fires on average 60,000 times a year. That means that every eight minutes, the Red Cross responds to a disaster – and the vast majority of these are home fires. In a typical year, home fires kill more people than all natural disasters combined in the United States
But Sandy and her husband didn’t know that when they were standing out in the parking lot on a cold, wet day. Then a fireman approached them and told them he had called the Red Cross and they would be there soon to help them. Before they knew it, the evacuated residents had warm Red Cross blankets, water and dinner. Said Serrano, “We got fed and taken care of. I had no idea the Red Cross did this kind of work. I have been a blood donor since I was 17 and we know about the military services, but this was amazing.”
Thea Wasche was one of the Red Cross volunteers on the scene. She is a Disaster Action Team (DAT) manager for multi-family fires for the Colorado/Wyoming Region and, as Southeastern Colorado Feeding Lead, coordinated feeding for the evacuees and first responders. She was ably assisted by Bob Lynn, who was the shelter manager working the non-congregate shelter.
The volunteers had their hands full. Everyone was out overnight and people on the ground floor where the fire took place were out for up to two weeks. Besides the fire damage, there was evidence of asbestos in ceiling tiles that needed to be mitigated.
Before long, Wasche and her crew had all the displaced residents warm and dry in laundry rooms in two other buildings and were hosting a pizza party for dinner. Accommodations for 27 families had to be lined up at least for one night. When all was said and done, twenty rooms were reserved at three different nearby hotels; families had comfort kits and had been fed.
Wasche found that, “People were so grateful and so was the apartment manager that we were able to take care of everyone so quickly. Many people on upper floors were able to return the next day, but the people on the ground floor were out for longer.”
While in shelter, breakfast was provided by the hotels. Red Cross catered lunch and dinner. For Sandy Serrano and her husband, the Red Cross was a lifesaver. They were in their hotel room by 9 pm. Shelter volunteer Bob Lynn got them registered and checked in with comfort kits. As Serrano said, “I thought to take important papers with us, but who remembers a toothbrush?”
Firefighters had been able to go back in and retrieve her husband’s wallet and some essential medication that night and got some of their clothes the next day.
Also, the next day, Lynn called the displaced families down to the hotel lobby for lunch and briefed them on the timeline as he knew it. With different choices for lunch, Red Cross was also able to make sure special dietary needs were met. Because a Red Cross volunteer was on-site, Sandy could talk to him about their concerns. She worried about how they would pay their bills and how she could get to important appointments. “Red Cross took that weight off our shoulders so we could concentrate on meeting our obligations. You can’t put a price on the peace of mind you get from having someone like Red Cross in your corner.”
You can’t put a price on the peace of mind you get from having someone like Red Cross in your corner.”
Sandy Serrano
Serrano and her husband are back in their apartment, cleaning up the smoke damage and getting slowly back to normal. But the experience will have lasting positive effects for her. Because of the friendliness of the volunteers, Sandy wanted to know more about what Red Cross does for family fires and other small disasters. She had volunteered for other organizations in the past but has decided Red Cross could be her volunteer outlet going forward. She can see the day when she is with Red Cross responding to another fire and being able to reassure the victims with her own experience.