Large-scale disasters make up only part of the American Red Cross of Colorado and Wyoming’s disaster responses. Along with major crises in our backyard and coast to coast, we continue to address the nation’s most prevalent disaster, home fires. Often among the first on the scene, our trained disaster response volunteers meet with affected families—providing comforts like warm blankets, food and shelter—and help them begin to plan their recovery. During October, Colorado and Wyoming Red Cross volunteers responded to 146 local disasters to help 251 people with urgent needs like food, lodging and recovery assistance. Several of these responses were large multi-unit fires including the Pearl Street Apartment Fire that burned at least two buildings and impacted 83 units.
Breakdown of the CO & WY 87 county service area for October 2021:
- Mile High Chapter (MHC) responded to 89 calls for service and helped 145 people. The MHC response area includes ten counties in the Denver Metro area.
- Southeastern Colorado Chapter (SECO) responded to 12 calls for service and helped 30 people. The SECO response area includes 16 counties.
- Northern Colorado Chapter (NOCO) responded to 27 calls for service and helped 43 people. The NOCO response area includes 11 counties.
- Western Colorado Chapter (WECO) responded to nine calls for service and helped 12 people. The WECO response area covers 27 counties, serving all western Colorado and the San Luis Valley.
- Wyoming Chapter (WYO) responded to nine calls for assistance and provided care to 21 people. The WYO response area covers 21 counties in the state of Wyoming.