The number of house fires in the County since the beginning of the year is putting pressure on the local disaster relief fund of the Aroostook County Branch of the American Red Cross Pine Tree Chapter. The Chapter has responded to five house fires in the last several weeks, providing more than $5,000 in direct assistance for emergency shelter, food, clothing and emotional support to 18 people in Bancroft, Woodland, Fort Fairfield, Easton, and Madawaska.
This response follows on a rash of fires beginning last summer and stretching into the fall and early winter that saw the Chapter assist two dozen County children and adults in Caribou, Van Buren, St. Francis and other communities. The recent fires bring the current service year’s disaster assistance total in Aroostook County to well over $10,000.
According to Joyce Knorr, Aroostook County branch manager, “Winter is always a time when house fires increase in Maine, but this number of fires and affected families is unusual. We look to County folks to help the local Red Cross provide emergency services now when they are really needed,” she added.
Pine Tree’s Director of Emergency Services Gretchen O’Grady also stated, “This continues a year with more local disasters requiring Red Cross response than at almost any time in the 92 years that the Chapter has served the seven counties of eastern and northern Maine, from Aroostook down to Knox. The Chapter’s assistance costs have already risen to nearly $75,000 since the summer, stretching the Local Disaster Relief Fund very thin.”
Nearly 200 trained Red Cross disaster volunteers help Mainers whenever disaster strikes, according to Knorr and O’Grady. The Chapter also provides emergency communication and other services to nearly 800 military families a year through its Service to the Armed Forces program and this year will offer first aid, CPR, water safety and other skills training to nearly 10,000 Mainers.
All local Red Cross disaster response and emergency services are a gift from neighbors, friends and loved ones in Maine.
To make a contribution to the Pine Tree Chapter’s Local Disaster Relief Fund, for information on becoming a disaster volunteer, or to find out more about any Red Cross service, call the Caribou office at 493-4620, ext. 108, or go to www.pinetree.redcross.org.
