Five Red Cross volunteers responded to Tuesday’s home fire on Homestead Avenue, and the nonprofit organization provided the family with financial assistance to help with their immediate housing, food, clothing and other emergency needs, according to a spokesman for the local chapter.
A family lost their home in the Tuesday evening fire in the 1100 block of Homestead Avenue in Hollister. The two homeowners were home at the time when a passerby alerted them there had been fire shooting out of their roof.
The Red Cross also provided “food and hydration support” to the incident’s first responders, according to spokesman Jim Burns when asked by San Benito Live.
Burns also noted that American Red Cross disaster responses range from community incidents such as this one in Hollister to national-level events such as the Camp Fire in the town of Paradise.
“We are only able to help like this for two reasons: Through the amazing work of our volunteers and because of the amazing generosity of our donors. People can sign up to volunteer and/or make a financial donation by going to redcross.org,” Burns wrote in an email response.
Burns went on to point out that particular incident in Hollister also “speaks to the importance of the Red Cross’s Home Fire Campaign.
Here’s some information about that effort as provided by Burns:
On average, home fires kill seven people and injure another 36 every day in the United States. That’s why the American Red Cross launched its nationwide Home Fire Campaign in 2014 with the goal of reducing the number of home fire deaths and injuries by 25 percent.
A key component of the campaign is a series of “Sound the Alarm – Save a Life” events in which Red Cross volunteers, working with local fire departments and other partners, visit high-risk neighborhoods to offer to install free smoke alarms, replace batteries in existing alarms, and help families create escape plans. It is believed that the “Sound the Alarm” neighborhood visits have already saved more than 450 lives throughout the United States since the Home Fire Campaign began.
Just in San Benito County alone, the Red Cross held two “Sound the Alarm” events this year — in Hollister on July 28 and in San Juan Bautista on October 27.
In addition to our Sound the Alarm activities, the local chapter of the American Red Cross is also offering the installation of free smoke alarms and educational visits on an appointment basis throughout San Benito, Monterey, and Santa Cruz Counties. If residents would like free smoke alarms installed in their home, they should use one of the following options to schedule an appointment:
Phone: 831-600-4914
Email: [email protected]
Red Cross provided financial help to family displaced by fire
