Local volunteers from the American Red Cross are heading to Southern California to help the tens of thousands of displaced residents who have lost everything in unprecedented wildfires.
Prolonged drought conditions set a dangerous stage as the Santa Ana winds tore through the Los Angeles area, fanning the flames of wildfires that wiped out entire neighborhoods and towns. Fires continue to spread as the winds are expected to continue the rest of this week.
Kimberly Vosseteig is Executive Director for the American Red Cross Eastern North Dakota and Northwest Minnesota Region. She says eleven local volunteers are currently on their way to help, with a focus on connecting people with shelter, meals and mental health support.
Vosseteig says volunteers have been deployed to several events over the last year, including Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
"I believe we've been at one of our highest levels of disaster responses for over 300 days, so it's been a continuous response for the Red Cross. And locally, that is felt because we do have our volunteers who are the ones who are deploying and going out to these areas. We even had the mass casualty event that happened in New Orleans - that was a disaster response for the American Red Cross."
Vosseteig says volunteers are also on alert for response in the south as a large winter storm blankets the region with several inches of snow.
She says while the volunteers are trained in providing mental health support, the Red Cross is also focused on the well-being of those volunteers.
"It does take a toll on you; and trying to come back. I've been very vocal on that in coming back from Hurricane Helene. It took me a while to come back and get out of that haze of what I did experience and understand what I experienced, and what I saw. But everyone is different. The Red Cross is very good at making sure we do have those disaster mental health people readily available at any point in time to be able to talk through that situation."
In the weeks to come, Vosseteig says there are several opportunities for people to get involved and help with disaster response – whether it’s volunteering time, giving money or donating blood. She says there are multiple blood drives coming up in the month of February.