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The Virginian-Pilot © January 11, 2008

Red Cross Meeting the Challenge

in a Surge of Local Fire Relief

Efforts

Dick Wilk is a volunteer leader with the American Red Cross disaster team. Over the past few weeks, his team has responded to several fires, such as one at a Portsmouth complex shown above. (Rich-Joseph Facun/The Virginian-Pilot)

The Virginian-Pilot
© January 11, 2008

NORFOLK

In the last two to three weeks, Dick Wilk has seen more sorrow than he cares to talk about. As a volunteer leader of the American Red Cross of Southeastern Virginia disaster assistance team, he has responded to 10 fires.

“You meet the nicest people in one of the most stressful situations they’ll ever face,” said Wilk, 65. “Last week, I helped a couple that had been in their house 55 years and, now it’s gone.”

The Red Cross provided aid to 107 people over a recent 16-day period – the largest concentration of relief operations, outside of a hurricane, in at least five years, said Rob Shapiro, agency spokesman.

The numbers are so high because many of the displaced residents lived in apartment buildings. There have been fires at Zion Baptist Church/Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery in Portsmouth, an Ocean View apartment building in Norfolk and Marina Shores Apartment Homes in Virginia Beach.

The Red Cross provided hotel rooms, rental assistance, meals, clothing, medications and glasses, as well as a supportive shoulder.

“Sometimes you can actually see the sag come out of their shoulders because of the help we give,” Wilk said.

Because there have been relatively few calls for assistance until now, the Red Cross budget is not in bad shape, Shapiro said. So far this fiscal year, which began in July, about 45 percent of the Red Cross’s $190,000 disaster assistance fund has been spent, he said. The program is funded through donations.

“We’ve been able to give this relief thanks to our great volunteers, but also from the money donated by the community,” Shapiro said.

Officials note that this is only the start of the winter fire season. Structure fires spike every winter because of the increased use of heating devices that can spark fires.

“Every year we run through a stretch like this, especially when we have a cold snap,” said Capt. Garry Windley, Norfolk Fire-Rescue spokesman.

At the end of December and beginning of January, the Red Cross helped 65 families, including 11 children. There were five calls to Norfolk, five to Portsmouth, two to Virginia Beach and one to Chesapeake.

The Red Cross has about two dozen specially trained disaster relief volunteers. They were called in the middle of the night, on New Year’s Day and sometimes twice in one day. Most of the volunteers worked three or more fires.

Wilk, a retired paint salesman and New Jersey volunteer firefighter, was at almost all of them.

“You can’t say 'no’ in one of these situations when someone is in trouble,” he said.

Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com