Red Cross helps provide medical service after an apartment fire in Columbus
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Within hours of the first calls about an apartment fire in Columbus, the Red Cross was on the scene.
Columbus Fire and Rescue was called to the Chanticleer Apartments between 6th and 7th Street North shortly after 11 Friday night.
The North Mississippi Chapter of the Red Cross got the call for assistance at around 1 am, and had a service center operational by 10 am.
The fire affected 18 units in the complex, and the Red Cross went to work finding temporary shelter and meeting other short-term needs for the more than 40 residents of those apartments.
Red Cross officials say the short-term needs are often just the starting point for disaster recovery.
“Replacements in medical equipment, medications that have been destroyed. Power gets pulled from an apartment complex like this, and even though your apartment may not be burned to the ground, the power was pulled, a nd your refrigerator is out, and you know, insulin and all these kinds of medications that are in the refrigerator, now they’ve gone bad, and your apartment’s fine; you don’t need ew furniture; you don’t need new clothes, but you’ve got a lot of medication, so you’re still very much eligible for Red Cross services,” said Disaster Program Director, Michael Wiley.
“Red Cross stands ready to not only provide what these families need in the immediate future, but long-term mental healthcare to help work through some of the trauma that goes with this type of thing as well,” said Executive Director K.C. Grist.
Grist says the Red Cross helps out in individual home fires too, but they can’t help if they don’t know about them.
They suggest if you or someone you know has experienced a disaster call the Red Cross at 1 – 800 – RED CROSS
