PORT HAWKESBURY: A fire at a rental property did not result in injuries, but a young family is now homeless.
The family of three was displaced by the fire that “extensively damaged” a two-storey house they were renting in West Bay Road, according to the Canadian Red Cross. They said the fire took place at around 10 a.m. on Dec. 13 along Cenotaph Road.
The Red Cross said volunteers from Sydney assisted the couple and their six-week-old baby with emergency lodging, food, clothing purchases, and some other basics.
Dan Bedell, Communications Director for the Atlantic Canadian Red Cross, explained that help after a house fire is provided by volunteers and the cost is covered by regular donors. In this case, he said help was arranged virutally, under COVID-19 safety protocols.
“(It) is only intended to address emergency needs, so in the immediate hours and up to a few days after a fire to give those displaced a safe place from which to arrange additional help,” he explained. “We have 24/7 dispatch centres across the country that take the call from fire departments, activate the nearest on-call volunteer team, and can work with that volunteer to make a reservation and pre-pay for a hotel room and meals for a few days, as was done in this case, and also provide funds for essential purchases, most typically through an electronic transfer of funds directly to a bank account of those being helped.”
Before providing financial assistance, Bedell said the Red Cross does a full cost assessment.
“The amount varies based on a questionnaire our volunteers go through with the household to assess their emergency needs, and taking into account factors like whether those impacted were able to retrieve clothing and other essentials from the burned structure; how many people were displaced; whether it’s winter or summer as winter clothing needs like coats, boots, hats and gloves are much more costly than summer wear; whether there are infant care needs or factors like essential medications or medical devices destroyed in a fire; whether a household has access to a vehicle or needs help such as a taxi to get to the hotel; and a range of other special considerations our volunteers consider on a case-by-case basis.”
Noting that many people use platforms like Facebook and GoFundMe to help out, Bedell stressed that the Red Cross is not involved with online fundraisers.
“The Canadian Red Cross is not involved in any activities to collect and donate material items such as clothing, furniture, etc. That’s not our role and we have no means or facilities to process, store and distribute such items. That kind of activity is more typically organized by relatives or friends or perhaps a faith or community group or service club in the area,” noted Bedell. “People are always welcome to make a financial donation the Canadian Red Cross but we need to be clear that it goes into a fund that is used for upcoming responses like this anywhere in Canada. So a financial donation now to that fund is essentially paying it forward for the next responses.”
Bedell added those wishing to donate to the Canadian Disaster Relief Fund, can go to: redcross.ca/DonateNow and select “Where it is needed most.”
“The only donations accepted by the Canadian Red Cross are financial. However, the money we expended to cover emergency costs like hotel lodging and meals and to purchase some basic items of new clothing in this case come from our, which is used for a wide array of events including house and apartment fires coast to coast,” he added. “Our volunteers across the country respond to fires an average of 2,000 times a year or about once every four hours somewhere in Canada. In fact in the course of writing this email, I’ve heard from our volunteer teams who just today have responded to two house fires in northwest New Brunswick, one in Springhill, and another a short time ago in New Glasgow.”