SAN ANTONIO – Sunday night’s massive fire at the Frederick Apartments destroyed the entire complex, and now the Red Cross is helping more than 30 people who have lost everything.
“We opened up the leasing department. The people there were amazing. They gave us a list of people, gave us an area to work out of,” said Mack McNell, manager of the Volunteer Disaster Program for the Greater San Antonio Red Cross.
McNell responded to Sunday night’s fire, ensuring each affected person got $655 in immediate assistance for lodging, food, etc. They also received a comfort kit.
“The kits have a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, hand soap, body lotion, comb, mask, washcloth, deodorant — so pretty much everything to get people started,” McNell said.
After that, the Red Cross team stays in contact with the clients, offering additional resources. That could be anything from additional housing support or support with finding medications or medical supplies that were lost in the fire.
“Already, we’ve given out over $10,000 in just direct financial aid in addition to other supplies and things that we’re doing to help those clients,” said Dr. Daniel Martinez, executive director of the Greater San Antonio Red Cross.
Luckily, they said everyone in Sunday’s fire had renters insurance, but that’s not always the case.
Martinez said he had never seen this many residential fires in a year.
“Just a year ago, our average was two per day. Currently, our response rate is one every eight hours. So there is an increase, and we are feeling it,” he said.
In July alone, the local Red Cross had more than 20 cases, giving out $45,000 in aid.
Martinez said they’re on track to distribute a record $600,000 this year to Bexar County disaster victims alone.
Back at the warehouse, it shows. Resources are flying off the shelves.
“We have supplies in our trucks, but here at the warehouse, we’ve got just one box of blankets left. They fly off real fast,” McNell said.
Luckily, fundraising and partnerships with other agencies keep them afloat, but they need more help.
They’re also spending record money on prevention.
With all of these recent fires, people have been taking advantage of free smoke detectors, mainly from the San Antonio Fire Department.
There was so much demand that the department ran out, and the Red Cross supplied the city with 200 extra smoke detectors.
“The City and Red Cross have received requests for close to a thousand smoke detector installations,” Martinez said. “So it’s a great thing, but there’s a little bit of a resource problem. But we’re going to work through that, and we’re going to get people to help with the resources that they need.”
Martinez pointed out that a working smoke alarm gives someone a 50% greater chance of surviving a home fire.
“From the time a smoke alarm goes off, an individual, on average, has two minutes to get out safely. So it’s really important that we are educating the community and providing this resource,” he said.
The Red Cross has its own events where they give away smoke detectors, strobes, and bed-shakers for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Martinez said San Antonio has more residential fires than any other city in Texas, meaning his operation will need more funding and volunteers as 90% percent of the Red Cross staff is volunteers.
If you are interested in volunteering, or you want to make a donation, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or go to www.redcross.org.
RELATED ON KSAT.COM
Apartment building a total loss after massive fire on Northwest Side
Neighbors stunned by damage massive fire caused at NW Side apartment complex