Duluth Red Cross volunteers are helping those displaced by Friday’s structure fire

Local fire victims in Duluth are now receiving aid from the Red Cross after Friday’s structure fire in Duluth that displaced ten people.

Two volunteers, Tim Kratz and Joel Huenemann, were there to help assist the families affected.

"The Red Cross is there for everybody. And I often joke that there are only criteria that you have to meet is are you a human being? And do you have a need that we can help with? And if the answer is yes we’ll be there”, Tim Kratz says.

After the fire the team was in contact with the families. Kratz says, "We met with all four of the units that were affected and were able to give them some relief. So that’s whether they need emotional or spiritual counseling or financial resources."

For these volunteers, they unfortunately witness this type of tragedy frequently. Tim says, “There are more house fires or home fires than you would expect in this area."

Their chapter puts has many programs to help with fire prevention. And the accessible programs are usually ran by volunteers, taking time out of their schedule just to help.

"We’ll send volunteers out to people’s homes to check their smoke detectors, make sure that they are in working order. And if not, for no cost at all, we install working smoke detectors in people’s houses”, says Kratz.

But more helpers are desperately needed in the Red Cross. Joel Huenemann says, “So yes there’s a need for volunteers. All for office work or for going out at 2:00pm at night to help people after a fire."

And more volunteers needed to help the prevention of structure fires that can ruin everything. Joel was in contact with one of the families from Friday’s fire and says, “One of the families we were with yesterday had some kids and that was one of the mother’s concerns was, ‘what are we going to do for the holiday’s’, so you really don’t want to have the house fire in December."