Disaster Response

In communities where public health agencies are taking actions to respond to and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the Red Cross remains committed to delivering our standard services, including responding to home fires in our communities. In an effort to ensure the safety of our volunteers and clients, in many cases we will be responding virtually, providing all our standard services over the phone, including: 

• Financial assistance with basic needs, such as shelter, food and clothing.
• Assistance replacing prescription medications or other essential medical devices such as eyeglasses, hearing aids, CPAP machines, dentures, etc. 
• Disaster mental health and/or spiritual care support.
• Follow-up referrals, casework and recovery planning.

Because of the need to respond virtually, please make every effort to provide the following information when making a request for assistance:

• Client name and contact information (we will not be able to respond without this information).
• An assessment of whether the client can expect to return to the affected residence within 48 hours. 

Please know that, for situations that warrant a larger response, Red Cross volunteers will continue to respond in person to provide mass care services. However, all such responses will require increased coordination with our public health and emergency management partners to ensure the safety of our workforce. 

Home Fire Campaign and Sound the Alarm Events

Due to concerns about the COVID-19 outbreak, we are postponing all Sound the Alarm events and the Home Fire Campaign in-home fire prevention and safety visits until further notice. We request that all campaign partners who directly provide services do the same. Moving forward, we will continue to work closely with public health officials to determine how we can protect everyone’s wellbeing while fulfilling our lifesaving mission, and we plan to resume our services as soon as it is safe to do so.