The Salvation Army responds to raging fires
The Salvation Army responds to raging fires
25 July 2018
Salvation Army teams are responding to fires burning around the world, including in California, USA, as pictured above.
With much of the northern hemisphere coping with high temperatures and long dry spells, wildfires are affecting communities from Greece right up to the Arctic Circle, claiming dozens of lives and damaging ecosystems, homes, livelihoods and infrastructures.
The Salvation Army is responding in a variety of ways, according to local needs and in partnership with other agencies.
The world leader of The Salvation Army, General André Cox, is conscious that “the heatwave is creating chaos, fear, evacuations and loss” and calls Salvationists and friends to prayer. He writes: “Those on the front lines need our support and those affected need our prayers”.
USA
Dangerous wildfires have been burning in numerous parts of California, USA and Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services teams have been deployed to more than a dozen separate sites in Santa Rosa, Napa, Grass Valley, and Solano and Butte Counties. 
The initial emphasis was to provide meals and other urgent assistance to first responders and to residents evacuated from their homes. Now, the focus has shifted to distributing meals and providing emotional and spiritual care to residents re-entering areas that had been fire damaged.
In Santa Rosa alone, Salvation Army teams have served more than 85,000 meals, provided $60,000 in gift cards and given away more than 18 tonnes of essential household items.
In the south of California, partnering with other agencies near San Diego, (pictured above) The Salvation Army has been a key provider of support at the Local Assistance Centre, set up to serve those affected by a wildfire that ravaged across more than two square kilometres and destroyed 18 structures. As well as food, water and store gift cards, emotional and spiritual care is being provided by Salvation Army officers and volunteers.
Across on the east coast – in Altona, New York – a Salvation Army team provided hydration to several hundred first responders involved in containing and extinguishing a large fire near Flat Rock State Park on the USA/Canadian border.
“A team of volunteers provided snacks and water to the incident command post for distribution into the rough terrain that the first responders are operating in,” explains Michael R. Schwartz, Divisional Disaster Director for the Empire State Division of The Salvation Army.
Canada
In British Columbia, 18 emergency community response units – equipped with stoves, fridges and grills – are on the scene after fires affected communities around Okanagan. More than 200 homes are subject to evacuation orders after fires blazed through dry scrubland.
“We are uniquely positioned to respond quickly in times of crisis,” explains Mike Leland of The Salvation Army. “Our priority is providing those being impacted with practical and emotional support to help see them through devastating circumstances.”
Across Canada, The Salvation Army is responding to rising summer temperatures by setting up cooling centres and distributing water.
Europe
In Sweden, wildfires are also causing loss of life and property, where more than 50 fires have taken hold in the Arctic Circle, and in Greece, where at least 60 people have been killed in fires that are tearing through an area that is popular with tourists.
The Salvation Army’s International Emergency Services team has offered its assistance in both countries.
Fires are also causing large-scale damage in the North West of England (pictured right). Salvation Army volunteers – led by emergency response coordinator Major Nigel Tansley – provided food and refreshments to blue-light services fighting a major fire on Saddleworth Moor that took more than three weeks to put out.
In the first two days of the response, The Salvation Army provided support to in excess of 70 firefighters, mountain rescue teams, park rangers and farmers.
Support was also provided to emergency services dealing with a large grassland fire in East London.
The General concludes with a request for Salvationists and friends around the world: “Please take a few moments to ponder the impact of these disasters and join me in asking our loving God for protection and his boundless love for those around the world facing uncertainty.”
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