Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By John Hill
Journal staff writer

A series of December house fires has left the Rhode Island Chapter of the Red Cross concerned that it may exhaust its fire relief fund, officials there said.

This year the Red Cross set aside $165,000 to help families left homeless by house fires, said Red Cross spokeswoman Marisa Albanese.

As of early this week -- before two Christmas fires in North Smithfield and East Providence -- it had spent about $90,000 of the fund. That leaves about 40 percent of the budget as the organization is still in its busiest time of the year for fire assistance, she said.

Between Dec. 20 and Dec. 22, for instance, the Red Cross dealt with three fires in three days. Costs can run to around $1,000 per family.

Besides the number of fires, Albanese said the Red Cross was seeing more people left homeless in individual fires than it has in year past. In a Providence apartment fire earlier this month, she said a family of 10 people had to be helped, where in the past it might have been six or seven. The organization provides two nights in a hotel, so the affected family has time to make alternative arrangements for housing, as well as a clothing allowance.

The problem is also exacerbated by the state's stagnant economy, Albanese said. The fire assistance programs is staffed by volunteers who have full-time jobs of their own and that number has dwindled, as have the number of donations that would replenish the fund.

Those wishing to donate to the Red Cross can do at the group's Web site
www.riredcross.org/

 Tags  fire Red Cross

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