Red Cross to the Rescue After Sturgeon Bay Fire

Fifteen of the 16 units of this apartment building at 890 S. Ocford St. in Sturgeon Bay were occupied when a fire broke out early on the morning of Feb. 13, displacing 24 people. Photo by Jim Lundstrom.

Just as firefighters were swinging into action to fight the 16-unit apartment fire on Oxford Street in Sturgeon Bay on the bitter cold morning of Feb. 13, volunteers in the Red Cross Disaster Action Team were also gearing up to provide assistance.

“I got the call at 4:30 in the morning,” said Ron Maloney community volunteer leader for the Red Cross in Door County and a member of the Disaster Action Team. “I started making phone calls and arranging for people to be there. We had somebody on scene within 15 minutes and we had people there until 3 or 3:30 that afternoon.”

On the day of the fire, the Red Cross team set up a warming shelter for residents of the apartment building at Sturgeon Bay City Hall, as well as providing food and drink to the firefighters battling the blaze.

The entrance of the Red Cross Multi-Agency Resource Center, which was set up in the YMCA’s former daycare center on Lansing Avenue. Photo by Jim Lundstrom.

“At the warming shelter, we had staff who were helping them, giving them a place to go, making sure they had a place to stay if they didn’t have relatives they could go to. Basically we give them some monetary assistance so they could pay for a hotel, or buy some food or clothes,” Maloney said. “People impacted by this needed to figure out what to do. Most of them are in shock. They’ve just lost everything. This is just a way to give them room to catch their breath.”

Fifteen of the 16-units in the building at 890 S. Oxford Street were occupied when the fire, still of undetermined cause, broke out.

“The building is basically toast,” Maloney said.

That means the 24 residents of those 15 units are now homeless and have to start all over again.

The Red Cross again came to their rescue by setting up Door County’s first-ever Multi-Agency Relief Center (MARC) on Feb. 16, where those affected by the fire could come and meet with representatives from about a dozen social agencies – from the Door County Health Dept. to Feed My People to the Door County Register of Deeds – to find out about resources available to them.

“We did one of these in Brown County for another 16-unit apartment fire and it was pretty successful,” said Nick Cluppert, Red Cross disaster program manager for Northeast Wisconsin.

Cluppert said he had the opportunity to see a large-scale MARC in action last spring when he was involved in a Red Cross response to tornadoes in Oklahoma.

“This is the first time we’ve done anything like this in Door County,” Cluppert said. “This is kind of a newer concept. We’ve seen it on larger-scale disasters and now we’re bringing it to the local level to support people after apartment fires and things like that. It’s just nice for clients to come to one place instead of having to track down these different resources.”

Ron Maloney, community volunteer leader for the Red Cross in Door County, checks messages while Maxine Klumb, a Red Cross volunteer from Oshkosh, prepares for the arrival of residents of the Oxford Street fire at the Multi-Agency Resource Center that was set up for the victims on Feb. 16. Photo by Jim Lundstrom.

“To be able to do that 24 to 48 hours after the disaster happens is critical because right now they’re wondering to themselves, where do we go from here and what resources are available in this community to help us get through this? The Red Cross often plays that role as a lead in times of disaster,” said Steve Hansen, executive director of the Red Cross of Northeast Wisconsin.

Perhaps the most amazing part of the Red Cross response is that a majority of the responders are volunteers and 100 percent of the money used to help with disaster relief is donated.

“Our workforce being 90 percent volunteer, all of the kudos and accolades should go to the fantastic volunteers we have in the American Red Cross. We’ve got the most wonderful, most compassionate volunteers who are supported by our small staff,” Hansen said. “Our volunteers are trained up in a variety of specialty areas, including setting up a shelter, providing food and setting up cases, as well as the all-important mental health aspect when someone’s been traumatized. We were doing all those types of activities. Now we’re in the process of working individually with each of the families.”

Hansen added, “When people donate money to the Red Cross, this is what it goes for so we have the resources ready when we need it. We’re very proud that 92 cents of every dollar donated goes to programs and services. That’s an outstanding record, and that’s because we have wonderful volunteers.”

Besides a need for donations, Cluppert said the Red Cross can always use more volunteers.

“We’re always looking for additional volunteers that can help support things like this when we have disasters,” he said. “We have a great group of volunteers in Door County, but we’re always looking for additional bodies.”

To become a Red Cross volunteer, visit redcross.org/volunteer and complete an online application. To donate to the Red Cross, visit redcross.org/donate, or donations can be sent to the Northeast chapter at 515 S. Washburn St., Oshkosh, Wis., 54904.