NACHES, Wash. – Wildfires have left dozens of people with no choice but to leave their homes, and the Red Cross is working hard to help our communities.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of fire activity this year,” Red Cross Disaster Program Manager Kelsey Smith said. Fires are coming quicker and they’re coming more frequently. We have a huge need for volunteers right now. We have kind of a small but mighty team.”
The Yakima Department of Emergency Management opened a new evacuation center Thursday night around 8 at Naches Valley High School for people affected by the Retreat fire. No one came, so the shelter is now on standby.
Red Cross Volunteer Kyle Oesterle has helped open two evacuation centers this week for the Black Canyon and Retreat fire.
Oesterle first began volunteering in 1993 when he saw people being affected by a flood in Missouri. He felt like he just couldn’t sit by and watch.
“It’s kind of ironic. I reached out to the Red Cross and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to go to Missouri and volunteer. What can I do?’ They said I can’t really do anything because you have to go through formal training. So I did go on my own.”
Oesterle has become more involved in the Red Cross over the last 4 years, starting by delivering blood donations across Washington State.
“That’s why I do it. You know, somebody needs something somewhere and someday I’m going to need that and hopefully, there’s somebody there to help me out.”
Oesterle now helps the Red Cross by setting up evacuation centers for people in need, but recently it has been difficult to provide the proper help.
“So we are in desperate need of help. I mean, we’re in Yakima with a population of 100 and some thousand people, and we pretty much have four volunteers that service the community.”
Visit the Red Cross website to find more information on how to volunteer.
