How you can help victims of the Colorado wildfires
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Written by Eric Revell, Countable News
What’s the story?
- The state of Colorado experienced the most devastating wildfire in its history, which broke out on December 30th and damaged or destroyed more than 900 homes in Boulder County. An estimated 35,000 people were displaced by the Marshall Fire and Middle Fork Fire, and two people were still missing as of Monday.
- The blaze moved quickly across grassy prairies into the wildland-urban interface, charring subdivisions in the towns of Superior and Louisville. The area was in the midst of a severe drought and a regional wind event with gusts of 75 to over 100 mph heightened the fire danger. Known as “Chinook” or “Foehn” winds, such windstorms can be generated as warm, dry air moves down the slopes of mountains, in this case, the Front Range in the Rocky Mountains. In the days since the fire, the area has been blanketed with heavy snow.
How you can help
- A number of national and local organizations are providing relief in areas impacted by the wildfire:
- The American Red Cross opened shelters in the area and has about 100 volunteers on-site in Boulder County with another 30 people helping to consolidate and coordinate resources. The American Red Cross of Colorado and the national organization are accepting donations for disaster relief.
- Colorado Gives and the Community Foundation of Boulder County are accepting financial donations through a Wildfire Fund that has raised over $10 million as of January 3rd.
- Boulder Beat has aggregated resources for donating money, providing housing, and volunteering. It also has information about the types of donations needed for those in the community and a variety of resources for those who lost homes or have been displaced.
- The Northwest Chamber Alliance, part of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, created a centralized webpage with information related to federal and state aid for impacted businesses, local resources, and donation information.
(Photo Credit: State Farm via Flickr / Creative Commons)
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