Carlton Complex Fire Recovery - Pacific Northwest Conference

Below is an email from Jim Truitt, the Disaster Response Coordinator for the Pacific Northwest Conference. He is currently seeking volunteers to help with the needs below:

 

In 2014 we suffered our states largest wildfire in history. 256,000+ acres were burned and over 300 homes were lost. 45 of those homes had no insurance and the Long Term Recovery Group has laid out a three year plan to rebuild the homes. We did not get a FEMA declaration so the materials have to be provided through donations and grants. UMCOR gave us a $270,000 grant for materials and we have pledged $237,000 so far.  We are partnering with multiple faith-based groups and  we are on track to complete the houses in phase one by next spring. We need skilled volunteers to help us finish the task.

Now, this year we suffered wildfires in the same general area that covered three times as much acreage. We don’t know yet how many homes were lost. We’ve heard estimates in the 200 range. The State and Federal agencies were in the field last week and will be again this week doing a preliminary damage assessment (PDA). We won’t know until the PDA is complete how many additional houses we will have to build but our guesstimate is in the neighborhood of 30. We also don’t know if we will get a Presidential declaration for Individual Assistance. Regardless, we are going to need financial assistance and volunteers to help us rebuild. 

We would really appreciate your help spreading the word. Anyone that’s interested can contact me (umvimdisasterresponse@comcast.net) or Ronda Cordill, r_cordill@hotmail.com for additional information. 

If you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Thanks again for your support.

Jim Truitt
UMVIM Disaster Response Coordinator
PNW Conference United Methodist ChurchFacebook.com/umvim.pnwumc
@PNWERT