Volunteers with the Disaster Action Team responded to 25 home fires from October 12 until today in Chicagoland, including incidents in Hazel Crest, Hickory Hills, Marseilles, North Chicago and more, with 19 of these fires occurring in Chicago.

In the past week, the Red Cross provided 104 individuals, including 71 adults and 33 children with a safe place to stay, health and mental health services and information about resources available for their recovery.

If you need assistance after a local house fire or disaster, please call our dispatch line: 1-877-597-0747. You can take two easy steps to protect your home and loved ones from a fire: Get a smoke alarm and create a fire escape plan. Having a working smoke alarm cuts the risk of dying in a home fire in half.  You can also find out more information about home fire safety by visiting, redcross.org/fire.

Hundreds of Volunteers Assisting Communities Devastated by Disasters Across the Country
Around 1,400 Red Cross disaster workers, including 33 from the Illinois region, continue to work non-stop to help communities impacted by wildfires in the West and back to back hurricanes in the South. Our volunteers have been working tirelessly for months to provide food, shelter and comfort to thousands of people in need. The Red Cross is also providing health and disaster mental services to those impacted.

• Access Hurricane Delta B-Roll Here
• Access Hurricane Sally B-Roll Here
• Access Hurricane Laura B-Roll Here
• Access Oregon Wildfires B-Roll Here and California Wildfires Here.
   

Red Cross in Urgent Need of Volunteers
The Red Cross is in urgent need of volunteers due to an extremely busy disaster season. Please visit redcross.org/volunteertoday to find out more about volunteer opportunities, including the most-needed positions:

• Shelter Service – These volunteers help support emergency shelters by staffing different areas including reception, registration, feeding, dormitory, information collection and other vital tasks. We have both associate and supervisory level opportunities available.
• Disaster Health Services - We need volunteers who can work in emergency shelters to help assess people’s health and provide hands-on care in alignment with their professional licensure (RN and LPN/LVN). We also need volunteers who can provide care as delegated by a licensed nurse in shelters; this could include assisting with activities of daily living, personal assistance services, providing health education and helping to replace medications, durable medical equipment or consumable medical supplies.
• Blood Donor Ambassador - These volunteers welcome visitors to Red Cross facilities or blood drives and take their temperature before they enter. Visitors could include potential blood donors, people seeking help, course participants, and Red Cross employees and volunteers.

You can also visit redcross.org/volunteertoday to find virtual volunteer opportunities.

Other Ways You Can Help

• Make a Donation at redcross.org, calling 800-RED-CROSS or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small.
•  Donate Blood please schedule an appointment to donate by using the Red Cross Blood Donor app, visiting RedCrossBlood.org or calling 800-RED-CROSS.

About the American Red Cross of Illinois

The American Red Cross of Illinois serves 12.4 million people in 88 counties in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri including Adams, Bond, Boone, Brown, Bureau, Carroll, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cook, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, DeKalb, De Witt, Douglas, DuPage, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Franklin, Fulton, Green, Grundy, Hamilton, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Iroquois, Jasper, Jefferson, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Knox, LaSalle, Lake, Lee, Livingston, Logan, Macon, Macoupin, Marion, Marshall, Mason, McDonough, McHenry, McLean, Menard, Mercer, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Ogle, Peoria, Perry, Piatt, Pike, Putnam, Richland, Rock Island, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby, Stark, Stephenson, Tazewell, Vermillion, Warren, Washington, Whiteside, Will, Williamson Winnebago, Woodford. Iowa: Lee, Muscatine, Scott and Van Buren. Missouri: Clark, Lewis, Marion and Ralls. The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit us at Redcross.org/Illinois or visit us on Twitter @RedCrossIL.