By Marc Meredith, Communication & Marketing Volunteer

Volunteer Ferey Faridian (right) provides Red Cross assistance to August Shima after fire damaged his home.

On Feb. 13, August Shima was at work and his wife was away from home preparing for their granddaughter’s birthday party. While they were gone, a faulty bathroom heater ignited a fire that quickly spread throughout their Los Angeles home.

Notified by a neighbor, Shima rushed home to find firefighters dousing the flames. Shortly thereafter, four American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles Disaster Action Team (DAT) volunteers arrived to provide assistance to the family.

The Red Cross volunteers, Ferey Faridian, Kenneth Kuo, Nick Hipsley-Cox and Marc Meredith, determined the home was temporarily uninhabitable. Fire, water and smoke had damaged the bathroom, hallway, bedroom and kitchen.

The Red Cross arranged for the Shimas to stay at a local hotel and provided them with funds for food and storage containers for their belongings.

Thanks to recently installed laptops in Red Cross disaster vans, the DAT members were able to record the incident on site, thus enabling the family to begin coping more immediately with their personal disaster.

DAT Teams

Red Cross Disaster Action Team members respond to local emergencies, including singe-family fires and other disasters that displace local residents. Members take disaster training classes and register to be on call. To learn more about becoming a Red Cross Disaster Action Team member, please visit www.redcrossla.org.