• Cynthia (Cindy) Fuller

Salvation Army Continues Response to Wildfires Across Oklahoma

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (August 4 – 9:45 PM) – The Salvation Army continues to respond to multiple wildfire locations.  Wildfires have burned over 52,000 acres across Oklahoma and many continue to burn and are not contained.  The Salvation Army is serving food, hydration and emotional and spiritual care.   Canteens across Oklahoma remain on stand-by for their services as needed in other areas.

FIRES

Cleveland County –– The fire near Noble continues to burn. The Central Oklahoma Area Command served over 650 meals as well as hydration to first responders at the Incident Command.  The Salvation Army will be assisted by the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Team beginning with lunch on Sunday morning, August 5.  The Salvation Army will be serving breakfast.

Oklahoma County – A fire in Luther, located east of Oklahoma City, continues to burn.  The Central Oklahoma Area Command’s canteen provided breakfast to approximately 200 responders this morning.  Additionally, The Salvation Army will be part of a Disaster Assistance Center at the Luther High School Auditorium tomorrow, located at 178th & Luther Road, from 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM.

Payne County – The Salvation Army of Enid will be reporting to the Glencoe High School on Sunday morning where they will coordinate services with Payne County Emergency Management.

Pittsburg County – The Salvation Army of McAlester is reporting to the Incident Command located at McAlester Lake Road and Cross Timbers to serve snacks and hydration to first responders.

Pottawatomie County – The Salvation Army of Shawnee took their catering truck to serve those affected by the wildfire as well as first responders.  They provided over 250 drinks and over 100 snacks including granola bars, crackers, gum, fruit bars and oranges.  Additionally, they assisted the Central Oklahoma Area Command in Cleveland County.

Additional fires throughout Oklahoma continue to be reported in Lincoln and Logan counties as well as a very large fire that began in Creek County. 

The Salvation Army is also working closely with VOAD (Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster).  The Salvation Army will be accepting donations of water and Gatorade to distribute to those organizations active in response.  The Salvation Army will open their warehouse, located at 924 S. Hudson in the morning at 9:00 AM.  It will remain open until 3:00 PM.  The Salvation Army will gather, sort, palletize, and then distribute donated items as needed to other organizations responding in the state.  This is being requested by Oklahoma Emergency Management.

Financial donations are needed to support disaster relief efforts.  The Salvation Army asks those who want to help to visit disaster.salvationarmyusa.org or call 1-800-SAL-ARMY and designate Oklahoma wildfires.  Monetary donations will ensure The Salvation Army can meet the most immediate needs of those impacted by disaster.  Donations can also be mailed to:  The Salvation Army, PO Box 12600, Oklahoma City, OK  73157.

The Salvation Army will stay involved for as long as they are needed.  Additional information will be provided as it is available.

Special Message from Tulsa Language and Cultural Bank:
Local Wildfires in our area may be encroaching on many rural families including the deaf and hard of hearing, immigrants and other people who may be vulnerable in the best of times. These fires threaten everyone so please share this information with your families, friends, congregations,         co-workers and neighbors ASAP. Let's encourage all of them to carefully inform people who can't get life-saving information from mainstream media - spouses, elderly and new arrivals.

English- as I'm typing this many people are facing fires NOW, so note the "During" tab at   http://www.ready.gov/wildfires

Spanish- http://www.ready.gov/translations/spanish/america/beinformed/wildfires.html

Russian- http://www.ready.gov/translations/russian/wildfires.html

Chinese- http://www.ready.gov/translations/chinese/wildfires.html

Vietnamese- http://www.ready.gov/translations/vietnamese/wildfires.html

Arabic- http://www.ready.gov/translations/arabic/wildfires.html

Urdu- http://www.ready.gov/translations/urdu/wildfires.html