"Some were just so sad:" Red Cross worker recounts helping wildfire victims



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Wisconsin's Red Cross volunteers are always ready to help wherever they are needed when disaster strikes. California's wildfire was no exception. One woman just returned from helping the hundred affected by the out of control flames.

Barbara Behling remembers what it was like in California, talking with and working with the people who in many cases had watched as their homes, belongings and communities were destroyed by flames. The wildfires covered more than 30,000 acres in California.

Part of Behling’s time was spent at a high school serving as a shelter just 20 miles from where the flames were spreading. They had as many as 300 people stay overnight there,

“Escondido, San Marcos, even all the way to the top of Camp Pendleton so there's quite a span where the fires were ranging. And since they were evacuating, they need somewhere to go, so they went to American Red Cross shelters,” said Behling.

They gave them a place to stay, food to eat, providing support for their pets as well as tending to their medical needs, but they were also there for emotional support.

“Some were angry, some were just so sad and it was kind of part of our job to allow them to go through a grieving process,” said Behling.

Behling was there for 7 days - enough time to not only help during the fires but after they were contained as well.

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“I was able to spend some time in communities that were just gone. Buildings were turned to ashes, and within that people were finding a little piece of pottery or a piece of jewelry within the rubble,” said Behling.