Red Cross Asks For Help

The Red Cross is asking for help getting basic household goods and giftcards to the 136 people who were displaced in a two alarm apartment fire in East Palo Alto last Thursday.

“Gift certificates are always a hit, because that stimulates the economy and then they buy what they need,” said Olga Crowe, Manager of Disaster Services for the Red Cross in San Mateo County.

“And it’s easier to handle than cash,” she added.

The Red Cross has been working for people who lived in the Woodland Park Apartments in East Palo Alto that were damaged in a fire extinguished by firefighters from the Menlo Park Fire Protection District last Thursday. Menlo Park firefighters respond to calls throughout San Mateo County, including Atherton, Menlo Park, and East Palo Alto. This is the 10th emergency evacuation of its type on the Peninsula this year, according to Crowe.

People were allowed to go into their apartments with a police escort for five minutes after the fire was quenched to gather a few essential items. But since then, they have been unable to gain access to their belongings.

Frank Ranione, chief building official for the city of East Palo Alto, said that the some of the apartments had been “red flagged” until further notice, which means they may be deemed uninhabitable.

“We’re waiting on the property management to provide us information about clearing the building of contaminants,” Ranione said Monday. It is unclear whether people will be able to move back into their apartments.

In the meantime, the apartment complex management placed the tenants in other apartments within the complex. “Right now a lot of our clients are sleeping on cots and blankets,” Crowe said.

“And unfortunately a lot of people are not able to go to work right now, because their clothes are trapped in their apartments,” she added.

St. Anthony’s Church has been providing them with chicken dinners, and Lions Club International came out to the apartments with a grill and made them pancakes.

Crowe said that the best thing that can be done is to bring gift cards or monetary donations to the Burlingame or San Francisco office with the label “Attention: Olga Crowe/ East Palo Alto Fire.”

“Regardless of how we may feel about the dwindling resources due to the economy and all these other factors, the truth of the matter is that EPA is as a part of the Menlo Park Community as Atherton is,” she said.

Laramar, the management company, did not respond to inquiries.