Red Cross Provides Aid Following Niantic House Fire on Saturday

The Red Cross is helping eight people in two families after overnight fires in Gales Ferry and Niantic. The fire responses come in addition to shelter operations in Southeastern Connecticut that housed nearly 200 people last night, due to the recent blizzard.

In Niantic, the Red Cross is providing a family of two adults and one child help with emergency clothing and food needs after a fire on Cubles Drive. The house is a rental. The fire started with a wood stove. No one was home at the time, so there were fortunately no injuries.

In Gales Ferry, the Red Cross is providing help with emergency clothing and food needs to a family of five – two adults and three children – after a fire on Nutmeg Road.

Both families had alternate housing arrangements. The Red Cross is also providing comfort kits, containing age and gender appropriate personal care items such as toothbrushes, deodorant, shaving supplies and other items a family might not have been able to gather in the rush to escape the fire. Children's kits include a stuffed toy. 

The fires were part of a busier than average night for the Red Cross, which was operating two shelters in Southeastern Connecticut as a result of the blizzard that struck the state on Friday and Saturday.

“We had nearly 200 people at shelters in East Lyme and Stonington on Saturday night,” said American Red Cross spokesperson Paul Shipman. “We are very grateful to the volunteers who have helped to shelter and comfort families during this historic storm, especially when many of them were facing their own issues of power outages and transportation concerns.”

For more information about the Red Cross and how you can help, visit www.redcross.org.

This article is based on a press release from the American Red Cross.