Northern Colorado community steps up to collect hundreds of donations for fire relief
As the sun set on the second day of the battle against the Alexander Mountain Fire in Northern Colorado, more than 5,000 acres of burning land were still not contained and multiple families and homeowners remained displaced following evacuations.
"It's overwhelming and heartbreaking knowing that so many people that we know and love are experiencing devastation," said Amy Wiggins, who is a pastor at Rez.Church in Loveland. "Primarily people are sad, heartbroken, and they just want to help."
Hundreds of fire crews on the ground and aircraft support above continued to battle the flames throughout the day on Tuesday.
"Fortunately, we've had great support because of the potential impact this fire poses to the community," said Mike Smith, Incident Commander for the Alexander Mountain Fire. "We're going to get some hotshot crew in as well as some type two crews. Those hotshot crew are really the tip of the spear when we've got challenging terrain, technical assignments. They're the ones we put out there to do that, so we're really looking forward to those assets getting here."
While first responders focus on containment over the next few days, people like Wiggins are stepping up to help evacuees by gathering donations from people across the Loveland community.
"It's actually been incredible. I had no idea that we would get this much. We just made a social media post like 12 hours ago and then all of this showed up," said Wiggins showing a car full of donated items.
Things like toiletries, food, clothing, and gift cards are all being donated to Serve 6.8, a nonprofit organization that has been supporting people in the Larimer County community during crisis events.
"We've literally had several hundred people stop in here today as well as multiple businesses bringing in thousands of pounds of relief supplies for families impacted by the Alexander Mountain Fire," said Mike Walker, founder and executive director of Serve 6.8.
Walker says they will be creating a disaster assistance center at Foundations Church in Loveland and be distributing these donations to evacuees over the next three days. They will also work with other churches that may already be providing assistance to families who have been impacted.
"We love the spirit of this community, and we believe deeply in neighbor carrying for neighbor," said Walker. "It's something we've been doing very well for the last 12 years. We've all learned a lot through a lot of the crisis we faced since really the Windsor tornadoes."
Serve 6.8 is taking donations Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 5701 McWhinney Boulevard.
A disaster resource center will be open at Foundations Church Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and at Good Shepherd Church on Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon.