The American Red Cross is urgently seeking volunteers willing to travel this fall to assist with emergency shelters for significant national disaster relief efforts. Currently, over 1,200 Red Cross disaster responders are active in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.
Interested individuals must complete the required training and commit to a two-week deployment. You can register online at redcross.org/volunteer.
In addition to volunteer efforts, fire crews from Herrin, Carbondale, Murphysboro, and Marion are heading to Florida as part of a Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) fire engine strike team. This deployment aims to support recovery efforts following Hurricane Milton, which made landfall Wednesday night near Siesta Key, south of Tampa Bay.
At Florida’s request, MABAS is sending three strike teams, totaling 15 fire engines and three command vehicles, to assist in the response.