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When the Smoke Cleared, the Colorado Red Cross was There.
“It was chaos,” she said. Firefighters from five trucks battled the flames, two dozen police officers swarmed the area, TV crews arrived, neighbors crowded to watch.
When the fire was out and she stood surrounded by the smoking, scorched and soaked debris that was her home, the Colorado Red Cross was there.
Jodi Tafoya was at work when she got the call that her home was burning. “Thank God,” she said, “my kids were at my mom’s.” When she got home, she watched as the adjoining townhome was reduced to ashes. Hers was standing, but, in an effort to control the flames, firefighters had smashed through walls and windows; insulation draped over the furniture, water rained from the ceilings.
“I just couldn’t believe it was happening,” she said. “I cried. I felt weak in the knees and thought I would faint.”
Four homes were damaged or destroyed in the May 6th fire in the Jefferson County complex; a dozen people displaced. Authorities believe the fire was started by a youth with a lighter.
“We couldn’t have gotten through it without the help the Red Cross gave us,” Jodi said. “They put us up in a hotel for three days. It was so good to get that break from our problems, to have a time of mental and physical relaxation before we go to my parents’ house where we’ll be sleeping on the couch.”
Colorado Red Cross volunteers provided comfort kits of personal supplies and funds to buy food and clothing for the children and for Jodi, so that she could return to work.
“You never think it could happen to you,” she said. A single mom, Jodi works three jobs to provide a home for her daughter, 11, and her son, 4. She’s learned the house has been condemned and she doesn’t know when she’ll be able to retrieve what’s left of their belongings. “I have a long road ahead of me. But material things can be replaced,” she said, “even if it takes years.”
“I feel in my heart that the people in the Red Cross really care about my family. They checked in every day to see how we were doing. I’m so grateful for everything they did for us. And I hope that someday I can become a volunteer to give back.”
To learn how you become a Colorado Red Cross Volunteer, please visit our New Volunteer Sign-up page online.
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