91 residents find help from Red Cross, management company
Some people buy their dad a tie for Father’s Day, and others enjoy a summer day outside, but no one expects to lose everything they own.
For 91 people living in the Encantada Apartments near Eastern Avenue and U.S. Highway 95, that is exactly what happened.
The fire started just before 7 a.m. Sunday at the 401 N. 28th St. property, and left 26 families without homes and personal belongings, as well as causing about $350,000 in damages and sending two people to the hospital with minor injuries.
For those families, rebuilding starts with the little things, like finding shelter and replacing basic necessities like clothing, food and medicine.
That is where the American Red Cross stepped in to help.
“Normally in a situation like this, we would open up a shelter,” said Tom Mega, spokesman for Southern Nevada chapter of the American Red Cross. “The apartment management took care of sheltering needs. We’re providing the items people lost in the fire.”
Advanced Management Group has relocated the residents of 24 damaged apartments into another of the company’s properties, the Downtowner on North 8th Street and Fremont Street, according to spokeswoman Sydney Gambee.
“We started with a week’s worth of rent down there,”
Gambee said they company has paid a week of rent for the residents at the Downtowner, but since they don’t know how long they will be displaced, they “just don’t know at this time” how much rent the company will cover.
“We’re playing it by ear,” she said. “We’re trying to set up a donation program.”
Until they are able to move back into more permanent lodging, the Red Cross assigns a case worker to each of the families to determine their needs, Mega said.
“Some (needs) are basic, some are more complex,” he said. “Obviously people with a family, many kids, will be more expensive than a single person. It’s an ongoing effort. We’ll continue to work with them while there’s a need.”
Contact Rochel Leah Goldblatt at rgoldblatt@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381.
