WILMINGTON, DE – March 5, 2006 – 10 families are being assisted by the Red Cross after an early morning fire at the Bluffs apartment complex, off Kirkwood Highway. Four trained Red Cross Disaster Action Team volunteers are on site assisting the affected families with their immediate needs, including food, shelter and clothing. A few of the families are being housed by the apartment complex and the rest have been given temporary accommodation in area hotels by the Red Cross.

Red Cross volunteers also came to the assistance of 3 adults after a house fire in Christiana this morning, and is working with them to help meet their immediate needs.

The American Red Cross of the Delmarva Peninsula is responding to these two fires at the same time it is participating in a Chapter disaster drill, being overseen by its National Headquarters. The Chapter Disaster Response Evaluation Exercise brought together approximately 30 Red Cross staffers and volunteers from all over the Delmarva Peninsula to work on a hypothetical multi-family disaster, as a means of confirming that our local Red Cross has disaster action plans, resources and partnerships in place to cope with any eventuality.