NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — It's now been over three months since the Cottonwood Complex fire and Reno County VOAD is continuing to come alongside those who are recovering from the damage to their lives.
"Myself and Megan at the Salvation Army, the two of us are visiting with people every day," said Amy Bretz with the United Way of Reno County. "They are calling, asking questions, the biggest thing that we are doing right now is helping people with getting their water hooked back up if they are moving back out there, getting electric lines back in. There are foundations that still need to come out. Since March, there have been many people involved in this process."
The VOAD couldn't have helped nearly as fast as they have without numerous local volunteers and organizations like Mennonite Disaster Services and Interfaith Housing and the overall support of Hutchinson and the surrounding community.
Bretz said that for most people, the property they have is still home, even though they need to rebuild.
"Some have moved out of that area, they were insured and were able to purchase another home and go somewhere else," Bretz said. "For the most part, most of the people who live there who have lost everything, they want to be back on their properties. They have some beautiful spaces out there. It's private. There are beautiful trees. They are out in the country and that's where they want to be, so we want to be sensitive to what their needs are and what their desires are, and help them move in that direction."
There's also the emotional toll that the memory of that day's events continues to take. Bretz has to use her training in social work to help people to cope.
"This is a really traumatic thing that happened," Bretz said. "Those who were present that day, in that fire, trying to grab a pet, grab a loved one, get out of there, race through the smoke. The stories that we've heard, of course, are things that I have never dealt with. I don't know what that felt like, and to listen to them...I want people to talk about that. You need to tell that story. Some of my clients are very willing to talk about that. We discuss it and I ask questions about, you know, you wonder, how do you sleep at night when you wonder, could a fire come and get me again? That's real."
Over 40 properties were damaged in some way, but Bretz notes that the people out there are both resilient and giving, even as they pick up their own pieces.
"I have to give a shout out to the Cottonwood Fire survivors," Bretz said. "The kindness from these people has been amazing. The gratitude that they have shown all of us who are working with them has really been pretty awesome. They have consistently said, help my neighbor, help my neighbor. I'm going to be okay. Please make sure my neighbor is okay."
If you want to give and help, the United Way is still taking donations and 100% of the money will go to help victims. They are not taking any administrative overhead on this project.