Shreveport, Louisiana

            Shreveport, Louisiana has approximately 600 residential structure fires annually.  Of those, approximately 30-40% result in the residents being displaced from the residence for five days or more.  Of those 180 – 240 families whose homes are rendered uninhabitable for any period, approximately 50% (90 – 120 families) have literally no place to go and no ability to replace the essentials that are needed immediately – a toothbrush and toothpaste, a hair brush, shampoo, deodorant, soap and shampoo, a razor and shave cream, pillows and blankets, towels and washcloths, a flashlight, notebook and pen (to inventory lost possessions), a phone book, plastic gloves (to search through the rubble), funds for clothing and food and a resource guide to social service agencies available in this area.  The Shreveport Fire Department is not able to provide assistance to the families after the fire is out, but their on-scene firefighters can identify families in real and immediate need for assistance.  The Red Cross and Salvation Army respond to larger-scale disasters, such as an entire apartment complex that burns, but they are not equipped or staffed to respond to individual house fires.  There is no agency in Shreveport-Bossier that immediately responds to aid the victims of a residential fire to provide immediate supplies for the family.  That’s where the Fire Recovery Ministry comes into play:  while the firemen are still at the fire, the FRM is contacted by the Fire Department and dispatches the “on call” family with a 38-gallon plastic storage box containing the essentials a family of four would need to “make it through the night” and have something to start with the next morning, after the fire.  The program is not designed to meet long-term needs of fire victims.  It is immediate relief for the most critical necessities of daily life that the fire victims will need within 8 hours of their loss.   At present, seven families in the Sunday School class operating the FRM rotate a week at a time as the “on call” FRM volunteers.  Expansion of the FRM, assuming additional Fire Boxes can be assembled can be accomplished by lining up additional volunteers to be the “on call” responders equipped with Fire Boxes for distribution.

            In February 2006, an adult Sunday School class at First Baptist Church initiated a ministry project that has become known as the “Fire Recovery Ministry”.  Seven families in the class established an “on call” roster whereby a family was on call for a week at a time to respond to the scene of a house fire and deliver essential supplies to the fire victims, preferably while the fire fighters and trucks were still on the scene.  All of the members of the class contributed their own funds (approximately $7,000 during the first year of the project) to purchase the contents of the first 20 “Fire Boxes” that would be distributed to fire victims.  One of the class members is a retired District Chief from the Shreveport Fire Department and his personal contacts were invaluable in establishing a close working relationship with SFD.  On April 2, 2006, the class hosted a dinner at the house of one of the class members for “A” Shift fire fighters from Stations 8 (Queensboro) and 9 (St Vincent’s Avenue).  During that gathering, attended by Chief Kelvin Cochran and Assistant Chief Bobby Robinson, fire fighters and FBC members worked together to assemble the first 10 Fire Boxes.  One of the class members, Kim Moyers, is on-call 24/7 as a maintenance dispatcher for a local trucking company.  He always has two cell phones with him, and he was a logical choice for a central point of contact between the SFD and the FRM.  The Fire Department dispatcher has Mr. Moyers’ contact numbers and calls him when one of the on-scene SFD captains determines that a family is in need of the FRM’s services.  During the first pilot year of the project, the FRM responded to fires from only two of the City’s 22 fire stations.  Because Stations 8 and 9 are high-call stations, the FRM has initially partnered with them.  On Super Bowl Sunday (in February 2007), class members delivered cookies and brownies to every fire station in the City with a leaflet informing the fire stations about the FRM and how to contact Mr. Moyers with a request for assistance.  Thus far, in the first 10 months of the FRM, class members have assembled a total of 20 Fire Boxes at an average cost of $350.00 per box, from funds they have individually contributed or raised from their own and other Sunday School classes at First Baptist Church and a contribution of $150 from co-workers of Kim Moyers who attend Trinity Heights Baptist Church.  A total of 11 families in the community (primarily in the Queensboro neighborhood) had received Fire Boxes by personal delivery from one of the on-call families in the FRM roster through mid-2007.  One additional response was made in August 2007 (see article from “The Times” posted on the church’s website).

            A grant from the Community Foundation of Shreveport-Bossier (CFSB) in 2007 has made it possible for First Baptist Church to potentially expand this program to other interested area churches who will agree to “adopt” a fire station in their neighborhood to provide fire recovery boxes to fire victims in their area.  To assist them in getting started, First Baptist Church will use the grant from the CFSB to purchase the materials needed to make up a quantity of additional fire boxes that will provide “seed” boxes to the additional churches who want to establish their own Fire Recovery Ministry.