Red Cross Volunteers Receive Help After Fire Threatens Home

By Janet Flanagan

It was a warm spring afternoon when the day took a different turn for longtime American Red Cross volunteers Vern and Linda Brice, who live on a farm in Lawton, Iowa, just 13 miles from Sioux City.

After years of helping others affected by disaster, Linda and Vern Brice found themselves among those impacted by a disaster.

“Our son came by and borrowed our pickup, and at about 4 p.m. I looked out the window and saw smoke,” Linda said. “We got in the car and investigated. We could tell it was moving fast.”

They drove south to see where the smoke was coming from and stopped at a neighbor’s to alert her that a wildfire appeared to be headed towards her house.

“We came home because we didn’t think it would get near us,” Vern said. “A little while later a tractor came up the lane and I saw another in the northwest corner of the field.”

They were told they should think about evacuating

“We had no idea the fire was that close,” Linda added. “We went back into the house and then the Sergeant Bluff Fire Department came up the lane and said we had to evacuate now. At that time the fire was coming across the road. We could see the flames. They were right next to us as we drove out.”

And what did Linda think while all this was going on?

“I’m not sure we were even thinking,” she said.

After driving to a nearby truck stop, the Brices headed to the Lofted View Events Center. The center, which usually hosts weddings, receptions and parties, became the control hub and respite center used by the Red Cross, firefighters, EMS and law enforcement agencies.

Vern appreciated his fellow Red Cross volunteers.

“Red Cross folks came down with the shelter trailer and were ready to set up and go see if anyone needed anything,” Vern said. “We have worked with most of those people. It was nice to know them. They were there for us if we needed anything.”

Dinner was provided, along with breakfast and lunch the following day.

With intense wind whipping through the area, the wildfire quickly burned more than 3,400 acres, seven-miles long and nearly a mile-and-a-half wide.

Red Crossers arrived on site of the wildfire to support displaced residents and first responders.

The Brices lost a large machine shed with 40 years’ worth of antiques, including several pedal tractors, a car, lawn mower, snow blower and tools.

Now in their eighties, the Brices began volunteering with the Red Cross in their retirement and spent 17 years responding to local emergencies and crossing the country in a Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) to help victims of tornadoes and hurricanes. They responded to tornadoes in Alabama in 2011 and worked in a Red Cross shelter during Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey in 2012. They helped with the aftermath of tornadoes and flooding in Sioux City in 2024 and helped with flooding in Rock Valley years before that.

“They have been an amazing team,” said Tammy Lee, executive director of the Red Cross Northwest Iowa & Northeast Nebraska Chapter. “In the last couple of years, they have continued to be part of the local team by taking the ERV to events and sharing their story with new volunteers.”

Clouds of black smoke will be a long memory for the couple.

So will “the love and support of our fellow Red Cross people,” Linda said.