FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Eighty-two people were left without shelter after a fire broke in the kitchen of the Fort Collins Rescue Mission over the weekend.
Poudre Fire Authority (PFA) firefighters responded to the kitchen fire at 7:16 p.m. Saturday in the area of Jefferson and Linden streets. A preliminary investigation revealed the origin of the fire was at the base of a food warning cabinet in the kitchen.
No one was injured, fire officials said, and the Red Cross, the City of Fort Collins Office of Emergency Management (OEM), and the PFA OEM were helping the nearly 100 people staying at the shelter at the time find somewhere else to go, fire officials said.
They added the blaze was quickly extinguished, but not before it caused extensive damage.
“I’m coming to you to ask for two things: First, will you pray? Pray for our guests that have been displaced?” said the rescue’s president and CEO Dennis Van Kampen in a video posted to social media Sunday, as he called on the community for help. “Imagine what it would be like to be homeless and the very shelter that you have, the place that you’re finding hope, is taken away.”
Van Kampen then turned to the community to ask for monetary donations to help the shelter with operational costs and funds for a new building.
“We could be displaced for months, and those who rely on us to escape homelessness are ultimately the ones who suffer,” a Fort Collins Rescue Mission spokesperson said in a statement. “Insurance settlements will take time, we'll have a deductible to cover that wasn't expected, and the cost of helping our neighbors in need while the Mission is displaced from its home will bring unforeseen costs.”
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The final cause of the fire is still pending release based on insurance fire investigators, a fire department spokesperson said.
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