Charles City’s Coulson called to aid Red Cross response in Colorado Marshall Fire

By Molly Ann Howell, Special to the Press

2021 ended in a fiery blaze for residents in Boulder County, Colorado. The Marshall Fire started on Dec. 30, and it was 100 percent contained by the evening of Jan. 3.

Before it was contained, the fire consumed more than 6,000 acres of land, and 1,000 homes were burned down. Now, people are starting the new year without a home and without a plan. And that’s where the Red Cross and volunteers like Stewart Coulson come in.

Coulson is a retired school counselor from Charles City, and in his free time, he helps the Red Cross with disaster mental health.

“I’m helping people to cope and to plan and to recover some hopefulness so that they can plan, and they can move forward,” Coulson explained in a phone interview from Boulder.

Coulson and other volunteers put together a disaster assistance center (DAC) where multiple organizations like the Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Salvation Army and local disaster assistance and local mental health institutions have come together to provide a space where people can get any and all of the services they may need all in one place.

He described what the Red Cross’s mission is during disasters like the fire.

“We have families without homes who are suffering and feeling kind of hopeless, and that’s kind of universal in these disasters,” Coulson said. “What Red Cross is here for is to elevate human suffering; that’s the bottom line of what we do.”

Coulson said he had a hard time trying to find the right words to describe the destruction he has seen in Boulder and the surrounding area.

“It’s breathtaking; it’s just really hard to describe. Houses are leveled, there’s nothing there but foundation and chimneys,” Coulson said. “(There are) burned-out cars that people had to leave so fast. …”

One hundred mph winds swept the fire along cities across Boulder County. Coulson said many people had plans set in place, and some stayed in hotels and others stayed with family or friends. But for those who didn’t have a plan, a shelter was put in place.

Initially, 150 people were staying in the shelter, but as of Jan. 5, there were only eight, according to Coulson. He said that he helps those who lost their homes figure out what to do while they wait for their insurance to kick in or what to do if their pipes broke in the cold December weather.

“A tragedy like this is just devastating. There’s so many different layers to it, and the Red Cross helps with all those things,” Coulson stated.

Coulson encourages anyone who has any free time or interest to join the Red Cross as a volunteer.

“The Red Cross has so many different functions, anybody who has time and wants to volunteer can find a place in the Red Cross,” Coulson said.