PEARL CITY/GALENA -- Two fires Friday sent Northwest Illinois Chapter volunteers, staff and board members into the field as a home in Pearl City and a lawyer's complex in Galena both burned into the evening hours leaving more than a dozen people without shelter.
In Pearl City, a house fire that began at about 2:30 p.m. chased a family of three and their visiting relatives from their two-story home on Grant Street. 
American Red Cross board member and disaster action team leader Greg Munda and Executive Director Diana Roemer made the trip to Pearl City to comfort the family and provide hundreds of dollars in aid for food and clothes.
Victim Kandice Maltry was taken by the Red Cross to a neighbor's home where the agency completed necessary paperwork and activated a Red Cross debit card for the family. Maltry, tears streaming down her face, sat at the neighbor's dining room table shaking and looking hopeless as the American Red Cross workers comforted her. The agency also provided two sets of toiletries for the adults, and a toy for the Maltry's child, Adrianna, 3. The Maltrys were visiting with relatives who had just arrived from Wisconsin in their home on Grant Street when suddenly one of the realtives stepped outside and saw flames. He ran back inside and told the family to evacuate. Maltry said all they have left are the clothes they were wearing when they ran outside.
The fire was still being fought four hours after it began with firefighters -- from Pearl City, Lena, Freeport Rural, and Kent -- up to their knees at times in water around the home.
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Meanwhile, in Galena, a fire broke out in a home converted into an office on Bench street. Dozens of nearby residents from an adjacent apartment complex were evacuated; power was out, and there was no heat for some residents. 
It was such a tenacious fire that responders finally bulldozed the structure to the ground to stop the flames.
The home of Betsy Eaton took in evacuees; some were put in City Hall initially but there was no power so they were moved to the Eaton's where Betsy lit her fireplace to keep people warm. Red Cross volunteers, board members and staff were on the scene working to provide food and shelter to fire victims, evacuated neighbors and more than 50 first responders.
Many area vendors including Fried Green Tomatoes and McDonalds, Vinny Vanucci's, Happy Joe's, Wal-Mart, Dick's Piggly Wiggly, Galena State Bank, and the Galena Hospital provided food, blankets and towels. The DeSoto Hotel provided rooms for displaced residents. First responders included emergency agencies from Galena, Scales Mound, Menomenee/Dunleith, Elizabeth, East Dubuque, and others. Altogether more than 50 firefighters were on the scene. Below is a video of the fire, courtesy of Stockton newsman Tony Carton and The Journal-Standard newspaper, Freeport.
Also on the scene were American Red Cross board members Tom Winter and Ruth Foley along with Emergency Services Director Frank Bruscato. Bruscato said the team would stay on into the night to insure victims were cared for. Red Cross volunteers who helped included Shirley Toepfer, Elaine Schlichting, and Bev and Mike Williams. Bruscato said it was the most well-coordinated and largest event he'd been on in his 2+ years of service.