Church aids Colorado fire victims

(Vatican Radio) Rain helped firefighters douse Colorado's most destructive wildfire in state history, while a new blaze in California forced evacuations and threatened homes Monday near Yosemite National Park.
Investigators believed Colorado's Black Forest Fire was human-caused, and were going through the charred remains of homes destroyed and damaged in it last week.
Even though the fire was mostly contained and more evacuation orders were being lifted Monday night, officials were not letting victims back into the worst hit area because it was being treated as a possible crime scene.
We spoke to the Vicar General of the Diocese of Colorado Springs, Monsignor Robert Jaeger about how the Church is helping those affected.
“Catholic Charities and the Diocese responded by, we cooked meals on the fireline. A couple of our parish Churches were affected, Our Lady of the Pines which is in the Black Forest…the church itself was not damaged other than smoke… Parishes in general even my own parish of St Paul were taking up a collection next weekend to help and assist fire victims as is the Diocese and Catholic Charities doing the same thing…”
Monsignor Jaeger also says following fires that hit the area last year the community was better prepared to respond this time round. Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s interview with Monsignor Robert Jaeger