WALKER, Mich. — A Kent County organization that provides gifts to families during the holiday season says they cannot donate any of their presents this year after a fire at the old Delta Plex over the weekend.
The Santa Claus Girls uses part of the building to store their gifts.
READ MORE: Multiple crews respond to fire at DeltaPlex Arena building
According to Kim Conover-Loar, a volunteer, the fire did not reach the 8,000 presents but smoke damaged the wrapping paper already on them.
“They're working on decontaminating and cleaning up the air in there, but none of the packaging can be used,” said Conover-Loar. “We feel rather diminished by this experience, but it won't stop us.”
The organization hopes to eventually give away the gifts but Michael McLeieer, a fire safety specialist based in Kalamazoo, notes even if no flames engulf an item, it can still be considered a loss.
“Fires today burn a lot hotter than what they ever used to burn because of all the plastics and petrochemicals we have in today's buildings so with that smoke not being able to release, it actually attaches to anything that's there, furniture, toys, belongings,” said McLeieer. “We have to be overly cautious as the fire service to make sure that those belongings are not unsafe… The long term effects that it could have on that individual, certainly outweigh the personal belongings that could be replaced.”
McLeieer says clean up and restoration companies try to recover any belongings after a fire.
FOX17 contacted the business brought in for the incident at the Delta Plex and asked whether they thought any of the presents could be saved. A spokesperson has not provided an answer at this time.
In the meantime, the Santa Claus Girls plan to hand out gift cards to the families that signed up to receive presents on December 9.
“We’re desperately hoping that people will open up their wallets and their hearts and provide us with some more funding so that we have enough this season to provide. It’s really awful to lose everything at this point in the year,” said Conover-Loar. “If people can send us $10 or $1,000, $100, it all goes towards the children, especially this year because we’re just purchasing gift cards.”
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