More North Texans have answered the call to help first responders and survivors of the Southern California and Los Angeles wildfires. This is the deadly Santa Ana winds that fueled two monstrous wildfires that have returned. For the past week, Barbara Monteilh from Denton has seen the images of fire-ravaged neighborhoods. On Monday, she had the chance to meet multiple survivors. “It was Sunday, probably about 11 a.m. I got the call they were needing some volunteers,” Monteilh said. “By 3:00 p.m. Sunday, I already had my flight booked and everything going.” Monteilh is a Red Cross volunteer with the North Texas Chapter. For the next two weeks, she will work as a Shelter Resident Transition (SRT) team member. “I am in Pasadena, California, at one of the Pasadena Civic Auditoriums, is one of the larger shelters here,” Monteilh said. “There’s 350 survivors that are here… They want to go home. Some of their homes may be destroyed. Some of them may just be in the evacuated area, but still need a place to stay.” The SRT shelters are designed to help survivors create a plan to secure housing so they can leave the shelter and begin the process to rebuild their lives. “Between health services mental health, spiritual help. Just seeing that and knowing that it’s all here for our client, you know, for the survivors, that they may not have vehicles to get to those resources to find that information. And so that’s why we have done this morning,” Monteilh said. In total, the Red Cross has opened seven shelters and are on standby to serve other areas threatened by the wildfires. “We have over 350 Red Crossers here in the field, and a number of them are from the Los Angeles region,” Doyle Rader, regional communication manager for the American Red Cross North Texas said. “We have about 900 people staying with us in our seven shelters… Withwinds picking up to dangerous levels again tomorrow, I have no doubt that more people from North Texas will be, you know, coming into the area to help support the communities that need it.” Winds are forecasted to get as high as 45 to 70 mph through Wednesday which could reverse some of the progress made in the battle against the deadly wildfires. “We arrived here at the Palisades Fire yesterday morning. And we just finished a 24-hour shift,” Wes Parsons with the Greenville Fire Department said. Parsons is among the more than 135 firefighters deployed to California by the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) and Texas A&M Forest Service. “My strike team, there’s 22 personnel. I got five engines,” Parsons said. Parsons said the transition to work alongside California’s Office of Emergency Services has been seamless due to the mutual aid training back home. “It’s designed to just slide right into emergencies and into their incident management teams,” Parsons said. “Basically, we need to be prepared for them and adjust tactics as needed and stay within our communication with our supervisors,” Parsons said. “Just stay safe, really.” The Palisades and Eaton Wildfires erupted last week, killing two dozen people and leveling entire neighborhoods. “This fire was pretty devastating,” Parsons said. “We have seen a lot of the damage. This area has been hit hard. It’ll take a long time to recover from it.” Parsons’ strike team will rest until early Wednesday morning. “There’s engines and folks preparing for the winds to pick up,” Parsons said. Parsons said it is unclear how long they’ll remain on the ground, however, they stand ready to help wherever needed. “By nature of our job, you could say that we don’t have a choice because that’s what we all signed up for to do in our profession,” Parsons said. “When the disaster isn’t it at home, and they can use us somewhere else, that’s what we’re going to do.” For volunteers interested in serving as an SRT team member with the Red Cross, North Texas will host half-day shelter training academies. “We need volunteers,” Monteilh said. “We need help.”