JACKSONVILLE (FBW)—Local churches are uniquely poised to respond in times like these when fires are ravaging the state, according to Fritz Wilson, director of Florida Baptist Convention Disaster Relief and Recovery.

Wilson, who said his department has been monitoring over 220 wildfires throughout the state and offering assistance to churches and associations, told Florida Baptist Witness he believes big kitchens and large movements, like those seen after hurricane situations, are impractical to set up in areas affected by ongoing fire crises.

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"Churches have good kitchens and most still have utilities," Wilson said. "What we do is to come alongside and offer them support and empower these churches to respond locally."

Florida Baptist Disaster Relief offers training divided into phases for new and former volunteers and offers applied training in specialty skills for recent responders. Areas of applied training include feeding, clean-up and recovery, child care, water purification and emergency communications.

In their last wide-scale effort, Florida and Southern Baptist mobile mass-feeding kitchens prepared more than 1.4 million meals in 12 days after Hurricane Wilma struck the Florida peninsula from the west to the east coast.

Wilson said the wildfires call for a different approach and he has made contact with dozens of churches to assess their situations.

"The neat thing for me is that the local churches and their church members are actively helping to respond to their communities," Wilson said.

For more information, call the Disaster Relief and Recovery Department at 800-226-8584, ext. 3121.