(Natrona County, Wyo.) – A nice weather week in the Oil City ended Wednesday, but the cold chill of winter did not stop the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Team from stepping up to aid those affected by the Station fire.
All this week a group of passionate leaders from around the West came to the aid of the Casper community to help with clean-up efforts.
The State Director of the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Team, Dennis Belz, reported that his team has been in Natrona County since last week, talking with those affected by the recent fire and assessing how they could help.
This week the team worked to clean, sift through the ashes, and work with those affected.
“We have spent much of this week sifting through the rubble, looking for items for family members. After completing this job we are working on today, we will have completed 10 jobs in the burn area. We have volunteers helping us out from Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and Wyoming,” said Belz as the cold Casper wind blew.
His team was aided by the great Casper community, and Belz reported that Coleman Construction provided some equipment and other resources that aided their efforts.
“We would not have been able to complete the amount of work that we have without the assistance of Coleman Construction. There has also been several community members who have provided their equipment to help us as well, and the community has been so open and helpful to us. I am very impressed with this community.”
Dennis Belz has been working in disaster relief for 25 years, and he reported that the Southern Baptist Relief Team has aided in relief efforts across the nation, including the recent flooding in Lusk. 
“Most people tell me that there is a disaster where ever I am,” Belz said with a grin.
Belz continued to inform us that his team first works to clear the rubble and debris, then they used dirt sifters to search through the ash to locate jewelry and various other items which they return to the home owners.
“A lot of what we find has become melted chunks of gold or silver and we bring those items back to the owners. A lot of the stuff that we find is worthless to us, but is important to the owners. Lots of stories out here,” stated Belz.
Throughout this week the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief team worked at various locations along Cole Creek Road including Lake Drive, Henry Road; they cut trees along Alexander Road and did some work along Sunburst and Aurora.
“We try to do everything that we can, the biggest thing that we aim for is to bring help, healing and hope to people. The help is the manual work, the healing is us being here to listen to the stories and help them walk into the next steps of recovery, and the hope is praying with them and leading them to the next stages of life.”
“This has been a very unique deployment; it is great to see how pleasant the people in Wyoming have been. This is my fifth trip to Wyoming and a very special place indeed!”