It’s been a difficult week for Bitterroot Valley residents whose lives have been interrupted by the Roaring Lion fire. Natural disasters can lead to feelings of frustration, fatigue, anger and indecisiveness.
The executive director of the American Red Cross of Montana, Diane Wright, says those are normal responses.
"In the worst case, you may have lost your home and that’s tragic in and of itself. When you’re evacuated and out of your routine it’s perfectly normal to react that way."
Wright adds that one of the Red Cross’ priorities is to help people cope with disaster-related stress.
"(We monitor) the people that we come in contact with and make that initial assessment to make sure that they are doing ok. And if (they’re) not, we have places that we can refer them. We even have licensed professionals on our volunteer staff who we can have them call to talk things out."
Wright says that as of Thursday nine people were staying at the Hamilton shelter.