The American Red Cross is assessing the damage after the Fort Dodge office was vandalized sometime today. Red Cross spokesperson, Kara Kelly, says there was extensive damage to the inside of the office.
“They broke in through a front office window, we know that a large flat screen TV was stolen, a laptop was stolen. A marked Red Cross SUV was stolen — that’s not the Emergency Response Vehicle, the ambulance looking vehicle. But that was recovered,” Kelly says.
She says investigators are looking over the damage and hoping to find clues to help catch whoever did the damage. “I think the important thing is that service delivery in the area around Fort Dodge will not affected at all, we will be able to respond to anything that happens. It’s just an office building, we will be able to handle it,” according the Kelly.
The Red Cross is usually the agency that helps others and Kelly says they understand that these things can happen. “It’s disheartening, but it’s no different than anybody else that has something bad happen to them,” Kelly says.
“We are going to take it and recover and make sure that we are available for anybody that needs us in the meantime.” Kelly says they may have a dollar figure on the amount of damage later today. The Fort Dodge office covers Pocahontas, Humboldt, Wright, Calhoun, Webster and Hamilton counties.