Out of the ashes: Volunteers help Adam's Cove wildfire victims recover irreplaceable items

A group of volunteer veterans, first responders and other skilled civilians are helping residents in Adam's Cove recover precious items from their homes that were destroyed in a wildfire in early May. 

Team Rubicon is a veteran-led humanitarian organization that responds to natural disasters like forest fires. 

"We came in as a humanitarian organization to sift through the homes to help the homeowners find anything that's valuable or [a] memento," said N.L. team lead Matthew Barron.

"Could be diamond rings, wedding rings. Sometimes we found valuables like gold or silver," said Barron. "Just mementos that they were afraid they might have lost."

The wildfire destroyed 12 homes in the community, leaving lots of burned debris. Alongside sifting, Barron said they will also remove any hazardous trees and other dangers.

Team Rubicon sent volunteers from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ottawa to help out in Adam's Cove. 

The organization was founded in 2010 by a U.S. veteran after the Haiti earthquake. It than grew and established itself in Canada after the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire.

Now the organization is expanding and looking to help more communities impacted by disasters, like wildfire in Conception Bay North. 

This is the team's first operation in N.L. and they're forming a volunteer base in the province. 

Barron says Team Rubicon is filling in the gaps for disaster relief.

"There's nobody else in Canada who is doing sifting operations for homeowners and nobody who is doing muck outs or doing chainsaw work."

Barron says the victims have been grateful for their help. 

"I mean it's helpful to give them closure," said Barron. "Everybody here is a volunteer and we don't do it for anything other than it just feels great to help people in their time of need when they've literally lost everything." 

Barron is a veteran himself, now retired after serving 20 years.