BUTTE— "Really the biggest thing is how dangerous it is out there," said Brayton Erickson.
Temperatures will be reaching –20 degrees and Erickson, executive director of the Butte Rescue Mission, warns that people without homes will be vulnerable to exposure.
"It’s easy to get hypothermia if you don’t have the right equipment, if you don’t have the right clothing, you don’t have enough layers on, and it happens so fast that people get hurt in this kind of weather," said Erickson.
For the past two years, the Butte Rescue Mission has been experiencing maximum capacity at the emergency shelter.
During weather like this that reaches below ten degrees, the mission’s emergency shelter will remain open all day so people can come in from the cold but at night is a different story.
There are only 16 available beds in the shelter, so people resort to sleeping on the tables and floors.
"Butte Rescue Mission is not very big and it should be made bigger because they’re a lot of people sleeping on the tables and that’s not enough for them I don’t think," said Robert Kostrezwa.
Kostrezwa says that they help people like him when no one else will.
"They’re a good group of people. They’ve kept me out of the cold and they give me shelter when other people have not," said Kostrzewa.
Erickson says that it’s important to get the word out before something that could have been prevented happens.
"If you see somebody out in the cold make sure they have enough layers, make sure they have a warm place to safe, make sure they know that the rescue mission is here to help," said Erickson.
