Red Cross Helps Thousands of Evacuees Find Safety As Raging California Wildfires Continue to Burn

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Paradise resident David Troy Wigham lost everything in the deadly Camp Fire. Red Cross photo by Barbara Wood.

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Volunteers learned about the Red Cross mission to alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors. Photo Credit: Heather Fairchild/American Red Cross Volunteer

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Holly Keller, a former resident of Paradise, brought her two horses to the livestock shelter at the Butte County Fairgrounds. Red Cross photo by Elvia Alaniz.

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Vera Klein and her pet dog rest at the Red Cross shelter in Woodland Hills after being ordered to evacuate due to the Woolsey Fire. Red Cross photo by Roxanne Schorbach.

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John Kelly and his pet cat had to leave their home in the middle of the night due to the Woolsey Fire and are escaping the fire at the Red Cross shelter in Woodland Hills. Red Cross photo by Roxanne Schorbach.

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Joy and tears all around as Diane Papedo found her brother, Phil Mazores, at the Red Cross shelter in Butte County. Cousins Cathy Frangoulis and Arsinoe Ferry look on. They will travel north to the Bay Area to help Phil plan his next steps after the wildfires. Red Cross photo by Daniel Cima.

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Samantha Garber helps her one-year-old daughter, Sabrina, while staying at the Red Cross shelter in Butte County. “We’re okay. It’s hard and I worry about trying to provide the kids with anything that’s even close to normal. At least we have this play area, lots of new toys, and other kids to play with,” she said. Red Cross photo by Daniel Cima.

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The Murillo family fled their home in Magalia, California and are staying at the Red Cross shelter in Butte County. “We are comfortable, able to take care of each other, and the Red Cross volunteers couldn’t be nicer,” Josiah Murillo said. Red Cross photo by Daniel Cima.

November 12, 2018

Providing Shelter, Food, and Help Finding Loved Ones

Washington, D.C., November 12, 2018 — The American Red Cross is on the ground throughout the State of California, providing shelter, food and comfort for thousands of people forced to leave their homes due to the deadly wildfires burning in both the northern and southern parts of the state.

Red Cross volunteers are providing help and support at evacuation centers to offer safe refuge for people impacted by these devastating fires. Overnight, more than 2,100 people sought refuge from the wildfires in 18 Red Cross and community evacuation centers across the state. People are welcome to come to shelters for help even if they don’t stay overnight.

The Red Cross has deployed enough supplies to shelter as many as 7,000 people, including special equipment to support people with access and functional needs. The Red Cross is also mobilizing relief supplies to serve as many as 15,000 households. Supplies include sifters, personal protective equipment, respiratory masks, rakes, shovels, work gloves, tarps, and other resources.

FINDING LOVED ONES People continue to search for missing loved ones and Red Cross reunification services are helping reconnect them as quickly as possible. These services include helping people communicate through the Red Cross Safe and Well website, as well as helping with urgent requests involving unaccompanied minors and separated children, reestablishing contact with family members who have been separated within the disaster area and working with partners to resolve reunification-related inquiries. As of Sunday, nearly 3,900 people have registered on Safe and Well, with more than 41,000 total searches and 539 actual matches.

If someone is looking for loved ones they can visit the Red Cross Safe and Well website at http://www.redcross.org/safeandwell. The site allows individuals and organizations to register and post messages to indicate that they are safe, or to search for loved ones. The site is always available, open to the public and available in Spanish. Registrations and searches can be done directly on the website.

People can also use the “I’m Safe” feature of the Red Cross Emergency App to let loved ones know their status. The Emergency App is available in app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.

HOW YOU CAN HELP Entire communities and families have been left reeling from these deadly wildfires. Help people affected by the California wildfires by visiting redcross.org, calling 1- 800-RED CROSS or texting the word CAWILDFIRES to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Donations enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from these disasters.

Actress Sandra Bullock, a long-time supporter of the Red Cross, has donated $400,000 to help with the California wildfires relief effort. “The untold destruction from these fires is heartbreaking, especially following the tragedy at Borderline in Thousand Oaks,” Bullock said. “I’m glad to be able to help. We’re all family in this, whether it be human, furry or feathered.

CORPORATIONS HELP The generous donations from members of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and the Disaster Responder Program enable the American Red Cross to prepare communities for disasters big and small, respond whenever and wherever disasters occur and help families during the recovery process.

ADGP $1 Million members are: Adelson Family Foundation; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Anthem Foundation; Bank of America; Brown & Brown Insurance; Caterpillar Foundation; The Clorox Company; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx; Grainger; The Home Depot Foundation; LDS Charities; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; Mazda North American Operations; Microsoft Corp.; Nationwide Foundation; PepsiCo Foundation; State Farm; Verizon; VSP Global; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; and The Walt Disney Company.

ADGP $500,000 members are: 21st Century Fox; Altria Group; AmazonSmile; American Express; Aon; BMW of North America; Capital One; CBS Corporation; Cisco Foundation; Citi Foundation; Darden Restaurants, Inc. Foundation; Discover; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Motor Company; General Motors; Humble Bundle; IBM Corporation; International Paper; John Deere Foundation; Johnson Controls; LabCorp; Medtronic Foundation; Meijer; Merck Foundation; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; Nissan; Procter & Gamble Company; PwC Charitable Foundation; Southwest Airlines; Target; Tata Consultancy Services; TD Ameritrade; The TJX Companies, Inc.; United Airlines; UPS; The USAA Foundation; The Wawa Foundation; and Wells Fargo.

Disaster Responder Program members are: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe; AdvoCare International L.P.; Alliance Data; Assurant; AT&T; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; AXA Equitable Life; The Ball Foundation; Barclays; Boise Paper; CarMax; Choice Hotels International; Cox Automotive; DICK’S Sporting Goods; Duke Energy; Entergy Corporation; Farmers Insurance; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; HSBC Bank; Ingersoll Rand Foundation; The J.M. Smucker Company; Land O’Lakes, Inc.; Mastercard; Morgan Stanley; Neiman Marcus Group; Northrop Grumman Corporation; Northwestern Mutual and the Northwestern Mutual Foundation; Prudential Financial; Raytheon Company; Rodan + Fields Prescription for Change Foundation; Ryder; SC Johnson; Security Finance’s Lending Hand Foundation; Southeastern Grocers Home of BI-LO Harveys Winn Dixie; Standard Textile; The Starbucks Foundation; Stearns Bank; Toyota; U-Haul International; United Technologies Corporation; U.S. Bank; and Visa

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or follow us on social media.