Stacie Albright on Relief and Recovery After the “Camp”
Fire
2018 Recap of the Destructive Mega-Fire Called the Camp
Fire
Wildfires in the West, especially California, have blown
out of control - literally. The raging infernos of 2018 are beyond the
capability of the fire service as it exists today. The fuels are too dry; too
many people live in the wildland that needs their homes protected; there are
too few resources to go around when hundreds of thousands of acres are
involved; and the radical environmental groups have pressured politics to the
point where we can no longer manage our forests and wildlands.
Be that as it may, wildfires are also causing evacuations
like never before. ModernJeeper Stacie Albright decided to jump in the middle
of the evacuations and help people with relief, shelter, and recovery.
As of November 2018, the Camp Fire is the deadliest and
most destructive wildfire in California history. Named after the origin, Camp
Creek Road, this inferno has destroyed 12,000 structures, homes, and
apartments. Displaced residents are fleeing the area looking for help, relief,
food, a place to stay, and someone who cares.
Churches, fairgrounds, town halls, and community centers
become evacuation sites, relief locations, and donation drop-off places. But
guess what? Someone has to organize all these relief centers and drop-off
locations. Clothes, shoes, coats, food, water, and more started arriving in
Yuba City and Oroville nearly immediately. Hundreds of truck and car loads.
To the rescue -- Stacie Albright and dozens of like-minded
citizens wanting to help. Stacie hooked up her vintage Terry trailer to her
1988 Jeep Wagoneer and headed north to help.
First of all, she will be the first to tell you that you
should know where you’re headed before you try to drive into a fire area. It’s
best if you have a club group or organization you are reporting to duty for as
a volunteer. Online resources and
Facebook are a wealth of info on what YOU can do to help.
The job of a volunteer in a relief center is
multi-tasking: Sorting, organizing, being a parking lot attendant, finding
places to pile and store stuff, answering thousands of questions from evacuees,
helping people find their pets, labeling piles of clothes and sizes; and more.
Here is how Stacie described the experience:
“I’ve never seen so many people left homeless, stranded,
evacuated, and feeling hopeless in one area. It looked like a nuclear bomb went
off. You could see folks everywhere, walking in the ashes with a glazed look in
their eyes. It was awful. But boy, were they glad to see me bringing supplies,
water, clothes, and more. When they went to base camp, we gave them some hope
in an awful situation. I’m so glad I was able to volunteer and help the victims.”
MORE HELPFUL LINKS:
DEL'S BOOKS (LAND USE, WILDFIRE, DEATH VALLEY, COWBOY POETRY, AND MORE)
WEBSITE (HOME PAGE)
PINTEREST (BOOKS, ARTICLES, AND MORE)
DEL'S ARTICLES (LAND USE, LIFE, WILDFIRE, VOLUNTEERISM, AND MORE)
More land use and volunteerism help here:
- MEETINGS:
- RUN A BETTER MEETING
- NEPA:
- LEARN MORE ABOUT NEPA
- LETTERS:
- WRITE A LETTER
- SPEECHES:
- GIVE A SPEECH
- FACILITATE:
- LEARN TO FACILITATE MEETINGS
- CLUBS:
- WHY JOIN A CLUB
- CONVOYS:
- ORGANIZE A CONVOY
- JOIN:
- JOIN THE RIGHT GROUPS
- TRAINING:
- GET VOLUNTEER TRAINING
- LEAD:
- LEAD VOLUNTEERS
- JOBS:
- CHOOSE THE RIGHT JOB FOR YOU
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