California Wildfires: What You Need to Know and How You Can Help
Beginning in late October, a series of wildfires have sprung up across California from the north down to the state’s southernmost cities. The most recent outbreaks flared up a little over a week ago on November 9th, 2019. From September through December, California and its border states are at an especially high risk of wildfire outbreaks due to Diablo and Santa Ana winds, which are expected to pick up through the end of December. The wildfire season of 2019 has been one of the worst on record since the Camp Fire wildfire of 2018.
The first fire broke out on October 24th in Kincade, CA, quickly becoming the largest fire out of the 6,402 that have been reported since then. Just two days later, United States officials ordered roughly 50,000 people to evacuate in the San Francisco Bay Area.
According to a map created by the Los Angeles Times, the fires seem to appear sporadically throughout the state, stretching from Kincade, which lies in the heart of wine country north of San Francisco, all the way to Southern California. The worst of the fires have been the Hillside Fire at San Bernardino just east of Los Angeles, and the Getty Fire, west of the famous city. The fires have led to hundreds of thousands of evacuations along with considerable structural damage. While the causes of the flare-ups in many areas remain under investigation, the majority of evacuations have been lifted and evacuees are slowly beginning to adjust to life in the wake of the destruction.
According to an article by the New York Times, it is estimated that over 7,000 firefighters have responded to the fires, struggling to get them contained, even with the help of helicopters and air tankers that have used a combination of water and flame retardant to help fighters on the ground battle blaze. As of November 4th, it was reported that 50% of fires were contained. This number has gone up since, but the risk of flare-ups remains probable in many areas.
In response to the increasingly high wildfire risk, the state of California ordered a mandatory power shut-off for around 2.35 million people due to severe winds and high fire risks across the state. According to an article written by AP News, “Pacific Gas & Electric said a new wave of blackouts started Saturday evening, affecting about 940,000 homes and businesses in 38 counties for 48 hours or longer. The city of San Francisco was not in line for a blackout; shut-offs were ordered for most of the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area, the wine country to the north and the Sierra foothills.” Luckily for residents in areas with mandated power outages, the power returned to most areas between October 29th to October 31st.
It goes without saying that the destruction caused by these fires will be difficult for residents to recover from, but there are many ways that we can help. A list published by Southern California Grantmakers offers the names of different charitable organizations along with what your donations will help fund so that you can too can assist in recovery and relief efforts in the state. Below are a few of the organizations mentioned. If you would like to know more, visit the link below.
The California Community Foundation: Wildfire Relief Fund
Entertainment Industry Foundation: Fire Relief Fund
The California Fire Foundation: Supplying Aid to Victims of Emergency (SAVE) Program
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