American Red Cross Assists Thousands of Southern California Families

American Red Cross
Wednesday, 26 November 2003

Relief operation summary released one month after devastating wildfires

As twelve major wildland and urban/wildland fires raged in southern California, homeowners, residents and emergency workers turned to the American Red Cross for help. Ignited during extreme fire hazard conditions associated with four years of drought and fed by strong easterly winds, high temperatures, low humidity, and dry vegetation, the fires destroyed forests, homes and businesses, resulted in fatalities and injuries, forced evacuations and sheltering of residents, and disrupted highway, rail and air traffic, telephone service and electrical power.

In southern California, more than 8,800 local volunteers were joined by 1,100 others from across the country to wear the Red Cross emblem while serving those in need. The costs of providing relief to the victims of the wildfires continues to be counted, however to date the Red Cross has committed $8.4 million to the relief effort.

"Disaster relief of this magnitude doesn't just happen by itself," said Marsha J. Evans, President and CEO of the American Red Cross. "It takes a committed workforce of volunteers and employees and the financial support of the American public. The heart of the Red Cross is people – people coming together in crisis and working to benefit others in need."

Residents turned to the Red Cross to provide a safe place for them and their families to stay when emergency evacuation orders were issued. All told, more than 10,800 people sought safe refuge in 41 Red Cross shelters. Red Cross health services staff met with more than 12,700 people to discuss the physical health issues related to the wildfires, while nearly 16,000 people spoke with a counselor or other trained disaster mental health worker to work through the emotional toll of the fires. Other Red Cross relief workers received and processed more than 1,500 requests to check the whereabouts and safety of family and friends in the fire's path.

While the fires raged, and afterwards when families were sifting through debris, Red Cross volunteers were on the front lines providing meals, drinks and snacks. Shelter residents always had plenty of food for their families, while Red Cross workers brought food and water to the front lines for the fire fighters and rescue crews. Later, Red Cross volunteers drove through burned-out neighborhoods providing relief to hungry residents in the midst of their clean-up. In all, the Red Cross provided more than 374,500 meals and snacks prepared at six kitchen sites and served at 49 fixed sites and from 29 ERVs on mobile routes.

As the wildfires were contained and residents were allowed to return to their homes, or what was left of them, relief activities began to transition into recovery. In the end, more than 4,600 dwellings were damaged in the fires; 90 percent of which were completely destroyed. Trained Red Cross caseworkers met with 5,780 families and individuals at designated service centers and in their neighborhoods to help map out their recovery plans and provide assistance to meet the most critical disaster-caused needs.

But the work is not over. In southern California, victims' families with additional needs will continue to meet with Red Cross representatives at the local chapter offices. Once the final numbers are in, it is expected that the cost of providing relief and assistance to victims of the California wildfires will top $9.8 million.

Since May, when the Red Cross announced that its Disaster Relief Fund was critically low, generous donors have responded with financial contributions to help ensure that the Red Cross is able to respond immediately to victims' needs when disaster strikes. Still, continued help is needed. While the Red Cross was helping victims in Southern California, the organization and its disaster relief workers were also providing immediate assistance to victims of flooding in West Virginia, Puerto Rico and Virginia; tornadoes in Texas and house and apartment fires all across the country. Because of this, contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund are barely keeping pace with the costs associated with responding to people's basic needs. Help is still needed to help the victims of thousands of disasters that occur throughout the country each year.

Disasters can strike an entire community at once or a single family in the middle of the night. With the help of generous Americans, the Red Cross will be ready to respond no matter when or where disasters tear through communities, damaging belongings and turning lives upside down.

For more information, or to contact American Red Cross, see their website at: www.redcross.org