It has been a brutal week for California.
The wildfires are still not extinguished and the ‘Camp Fire’ in Northern California is already officially classed as the worst fire in recorded history for our Golden state. Thousand Oaks residents barely had a chance to catch their breath from the horrific shooting at the Borderline Grill on November 7th, as not even 24 hours had passed before the ‘Woolsey Fire’ reared it’s ugly head. Its rampage continued towards the coast and as we all now know it decimated Malibu too. It is truly incomprehensible. Many of our friends and fellow Brits in LA members got evacuated and some even sadly lost their houses; but thankfully to the best of my knowledge, they all managed to keep themselves out of harm’s way.
I was surprised by the amount of messages I received from family and friends overseas frantically checking in on my wellbeing, as I live relatively far from the affected areas. Although, judging by the coatings of ash on my car I probably live closer than I think.
It made me realize how useful the Facebook Safety Check is. For those not familiar with this feature, Facebook notes that you are near a crisis zone and they give you an option to mark yourself as ‘safe’. It actually didn’t cross my mind to do it in this case, knowing I am 30+ miles away from the fires (and the shootings). But my overseas friends aren’t to know that! It’s also a very useful tool for those of us that are not in distress but near enough to offer our assistance, as also listed is what help is currently needed.
We’ve certainly had our fair share of disasters haven’t we? I often find they leave many of us feeling a little bit helpless. Yes, we can donate money, supplies, clothes, share requests for help etc. but I know we would all like to do even more if we could. So I looked into it a bit further and discovered the Los Angeles Fire Department Volunteer Program.
You can google that phrase or Visit .lafd.org/join/volunteer and you will find many options, including a free LAFD CERT PROGRAM which has been running since 1985.
“The CERT course will benefit anyone who takes it and will help them be better prepared to respond to and cope with the aftermath of a disaster,” according to the website.
To schedule a CERT class or other type of training, you can either visit the website above or call (213) 202-3136 or send an email to lafdcert@lacity.org. New courses start in January across LA County.
If Ham Radio is a hobby of yours you could be very useful to the Emergency Services during a crisis like this. Visit www.lafdacs.org for details.
If you are aged 14-20 why not sign up to be a Fire Cadet? Visit bit.ly/CadetRegister to find out more
I am sure once these fires are contained there will be a need for volunteers to help clean up. Keep an eye on our social media pages (@BritsinLA) as we will post there first.
You can also email us at info@Britsin.la if you have any questions or have any requests or information you would like us to share with our members.
In the meantime stay safe and Happy Thanksgiving for next week. We all have many extra reasons to be thankful I think…..
Cheers!
Eileen
