Firestorm evacuees in tents at Walmart pack up after services dismantled

[Mr.Bill]

8. I have been through two evacuations.I never lost my home, fortunately.

My wife is a certified Red Cross disaster worker. I have spent some time at organized shelters. The fact is that there will always be a percentage of evacuees that are not comfortable at these shelters for various reasons. You can't smoke at all at a shelter that is at a school. You can't drink, but I guess you could hide it. No matter how much they are assured that immigration is not involved with shelters, undocumented immigrants fear anything the government has anything to do with. It astounds me that people would think they would want to vote. One thing the shelters are better at now is allowing pets. That used to keep people from going to shelters.


But right now, rain and cold weather is imminent and these people need a hard roof over their heads, they need bathrooms, showers, meals and basic hygiene. Every county has a fairgrounds and these facilities need to be pressed into service. They have buildings, parking, kitchens, everything you need for a large number of people.

This can all be done, but I think it's just the sheer number of people that is making it difficult to get it all up and running. We handled it in my county with schools, Churches, a Moose lodge and a Casino who opened their event center to us. The Salvation Army cooked, the Red Cross organized, provided cots and blankets and someone brought in a truck that was a rolling laundromat. But we were only dealing with a few thousand people here. What's going on in Paradise is on a much larger scale.