As more than 20 wildfires have burned at least 665 square miles in seven counties and forced nearly 1 million residents to flee their homes, Southern Baptist disaster relief workers are responding quickly by providing thousands of meals for firefighters and evacuees in Southern California.
A couple of brick remnants are all that remain at one of the 1,500 homes destroyed by wildfires in Southern California.Two feeding units from the California Southern Baptist Convention are set up at PETCO Park, home of the San Diego Padres. Don Hargis, disaster relief coordinator for California, said they’re preparing 20,000 to 40,000 meals a day to be sent out to shelters in 75 Red Cross emergency relief vehicles.
A third kitchen unit is operating at First Baptist Church in Newhall, Calif., which is in northern Los Angeles County, according to Mickey Caison, director of the North American Mission Board’s disaster operations center in Alpharetta, Ga. That kitchen is prepared to serve up to 700 meals a day, he said.
The evacuations in Southern California are the largest in the United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and this marks the first time NAMB has fully activated its disaster operations center since that time, Caison said. It is now operating full-time with four NAMB staff members and six volunteers.
According to news reports, more than 426,000 acres have been charred by the chain of wildfires, fueled by Santa Ana winds that earlier gusted up to 100 mph in some places but are now in the 25 to 35 mph range. The winds are seriously hampering firefighting operations.
More than 1,500 homes have been destroyed and nearly 1 million people displaced in the Southern California area. Five people have been killed and more than 70 injured, including 34 firefighters.