How to Help Fire Victims in Northern California

Fire continues to incinerate Northern California, with the ones in Mendocino, Napa, and Sonoma counties being the most deadly and damaging. The Tubbs Fire, for example, has burned through more than 27,000 acres between Calistoga and Santa Rosa. Wineries and vineyards—the cornerstone of the economy there—have been completely wiped out in some cases. Now, windy conditions threaten to spread the flames into new territories, which could force more evacuations and structural loss.

Here’s how to help victims of the nearly two dozens fires, many of whom have had their homes and communities destroyed.

Open Your Home or Land

Airbnb has started an Open Homes program to provide free shelter for displaced residents and relief workers who have been deployed to help. Airbnb is asking hosts living near the affected area to open up their homes for free through October 30. The program has been expanded so residents of San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland can now sign up to host evacuees.

Hipcamp also has a list of areas where evacuees can camp. If you want to host families on your land, email [email protected].

People who have been displaced in Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino can use the code HIPCAMPLOVESNORCAL to stay at select Hipcamps for free.

A Google docs page has also been created to help connect evacuees with people opening up their homes separate of a formal program.

Donate Supplies

Officials have asked for donations of items like water, blankets, baby food, and pet food to be sent to evacuation centers. You can also go to Facebook’s crisis response page to find out what other items are needed.

A few commonly overlooked items continue to be:

Packaged underwear
Shoes
Phone chargers
Feminine products

The Redwood Empire Food Bank is supplying food for the more than two dozen evacuation centers in Sonoma County. One organizer told Coins2Day it is in dire need of ready-to-eat, non-perishable foods that are easy to open and in non-glass containers. Donations are being accepted at 3990 Brickway Blvd. In Santa Rosa.

Examples of acceptable products include:

Peanut butter and jelly
Beefy jerky
Granola bars

For those who don’t live in the area, financial donations, that will be used to buy food, can be made on the organization’s website.

To check for updates on other places seeking donations, visit the City of Sonoma’s Facebook page, which is updated regularly.

Some of these locations include:

1-2-3-4 G o! Records in Oakland
The San Francisco location of Love on Haight, which is giving free clothing to fire victims
Liholiho Yacht Cl ub is collecting donations through Friday at 11 a.m.

Air Respirators

Air quality in areas as far away as San Francisco and San Mateo County—more than 80 miles from the heart of the fires—is reaching historically poor levels. For this reason, air respirators are one of the most needed items.

Napa had the poorest air quality in the country Thursday morning, according to the EPA. High levels of particulate matter and ozone in the atmosphere pushed Napa’s air quality to 167 on the EPA’s index gauge. Good air quality registers as zero to 50.

Cash

One of the best ways to help from afar is by giving cash.

These sites are accepting donations:

United Way of Wine Country and United Way Bay Area have formed the The United Ways’ Northern California Wildfire Relief and Recovery Fund. The fund will provide immediate and long-term recovery assistance to North Bay residents affected by the wildfires that have spread throughout the region. Go to www.uwba.org/donate and enter WILDFIRE in the comments section) or text “WILDFIRE” to 40403 to make a pledge. All proceeds go to relief and recovery efforts.
GoFundMe, which has numerous links directing money towards fire relief efforts
The Red Cross’s site is accepting donations, as is 800-RED-CROSS. Texting REDCROSS to 90999 makes a $10 donation.
Redwood Credit Union
Bay Area professional sports teams including the San Francisco 49ers, Oakland A’s, and the Golden State Warriors have collectively committed $450,000. Donations can be made through their #BayAreaUnite campaign to help reach their $900,000 goal.
Napa Valley Community Foundation

Volunteer

Many centers have enough supplies for now and are looking for volunteers.

The Red Cross is looking for volunteers to help fire evacuees. Go to their volunteer connection page to sign up.
In Marin County, go to the CVNL Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership portal and make sure to put “disaster volunteering” when you register.
For Sonoma County, call 707-573-3399 to check if volunteers are still needed
The Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership is also assisting. Register on its website to volunteer or donate.

Pets Need Help, Too

You can donate to local animal shelters, which are housing pets for people who were evacuated. Many shelters have a no-pets policy, which forces pet owners to find other options. Here are local shelters that need donations: