My Thoughts on the 2018 California Fires-- Part II

The first time I wrote about the horrific fires in California, there was thick smoke outside my window and the air outside was so unhealthy that I chose to wear a respirator outdoors. The air quality was so bad that when my school was canceled for three days, I went to Santa Barbara to escape the air for a weekend.
The air now has returned to normal. The Woolsey Fire near Malibu is nearly 100% contained and the Camp Fire near Chico is 95% contained. But the unhealthy air that covered the Bay Area for days was merely a nuisance. Football games getting canceled, including the Cal vs. Stanford game, a musical that I was supposed to see getting postponed, and all the temporary closings of businesses in San Francisco are annoying, but not dangerous.
In Paradise, California, and other nearby towns, 84 people lost their lives and hundreds are still missing. Eighteen thousand structures were destroyed, including 14,000 homes. The destruction is unbearable. My thoughts and prayers go to those who lost anything in the fire, whether they lost an important family item, a house, a small business, an entire home, or, worst of all, a loved one. I sympathize with the grief that many will face due to the devastating impact of these fires. I encourage you to send donations or do anything you can to help victims of this tragedy.
I also thank the brave firefighters who have worked extremely hard battling the largest fire in California's history. This firefighting effort has been far more difficult than many others because of the fire's extremely fast growth rate. If not for the firefighters, there would be far more destruction. I am grateful for all of the work that was done by the more than 5,600 firefighters who battled the Camp Fire.
While I do not intend for this post to be political, I believe that FEMA has done an unsatisfactory job ensuring the safety of the evacuees who fled burning towns such as Paradise. Hundreds of evacuees were and still are forced to sleep in tents in the parking lot of a Walmart, despite the unhealthy air quality outdoors, because people could not open enough shelters. Many of those who lived in Paradise had no experience in the outdoors or camping and it is less than ideal to camp in a tent with the poor air quality outdoors. FEMA should have attempted to open shelters everywhere-- in Chico, Sacramento, San Francisco, or anywhere in the United States where a shelter could be open-- and flew evacuees to the locations of these shelters. Instead, they abandoned hundreds and left them outdoors in a Walmart parking lot when they likely had shelters available in other cities.
I am greatly saddened by this tragedy. While the Camp Fire has certainly annoyed people in the Bay Area, that is just a nuisance. My sympathy is for those who suffered even more directly as a result of the fires.

Solemnly,
Nathan

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