AFSC Activates Emergency Response for California Fires

Crisis Funds Sought to Help Threatened Families, Especially Immigrant Workers

"Some migrant farm workers live in makeshift homes along the mountainside and in canyons ... When the fire is contained, these forgotten communities will need blankets and warm clothing, along with medical, housing and other services not yet identified." - Pedro Rios, coordinator of the AFSC San Diego regional office

In its time-honored tradition of helping relieve suffering through immediate aid and long-term reconstruction and development, AFSC will earmark contributions to its crisis fund to help assuage the growing crisis resulting from the Southern California wild fires.

Staff on-the-ground in San Diego are assessing critical needs. Preliminary staff reports show the devastation is widespread around many of the eastern communities throughout San Diego County. Some communities were completely evacuated. Many areas are completely inaccessible by roads because of the fires.

The Service Committee will primarily focus on helping neglected immigrant communities in the area. Because English may not be their primary language, those communities may not receive life-saving information about the critical situation.

"We immediately began contacting farm worker communities," states Christian Ramirez, the American Friends Service Committee national immigrant rights advocate. "Some were still working out in the fields, even in the mandatory evacuation zones, afraid to leave for fear of losing their jobs. We intervened by negotiating with employers to allow them to leave."

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"Working with Frente Indigena de Organizaciones Binacionales and other partners, we helped to set up a safe evacuation center for those without papers," Ramierz explains. "We are reaching out to farm workers still in the canyons, providing water, goggles, eye drops, flashlights, and other crucial supplies."

Many migrants are too afraid to go to the officially designated evacuation centers and instead seek cover along the treacherous and potentially deadly walls of brush-covered canyons.

"Some migrant farm workers live in makeshift homes along the mountainside and in canyons," said Pedro Rios, coordinator of the AFSC San Diego regional office. "When the fire is contained, these forgotten communities will need blankets and warm clothing, along with medical, housing and other services not yet identified."

"In the months ahead, as part of our ongoing work in San Diego County, we will work with this community to ensure that their voices are heard so that the next time there is a disaster, their safety and security will be also assured," Rios adds.

The American Friends Service Committee has been a witness for human rights along the U.S. Mexico Border for more than 30 years.

Help Families Displaced by the Fires Near San Diego: Donations should be sent to the AFSC Crisis Fund/San Diego Fires, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102. To contribute via Visa or MasterCard, call 1-888-588-2372, ext. 1, or through the AFSC website at http://www.afsc.org/give.