By Britt Lake | Chief Program Officer, GlobalGiving
The series of wildfires that raged across California in December reached a scale no one in the state had ever witnessed before.
The Thomas Fire, which ignited on the evening of December 4 and burned 281,893 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties leading to the evacuation of more than 104,000 residents, was the largest in California's history. That single wildfire continued to burn until it was fully contained on January 12, by which time it had destroyed 1,063 buildings, damaged another 280 structures, and claimed the lives of two residents—one firefighter and one civilian.
In total, the region was beset by 29 separate wildfires between December 4 and January 12, scorching 307,953 acres of land and resulting in evacuation orders for more than 230,000 Californians. The unusual strength of the Santa Ana winds contributed significantly to how quickly and widely the fires spread.
Thanks to support from GlobalGivers like you, we've disbursed critical funding to the California Fire Foundation, whose mission is to provide emotional and financial assistance to families of fallen firefighters, firefighters, and the communities they protect.
By supporting CFF's Supplying Aid to Victims of Emergency (SAVE) program, which provides emergency short-term financial assistance to fire and natural disaster victims in California year-round, including both firefighters and civilians, your donation has delivered direct financial aid to wildfire survivors who suffered damage to 25% or more of their residence, providing them a path to recovery.
Thank you again for your generous support of our California Wildfire Relief Fund. We'll continue to update you in the coming months on the progress of our partners’ recovery efforts.
Warmly,
Britt Lake + the GlobalGiving Team
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When a disaster strikes, recovery efforts led by people who live and work in affected communities are often overlooked and underfunded. GlobalGiving is changing this reality. Since 2004, we've been shifting decision-making power to crises-affected communities through trust-based grantmaking and support.
We make it easy, quick, and safe to support people on the ground who understand needs in their communities better than anyone else.
They were there long before the news cameras arrived, and they’ll be there long after the cameras leave. They know how to make their communities more resilient to future disasters, and they’re already hard at work. GlobalGiving puts donations and grants directly into their hands. Because the status quo—which gives the vast majority of funding to a few large organizations—doesn’t make sense.
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