Residents Affected by the Thomas Fire Unite

Do communities always come together during a disaster?

The Thomas Fire began on December 4, 2017 and ended on January 12, 2018 during the holiday season this wildfire took place in Southern California in the county of Santa Barbara and Ventura. The wildfire destroyed more than 1,000 homes and other structures like the Vista Del Mar Hospital. This wildfire is known to be the largest California fire because it burned about 281,893 acres of land, and it caused about $2.176 billion in damages. There were a total of 8,500 firefighters from all over the U.S. that fought the fire to save as much as they could. Twenty one lives were lost because of debris and sudden flooding from heavy rain on January 8, 2018 that helped minimize the fire, but the rain also destroyed about 100 homes.

The novel Animal’s People by Indra Sinha is about another disaster similar like the Thomas Fire since the both had toxic air going around the cities. The story begins with a seventeen year old boy who can no longer walk on two legs because he has been affected by the Bhopal Gas Leak in India for all he remember he has always walked on his arms and legs. The chemicals in the air caused a lot of health problems for the people of Bhopal especially because they did not get the treatment that was necessary to survive in a well state of being. Zafar a professional activist that Animal looks up to takes advantage of his power and does the worst for the civilians. Animal is also exposed to all the drama and that is going on with the Company that released the leak and Elli Doctress rather than worrying about the people of Bhopal.

The Bhopal Gas Leak situation is very similar to the Thomas Fire because the air was toxic to the residences. And many people had to evacuate their homes for example Beautyybird uploaded a thirty three minute vlog about her experience with the wildfire. She mentions that a lot of the restaurants were closed and people had to evacuate to hotels lucky the hotels were allowing pets to stay as guest also because many people were about to lose their homes. Ashes were everywhere making it difficult for people to breath which is why they had to wear mouth covers. People were not allowed to go back to their homes because many had a mandatory evacuation this caused a lot of anxiety and mental breakdowns and that’s also how the people of Bhopal felt.

Brock Cannon mentions in his medium article that he fell in love with the city of Santa Barbara and the beauty of mother nature but not the ash rain from the fire. He states the three lessons he learned during the disaster which are:

• 1. “People are freaking Amazing at their core.” : The community came together to help each other out and people that did not have to evacuate opened their homes to others and pets they also offered rides, food, blankets, and other needed essentials. It was not about race, religion, gender, or social class.
• 2. “The Firefighters were Badass.”: Firefighters from other states came to help with the fire and risked their lives to save as many homes as they can and worked endlessly .
• 3. “ Everything Passes.” : He’s grateful to see daylight again and be back in his home as well as grateful for the experience and what he learned out of the disaster.

These lessons are very different than what the people of Bhopal went through because they did not have the aid and assistance to get through their disaster.

Many people from Santa Barbara and Ventura county were in need of help since they had to evacuate their homes just like the people of the Bhopal Gas Leak. The only difference is that Santa Barbara and Ventura have the resources, money, and programs like the CCF Wildfire Relief Fund helped with long term recovery efforts, Direct Relief provided medicine and safety supplies, Easy Lyft gave free rides to people that had to evacuate. Aware and Prepare sent text messages to residents about updates and evacuations, Food banks ran by the communities came together to provide food and water to Santa Barbara and Ventura County and the Red Cross LA provided shelters and safety information to the residence. Social Media also played a huge role in this disaster because a lot of people were staying updated in that way. Twitter had a couple of images and videos going around during the time of fire one being the horses that were dead and burned to the bones. Two videos that frightened me was one in which a person is driving by and all you see if pitch black and red flames on each sides of the freeway and the other is when a firefighter runs through the fire and comes out with a body on his back. These images and videos were very haunting but it allowed the world and communities to know what the situation was really like and how the people affected by this disaster came together.

References:

Beautyybird. “THOMAS FIRE CAME BACK | VLOGMAS DAY 8,9 & 10 | VALEYAS VLOGS.” YouTube, YouTube, 11 Dec. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6H07KjC4VU.

Cannon, Brock. “What I Learned Living Through the Thomas Fire — Brock Cannon — Medium.” Medium, Augmenting Humanity, 7 Jan. 2018, medium.com/@Switchbackwelln/what-i-learned-living-through-the-thomas-fire-700fb1904f40.

Sinha, Indra. Animal’s People. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009.

“The Tribune.” The Tribune, Ray Ford, 6 Dec. 2017, www.sanluisobispo.com/news/state/california/fires/article188399339.html.