Oral History

Danny: Hi, excuse me, I'm Danny, and this is Max. We're part of the willow wildfire group. Do you mind if we conduct an interview with you, regarding your experiences with the wildfires?​

 

Anonymous: Yeah. No problem. Smart idea. So, what do you need to know?

 

Danny: Firstly, were were you prior to the fires beginning?

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Anonymous: I was in Hollywood, up by Hollywood Boulevard in Bronson. Well, where the wildfires began, actually a couple days before that I had already been evacuated from evacuation orders, but I was by Hollywood and Bronson.​

 

Danny: How exactly have the fires impacted you?

 

Anonymous: I'd say right now, I have nowhere to go. How did they impact me? Probably, it's not healthy for me to be outside for very long, you know, due to health issues, air quality. I didn't lose any property though, it's in storage, Thank God, but I don't have a home.​

 

Danny: So you were able to get your possessions to storage?

 

Anonymous: I did, yeah.

 

Danny: Right, so you've been at this shelter? What resources do you think the shelter is falling short on providing, is it blankets, masks..?​

 

Anonymous: So, I'd say right now, and they say that they're trying to fix it right now, there's a problem with the building itself. They're blowing cold air on us residents while we're sleeping and it's very cold. They're claiming it's to keep germs and bacteria down, but that hasn't been proven that it keeps certain bacteria down. They're keeping it very cold though. And there's been concerns raised about the elderly who are too cold, but they're "working on it" right now.​

 

Danny: Is there like, less clothing, or warm clothing and or blankets that are being passed around?

 

Anonymous: The blankets that the Red Cross has are too flimsy for the current environment.

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Danny: I see.

 

Anonymous: They have flannel blankets, but they're very thin, like summer flannel.

 

Max: Are you short on anything else?​

 

Anonymous: They're not short on food, but they are short on towels. Yeah, towels for people. And it's also the toiletries they have, they're not very good. I mean, a generic hospital. Like hospital grade, what they give in hospitals, very minimal.​

 

Danny: So we should try and provide hygiene kits?

 

Anonymous: Kits, better hygiene kits, towels, they are so short on towels, towels.

 

Danny: Got it, yeah.

 

Max: And how were you notified of the fire? Were you prepared for it at all?

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Anonymous: Yes, so I saw the fire on the news so I was prepared for it. It just happened to go into an area where all of a sudden we had to evacuate because the fire had just sprung up.​

 

Danny: Yeah because of the winds and such, I see. Thank you very much for your time, this was very helpful.​

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[End of Interview 1]