The Emergency Response Vehicle will be primarily used for mobile feeding in California.

These local volunteers will be part of the American Red Cross disaster relief efforts assisting the more than 500,000 residents evacuating their homes. As of midnight Tuesday, the Red Cross had 23 shelters open with a population of 5,625 people. The Red Cross is making a concerted effort to reach out to the organizations running other shelters to extend offers of supplies and expertise.

Red Cross chapters in California have trained more than 1,500 local volunteers to help with the relief effort. Over the next several days, the Red Cross will be concentrating its effort on sheltering, expanding feeding services and expanding the distribution of clean-up supplies. Thousands of cots, blankets and toiletry kits have arrived with more on the way; 50 mobile feeding vehicles have arrived, with 25 more en route; and 40 trucks full of supplies have arrived. Supplies include rakes, shovels, and other useful equipment to help with clean-up efforts in the affected communities.

If you would like to train to help with local disasters, visit our volunteer page today and become a volunteer in our Disaster Services system.

Becoming a member of Red Cross Disaster Services requires that you complete certain training and experience at a local level before deploying to a disaster in another part of the country. Sending already trained and experienced workers to a disaster site ensures efficient, timely service to those affected by the disaster. 

Sending spontaneous volunteers to the scene of a disaster often adds to the chaos and can even slow down getting service to our disaster clients. The best way to help is:

• Become involved at your local Red Cross chapter before a disaster occurs and become a registered member of the system.
• Be patient-our Staff Services team is working to support the members of the system as they deploy to assist those in need.
• Due to the highly increased activity, we may not be able to respond to your phone call or email as quickly as we would like.
• Visit http://www.helpindisaster.org/1800Vol/OpenIndexAction.do for more information about volunteering during disaster.
• If you have already contacted the chapter by phone or email, your information has been recorded-please do not place a second call.
• In the meantime, check out the Disaster Training website for our Introduction to Disaster Services course.

All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the California wildfires, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide food, shelter, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter, 2600 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53233 or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting our national donation website.