Fire & Homelessness

Fire On The Hills

This may seem like an odd juxtaposition: fire and homelessness. But in Santa Barbara, the Jesusita Fire caused a link, at least in my mind.

Thousands of people were evacuated and seriously contemplated what it would be like to lose their home. The fire forced many people to look at what it would mean to be homeless, what it would be like to lose most of your possessions.

I am very interested in what these people think about homelessness and homeless people, so I went to the largest emergency fire shelter in Santa Barbara and asked them. This what they said.

Inside The Shelter, UCSB

“This is the second time my family and I have been evacuated. The first time, 19 years ago, I lost everything. The house and all my possessions were gone. Homelessness is horrible, but material possessions don’t matter so long as have your life.” Zoyla P., UCSB shelter.

“It is really hard to be homeless. We have gone through fires before and had to evacuate. Lots of homeless people can’t help being homeless. All you can do is make the best of it and try to help yourself.” – Trudy

“We worked with homeless people for many years. Once a month we stayed with them all night on a cot at our church. We gave them breakfast and then went home and showered to go to work. I understand how it feels. I know what it’s like to sleep on a cot or on the floor; we did it ourselves. At lot of people don’t ask to homeless. A lot of us are one paycheck away for being out on the street ourselves. Some people choose to be homeless, there is not much you can do to help them.” Gwen & Mal

Fire From The Beach, courtesy Bud Rinker

“We treat homeless people like criminals. I felt this way before the fire and feel even more so now. The government should house people year ‘round. All of us should just bite the bullet and pay higher taxes to do so.” – Irvin M. He was at the shelter for 3 days and talked to from a car covered with ash.

Towering Inferno, courtesy Bud Rinker

We also interviewed some homeless people to get their perspective on the fire and the evacuations.

Gary said, “Perhaps the people who lost their homes will understand what it means to lose everything and be homeless like us now.”

Mark said, “Everyone thinks the people up there on the hill are so rich
but they have problems too – just like us.”

Not sure what this all means, but it points to a connection between people that arises in the face of disaster. We automatically reach out to people in these situations.

Fire Night, courtesy Bud Rinker

What would it take to maintain this connection and support each other after the fires are over? When community is born why don’t we feed and nurture it.

Thanks to Roslyn Scheureman who helped compile this post.