Many evacuees stay in Chico Walmart despite rain forecast

CHICO – Every night the temperatures plunge into the 30's. Rain is expected for the middle of the week.

Despite efforts to keep incarcerated camp evacuees inside, many refuse to leave the Walmart car park in Chico, which has become a food, clothing and other resource distribution center. same as these resources are transferred elsewhere.

"With my stressors, it would be difficult to move," said Hope Hood, a 62-year-old resident of Paradise. "It's too far. If I did not know anyone … "

Hood wrapped up, Maggie, her 11-year-old chihuahua, "I'd rather sleep in my car," she says.

A group of ad hoc volunteers met immediately after the fire to begin distributing food to the dismissed evacuees who were crammed into the parking lot. Since then, the fortune evacuation center has developed, with estimates of several hundred people at one point. Some of these early volunteers are now trying to help people make the transition to other more formal shelters.

It's not always easy to convince people to leave, said Abraham Mosher, a resident of Chico who volunteers in the parking lot shortly after the fire that caused people to flee their homes. Many were turned away after hearing about noroviruses that would have made people sick, he said.

Others did not want to travel to the Butte County Fairgrounds in Gridley, about a half-hour drive from Chico. And many of those who remained on the ground were living through paychecks before the fire, Mosher said.

"It's hard, it's a bit like pulling teeth," he said, "many of them are at the bottom of social demographics, they're a bit more rebellious, they're independent." That's why they are cool here. "

The camp fire, which began raging in Butte County more than a week ago, destroyed nearly 150,000 hectares, destroyed about 9,700 homes, as well as 2,895 commercial buildings. and others, and cost at least 76 lives – although this number is expected to rise. It was 60% contained on Sunday.

A spokesman for Butte County said that a bus service was planned on Line B to return evacuees from Walmart's car park to the exhibition grounds, but at around noon Sunday, no volunteers working on the Parking seemed to have received this information – or saw the bus, which was supposed to go around the lot.

Rumors were circulating that the Red Cross would provide transportation, but spokeswoman Cynthia Shaw said she was only coordinating with local agencies. The non-profit organization serves about 600 people in six shelters, she said. These shelters will remain open "for a while," she said.

"We are always very involved," said Shaw. "It's a very big answer, and there is a great need."

And, at least for now, volunteers have also pledged to help the evacuees in the Walmart car park. Mel Contant, a resident of Antioch whose son is at university in Chico and who has been volunteering in the park for a week, dismissed rumors that Walmart had forced the evacuees out.

"Do you see anyone from Walmart kicking someone here?" No, she said, adding that as long as help would be needed, she and other volunteers would work to ensure that they would receive help and help. the resources they needed.

Clothing and other donations were moved, volunteers transporting anything that was not food, water or medical supplies half a kilometer from the road leading to Toys R Us closed shop .

Since at least Monday afternoon, another ad hoc coalition of organizations and volunteers is bringing clothes, tents, sleeping bags, toiletries and other supplies to the parking lot in front of the vacant store. According to Craig Anderson, a volunteer, it starts with a stack of clothes and a table, then seven to eight parking spaces and now spreads over several rows.

A number of Christian ministries have helped classify donations and categorize them, Anderson said. And on Sunday, volunteers started moving clothes, bedding, shoes and other supplies inside the vacant Toys R Us. The volunteers, in coordination with the county, were able to obtain permission to use the store as a new distribution center – a center that will not be exposed to the elements.

Casey Gibbs, a resident of Magalia whose home was destroyed by the fire, said the Miracle City Recovery Center would provide continued support to displaced residents in their search for permanent shelter. The former paramedic is training to become a counselor, he said. So, after he and his wife found shelter in Richardson Springs with Youth with a Mission, an evangelical organization, he decided to help the Toys R Us parking lot.