Disaster Help

If you are currently seeking help during a disaster or need to report a disaster that has already occurred or is still developing, contact us immediately on 916-939-9474.

 

OR for after hours, weekends or holidays please call
916-939-9468.

 

If you are not faced with an urgent situation also email us at [email protected]

 


 

Mailing Address
P.O. Box 4288
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762

 

P: (916) 939-9474
F: (916) 939-9479
E: [email protected]

 

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Butte County California Wildfires 1&2 Response

See Butte County Wildfires 1&2 Gallery for Photos. Click on them to enlarge view



The first 24 of our Gallery photos for the Butte fires 1&2 were donated by professional photograper Howard George. Take a look at these excellent pictures. Visit Howard at at his website



July 18, 2008, Noon PDT. Mission Accomplished


Emergency Shelter closed today at noon and Noah's Wish volunteers are heading home. Great job!!



Update July 17, 2008 1:30pm PDT. Oroville Shelter

The Oroville shelter is now down to 50 animals. Calls have gone out for their families to pick up these remaining few. Arrangements have been made to provide shelter and care for any requiring it after close. It is expected that this facility willcease operations sometime tomarrow.



Update July 16, 2008 10:00am PDT. Oroville Shelter


Activities at the shelter in Oroville continue to wind down as more animals are reunited with their families. As a result of the reduction in the number of sheltered animals, Noah's Wish continues to downsize the number of volunteers at the site. It's anticipated that the shelter will close on Friday the 18th.



Update July 9, 2008 Butte County third deployment


This deployment is now known as the "Camp" fire. Details may be found in its separate folder in the main menu.

Be sure to check there for the most recent information. This is a serious incident requiring many volunteers.



On Saturday evening, June 21, 2008, Noah's Wish volunteers who assisted North Valley Animal Disaster Group at the Humboldt Fires the previous week returned to the Chico , CA area for a post-fire barbeque and potluck. As we drove up the highway, we watched single bolts of lightening streaking down from the sky, seemingly connecting to the dry, golden hills. Plumes of smoke were scattered throughout the region.

When we arrived at the picnic site, we were glad to see our friends at NVADG. There was plenty of food and plenty of stories. As a part of the debriefing, we were told that many of the NVADG volunteers that we had met were responding as firefighters and Search and Rescue to the eleven wildland fires that were burning that evening.

The next day, Sunday, Region 1 Assistant Coordinator Kim DeWoody received a call from North Valley Animal Disaster Group asking if we could be available to respond again. Lightening strikes had ignited more fires, and winds were turning the flames toward populated areas On Monday, June 24, the call went out and Noah's Wish Region 1 volunteers began deploying back up to Butte County .

This time the animal evacuation center was assigned to an elementary school, Spring Valley in Oroville. The center was a co-shelter with the American Red Cross. The Multipurpose Room at the front of the school served as a dining hall and, well, a multipurpose room. Offices provided locations for the Radio Operators, the Animal Rescue Hotline, and an Animal Response Command Center .
Darkened rooms off to the side provided sleeping areas. Some families opted to camp out in the parking lots with their animals; others set up cots with their animals in segregated animal areas, or camped on the lawns with crates for their critters.

The animal shelter was situated in or near classrooms - the Kindergarten play area was the primary dog area, lined with crates. One classroom served as the cat room, which was nice as it was air conditioned and had a sink with running water. Next door, another classroom served as the Bird/Rabbit/ Pocket Pet Room.

As a co-shelter with the Red Cross, many families came to visit their pets multiple times a day, some providing total care - feeding, cleaning, exercising and grooming, then helping wherever needed.

Daily temperatures hovered in the 90's, with skies so smoke-filled that the sun was a distant red ball glowing through the grayish-purple haze. The smoke was so heavy for a few days that Cal Fire was unable to send in helicopters or planes to air drop flame smothering products.

Finally, the lightening conditions ceased and firefighters were able to begin making progress on containment of the fire, On Sunday, June 29, evacuation orders began to be lifted; weary evacuees were able to go home and the shelter at Spring Valley Elementary was dismantled. As a backup, an auxiliary shelter was designated at a nearby high school in the event that the fire flared up again or winds shifted. Noah's Wish set up a small shelter, caring for eight animals over a 48 hour period.

Tuesday, July 1st the auxiliary shelter was demobilized. Animals were either reunited with or returned to their families, or housed at North West SPCA in Oroville for reclaim/placement.

This was Region 1's first response where we sheltered animals in virtually the same space that people were housed, and we met those challenges. Twenty Noah's Wish volunteers responded from all over California , including some from Region 5 in Southern California . Over 300 animals were cared for over the nine days of the deployment

Noah's Wish again worked side-by-side with the volunteers of NVADG and UAN/EARS. HSUS checked in for a quick look, and a team from the University of California Davis Veterinary School spent a day on-site, checking animal health.

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