Direct Relief Commits $1.5 Million to Wildfire Response, Prepares to Donate...
In response to the record-breaking wildfires across California, Oregon, and Washington, Direct Relief is committing $1.5 million in cash to its response and making available its substantial inventory...
View ArticlePandemic, Wildfires Test California Safety Net Health Centers
The United States Forest Services call came in on a Thursday in August, shortly after the Dolan Fire began near Big Sur, California. “They asked us to provide medical services,” said Sharen Carey, a...
View ArticleCalifornia Relief Squadron Flies Aid to Wildfire-Scarred Oregon
A flying armada organized by volunteer pilots flying private aircraft today delivered 100,000 KN95 respirators from Direct Relief’s California-based humanitarian distribution center to residents and...
View ArticleFor Oregon’s Displaced, Wildfires are Just the Beginning
As the spate of wildfires in Oregon begins to quiet – and the world’s eyes turn elsewhere – it’s just the beginning for thousands of people displaced from their homes. Fires are “especially difficult...
View ArticleDirect Relief Earns “Perfect 100” and Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator
Direct Relief’s strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency have earned a renewed four-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator....
View ArticleWildfires Ignite in California’s Wine Country
Northern California is under siege from yet another bout of destructive wildfires fueled by powerful winds and dry conditions. Thousands were forced to evacuate overnight as flames raced across...
View ArticleFires Blaze Past Historic Records in California, Prompting Unprecedented...
With more than a dozen fires currently burning in California, the state reached a grim milestone Monday – more than 4 million acres have burned this year, doubling the previous historical record. With...
View ArticleMultiple Disasters Strain Response Systems, Slow Recovery, and Deepen Inequity
When it comes to responding to any disaster, Andrew MacCalla, Direct Relief’s vice president of emergency response, says that three resources are vital: money, time, and supplies. And these days, all...
View ArticleBlazes Erupt in Southern California, Displacing Thousands
More wildfires broke out this week in California, prompting massive evacuations as firefighters worked to get blazes in the southern part of the state under control. More than 100,000 residents had...
View ArticleWith Fires Raging Just Miles Away, Health Facilities Step Up for Patients
TUSTIN, Calif — Firefighters in Southern California made major advances in containing the Silverado and Blue Ridge Fires yesterday, bringing containment of the blazes to 32% and 23%, respectively, by...
View ArticleCalifornia Fire Displaces Thousands as Firefighters Work to Contain Blazes
The Apple Fire has now burned over 26,450 acres, over 42 square miles, in California’s Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, with only 5% of the fire contained, according to an update from Cal Fire...
View ArticleA New Way for Health Centers to Keep the Lights On
A fire in 2018 shut down two of Mendocino Community Health Clinic’s four locations. In 2019, power shutoffs designed to deter another wildfire shut the Ukiah, California health center down again – this...
View ArticleLake Fire Consumes 10,000+ Acres in Northern L.A. County
The Lake Fire has engulfed more than 10,000 acres and destroyed at least three structures since igniting Wednesday afternoon in Northern Los Angeles County. Plumes of smoke could be seen Thursday...
View ArticleState of Emergency Declared in California as Nearly 30 Fires Burn Across State
Mass evacuations are taking place in many places as nearly 30 fires burn across the state of California Wednesday. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency as extreme weather conditions flare up...
View ArticleIn CA, Wildfires Accelerate Convergence of Public Health Crises
California faces a convergence of public health crises as dozens of wildfires unleash hazardous levels of air pollution across the state. Smoke-laden air has exacerbated conditions, like asthma, while...
View ArticleHistoric Fires Mix with Covid-19 in Northern California
The second and third-largest fires on record in California, along with one smaller blaze, continue to burn through hundreds of thousands of acres, though lower temperatures and higher humidity over the...
View ArticleHow to Weigh Evacuation Options With Both Wildfires and Covid at Your Door
Editor’s note: This post was originally published by Kaiser Health News on August 28, 2020. As the smoke thickened near her home in Santa Cruz, California, last week, Amanda Smith kept asking herself...
View ArticleIn California, Labor Day Weekend Brings Dangerous Heat Wave
A dangerous heat wave is predicted to smother California this Labor Day weekend, increasing the risk of fire as crews continue to tackle record-setting blazes across the state. The National Weather...
View ArticleRecord-Setting Wildfires Blaze Across Western U.S.
The most destructive year of wildfires in California continues today as 28 wildfires, including the second, third, and fourth largest fires on record in that state, are burning along with over 60 fires...
View ArticleEmergency Shipments Continue as California Fires Rage On
Direct Relief is responding to the devastation caused by the deadly and destructive wildfires currently raging in California. Over 2.5 million acres have already burned – an all-time record – with some...
View ArticleWildfires Provide Another Reason to Mask Up
Editor’s note: This post was originally published by Kaiser Health News on August 25, 2020. If you have declined to wear a face mask during the COVID-19 crisis, you might want to reconsider, as the...
View ArticleAnother Fire Confronts Butte County Residents. This Time, Covid-19 is Keeping...
Birgitte Randall, a nurse in Paradise, California, remembers waking up to pitch-black skies nearly two years ago, as the Camp Fire advanced on Paradise. On Friday morning, the skies were black again as...
View ArticleWhere are Health Resources Most Needed to Prepare for the 2021 California...
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on the CrisisReady website on May 21, 2021. CrisisReady is a project involving routine collaboration between Direct Relief and researchers at Harvard...
View ArticleTo Prepare for California’s 2021 Wildfire Season, Health Officials Begin with...
As California braces for another extreme wildfire season, data is playing a crucial role in preparation efforts. “We need to think about more creative ways to respond, [but] the first step…is to use...
View ArticleWildfire Season Picks Up As Extreme Heat Smothers Western U.S.
Extreme heat is fueling wildfires across the western United States as temperatures broil large swaths of the country. In the U.S. Southwest, crews are battling nearly 100 active blazes with record-high...
View ArticleFacing Worsening Fire Seasons, California Health Centers Adapt
Every year for the past four years, Petaluma Health Center has either watched patients evacuate in the face of an emergency – or responded actively to a crisis somewhere else. Foremost among those...
View ArticleRebuilding in the Bahamas, Mental Health Support for Surfside First...
A key Bahamian health care clinic destroyed by Hurricane Dorian has reopened. Funding from Direct Relief and Miami Heat provides mental health support to first responders of the Surfside condominium...
View ArticlePredicting Community Health Center Power and Cold-Chain Readiness in California
Editor’s note: This article was produced in collaboration with Direct Relief, Macro-Eyes, and the California Primary Care Association. Establishing ground truth is the first step in preparing for and...
View ArticleDirect Relief Commits Medicine, Equipment and Funding to Wildfire Response
In response to the massive wildfires burning across California, Oregon, and other western states, Direct Relief has committed an initial $1 million in financial resources and is making available any...
View ArticleGlobal Update: Massive Wildfires in the Western U.S., Covid-19 Support to...
In Summary As wildfires rage across the western U.S., Direct Relief commits an initial $1 million in funding. A Direct Relief-chartered flight containing Covid-19-specific medicine and medical supplies...
View ArticleDixie Fire Explodes Beyond 630,000 Acres, Prompting Thousands to Evacuate
In Northern California, the Dixie Fire–the largest single wildfire in state history–has exploded to more than 630,000 acres amid gusty winds and bone-dry conditions. On Wednesday, shifting winds were...
View ArticleFrom Fire To The Streets, A Family-Run Mobile Clinic Is There For Northern...
In just two and a half years, Medspire Health, a free mobile health clinic based in California’s Gold Country, has lived several lives. Medspire was started by a mother and her two daughters, all...
View ArticleDirect Relief Emergency Situation Report (8.20.2021)
A slew of major, and in some cases historic, natural disasters have emerged in recent weeks throughout the U.S. and Caribbean, including an earthquake, wildfire, flooding, and a forthcoming tropical...
View ArticleGlobal Update: Haiti Earthquake, U.S. Flooding and Fires, Vaccines to Mexico
In Summary As Haiti reels from a massive earthquake, Direct Relief deployed millions of dollars in medical aid and mobilized a charter flight of additional support. Amid flooding, storms, and wildfires...
View ArticleOperational Update: Accelerated Emergency Response Includes Medical Support...
Over the past seven days, Direct Relief has delivered 438 shipments of requested medical aid to 37 U.S. states and territories and 15 countries worldwide. The shipments contained 5 million defined...
View ArticleGlobal Update: Hurricane and Wildfire Response, the Fund for Health Equity
What’s New Direct Relief has committed $1 million to both Hurricane Ida and wildfire response efforts and is making medical aid available to health facilities on each coast. The organization launched...
View ArticleDirect Relief Responds to Alisal Fire as Air Quality Deteriorates
A wildfire in a rural area of Santa Barbara County on California’s Central Coast has burned more than 15,000 acres this week. Firefighters are working to contain the blaze that has prompted...
View ArticleOperational Update: Alisal Fire Response, Covid-19 Vaccine Support Continue
Over the past seven days, Direct Relief has delivered 488 shipments of requested medical aid to 44 U.S. states and territories and 12 countries worldwide. The shipments contained 1.8 million defined...
View ArticleWildfires Are Causing More Bad Air Days. Is the Pollution Putting...
In California, people are familiar with the immediate health impacts of a wildfire: asthma, coughing, respiratory illnesses. But as the state faces an increasing number of smoky days, researchers are...
View ArticleDirect Relief Launches “Power for Health” Initiative: Resilient Power for...
As the latest in a climate change-fueled streak of record-breaking fire and hurricane seasons concludes in the U.S., Direct Relief is committing an initial $5 million to help ensure the U.S. nonprofit...
View ArticleAdaptability Key For Both Successful Humanitarian Response, Global Business...
Humanitarian aid organizations may provide a helpful model for businesses aiming to deliver products to consumers as quickly and efficiently as possible within a dynamic and complex global...
View ArticleNew Technology Aids Wildfire Response
As wildfires continue to grow in duration, scale and severity in the United States, a new slate of data-based tools is being honed to help government officials, first responders, and nonprofits make...
View ArticleOperational Update: Ukraine Response, California Wildfire Preparation,...
Over the past seven days, Direct Relief delivered 329 shipments of requested medical aid to 37 U.S. states and territories and 10 countries worldwide, including Ukraine. The shipments contained 6.5...
View ArticleOak Fire Blazes Near Yosemite, Forcing Thousands to Evacuate
Since breaking out on Friday, the Oak Fire has scorched nearly 17,000 acres in Mariposa County, near Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Northern California. On Saturday, Gov....
View ArticleMillions in the US Could Face Medical Crisis in a Disaster, According to a...
Devastating disasters this summer have again taken the United States by storm, with wildfires forcing tens of thousands to evacuate, flooding washing away entire towns, and extreme heat maxing out...
View ArticleCalifornia Wildfires Fueled by Heat, Dry Conditions
The York Fire, California’s largest fire of the year to date, has burned 94,000 acres and is only 34% contained as of Thursday. The fire began on Friday, July 28, in Mojave National Preserve and...
View ArticleParadise, California, Provides Window on Maui Wildfire Recovery
Watching the horror of wildfires destroying Lahaina last month on television, Elisabeth Gundersen had a “familiar, gut-wrenching feeling.” Gundersen, a nurse who grew up in Paradise, Calif., and...
View ArticleDirect Relief & BBC Present ‘The Climate and Us: Invisible Impacts of Wildfires’
Five years after the deadly Camp Fire rampaged through Northern California’s Butte County, healthcare providers and survivors from Paradise and Magalia, two of the hardest-hit communities, share...
View ArticleAs Highland Fire Grows in Southern California, Direct Relief Ships Requested...
Fueled by Santa Ana winds, the Highland Fire erupted earlier this week in Southern California and has now grown to cover 2,487 acres as of Thursday. The fire is only 25% contained, which has prompted...
View ArticleCalifornia Wildfires Have Been Less Deadly in Recent Years. Residents Told...
Of the top 20 deadliest California wildfires, seven occurred between 2017 and 2020. None occurred between 2021 and 2023 — even as four of top 20 largest fires by acreage occurred during that latter...
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