On September 6th, 2022, GTVA President Ally Negulescu (3 hours) donated and distributed boxes of clothes and supplies to her local fire shelter during the Hemet Fairview Fire.
Waking up in the middle of a “movie like” scene sounds cool at first, but can very quickly turn dark. There had already been word going around of a fire around in Hemet amongst Ally’s friends, but no one expected it to evolve into the monstrosity it is now. Ally went to sleep knowing that most of her friends had evacuated their homes, school would be canceled the next day, and her school is close to the fire, but didn’t recognize the fact that it’d only grow worse.
This morning, the live map of evacuation status almost doubled what it was the previous night. The fire seems to be spreading more east towards the Idyllwild area, but the unpredictable wind makes it impossible to tell. Going from 700 acres with 5% containment, in the blink of an eye, it increased to 4,000 acres with still 5% containment. All people in the area affected by the fire had been ordered to evacuate, and the only public shelter in the area is at Tahquitz High School.
The morning was spent preparing and boxing clean clothes to bring to Tahquitz to donate to the people taking cover there. In total, 6 large boxes of clean clothes were packed as well as an open box of masks, hand sanitizer, and other cleaning items. After hauling it in the trunk, Ally set off to Tahquitz. On the way, the smoky mountains and fire planes painted the sky, which was quite depressing. The air quality also smelled like burnt cake in the oven.
Upon arriving at Tahquitz, the boxes were quickly unloaded out. ABC news trucks had also been at the front interviewing representatives from the Red Cross. After heading inside, the clothes had been brought for display for the children there to pick out and use. Hand sanitizer pumps were also on heavy demand, so the bottles brought helped tremendously.
There wasn’t much else to do, as quite a few people were already present to help. Still, GTVA will be returning shortly to the shelter and to various other places to assist in helping people recover from this disaster. Stay tuned for further updates on the fire, community, and how we all can help! 
