By Joe Gutierrez, American Red Cross volunteer

American Red Cross volunteers are there to help.

The Local Assistance Center (LAC) located at The Way World Outreach Church in the city of San Bernardino had more than 50 groups representing the state, Los Angeles and San Bernardino county government departments, and nonprofit agencies and volunteer groups such as the Red Cross.

The groups had one thing in common: help the many homeowners and residents affected by the raging wildfires in Southern California – the Bridge Fire in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, the Line Fire in San Bernardino County and the Airport Fire in Orange and Riverside counties.

At the Red Cross station, the volunteers came from chapters in Southern California, Santa Clara in Northern California, the Twin Cities in Minnesota and San Antonio, Texas.

Volunteer Erl Papa has been with the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Red Cross Northern California Coastal Region for about a year serving as a mental health volunteer. Papa, who was waiting for people to visit the station, was replenishing a table filled with free snacks and water.

“What I've been doing is talking to people because they've been stressed, distressed, upset, confused, all that all thrown into one and trying to live with other people,” said Papa. “Some of them were able to get along okay. So, my job, I made it my job at least, is to talk to them, see how they're doing, and then find support among themselves, find support outside. Do they have friends and family they can talk to? That's what I do.”

Papa said that by just mainly talking to people, she is trying to help them rediscover their resilience.

“A lot of people have been through tough times. Maybe not like this, but tough times. I let them remember some of the things that they were able to do, how they were able to cope before in other difficult times in their lives,” Papa said. “So, whatever it is that I could do or remind them that they have the resiliency to be able to get through this. Then a lot of times, too, it helps for them to just talk to them as people.”

Many of the homeowners and residents at the Local Assistance Center were in the process of recovery, starting to deal with the loss of their homes and/or the massive damages from the fires and smoke.

One of those people was Ryan LaMothe, who lost his home off the Ortega Highway from the Airport Fire. LaMothe, who lived with his father kept a close eye on the raging fire as it continued to burn close to his neighborhood.

When the fire crested on a ridge near their home, LaMothe said that was their “get out of here” moment.
The fire “created its own wind. The fire was so insane. The trees were getting sucked upwards from the force of the wind,” LaMothe said. “What we thought were flares in the distance, I'm now realizing was actually just probably branches being ripped off of trees and exploding in midair as they were igniting at the same time.”

In a matter of minutes, the fire jumped to nearby spots. As he and his father loaded up their car, they were surrounded by flames, LaMothe said. LaMothe’s father grabbed the pet dog and LaMothe grabbed his pet Ball python Falkor. The two men then started to flee in the car.

He said the whole road was on fire.

“It was weird because it's asphalt, but it looked like the asphalt itself was a flame because all you could really see was the black of the road. Then it was as if you were staring into a fireplace where it was just lights. That's all you could see,” LaMothe said.

Looking at the flames, he realized he would have to drive through it.

“That's where I have to go. I never drove through flames before, so I didn't really know what my car would do, but I'm like, well, we got to do this,” he said. “So, I just started going as fast as I could, not pedal to the metal, but briskly because you don't want to be going slow. But I just started honking my horn because all I could think of is ‘I can't see where I'm going. It's just fire. What if there's somebody else?’ I don't know, but that's what I was thinking … I'm going as fast as I can through the flames, just memorizing the road.”

The two men managed to escape and made their way down the hill. The first night they stayed in Temecula in Riverside County, then drove to Dana Point in Orange County because they learned that a lot of the residents from their area were heading in that direction.

“We’re trying to stay as a community and we're in this together type of thing as much as possible. Because that's really the silver lining, if there is one right now, is we got each other's backs, at least. That's cool,” LaMothe said.

He said with all the chaos he has been going through, the Red Cross has been a great help.

“The Red Cross took me in and said, ‘We're going to do everything we can for you,’” LaMothe said. “‘We're going to help you.’ I don't know what else to say other than that is worth... It's invaluable in a time like this where so much lately, it's just been, Hey, it's not my problem.”

One of the volunteers that helped LaMothe was Donny Leurquin, who was supervising the Red Cross station at the center. It was his sixth deployment since joining the organization in April 2023. He had already served at the Red Cross shelter at the Bell Tower Regional Community Center shelter in Orange County and later the shelter at the Foothill Ranch Library.

Leurquin, who serves with the Twin Cities Chapter of the Red Cross Minnesota and Dakotas Region, said serving at the shelters and now the LAC reiterated why he joined the Red Cross.

“I like to make people happy. And being here, I get that piece. I found that my soft skills are more of my superpower than the process and the work,” Leurquin said. “I know I try to overcompensate by being someone who wants to listen and wants to help people out or wants to let people know that we're here for good things.”

He said helping people like LaMothe was his reason to volunteer.

He talked of helping a woman he met a few days earlier while at the shelter in Riverside County. The woman and her son had evacuated in their RV to a Red Cross shelter, and she underwent chemotherapy the next day.

“That woman said she had everything to be thankful for. That's how she felt,” Leurquin said. “I was inspired by her resilience though she was in advanced stages of cancer, that she had a zestful life and optimism that I hope to have if I were to get in a situation like she's in. She is the reason I do this.”