PORT ANGELES – A Red Cross volunteer will leave Port Angeles today for Southern California to help those who have had to run from wildfires.
Sue Pechino of Port Angeles will work as a shelter manager or volunteer for fire evacuees, Phyllis Darling, executive director of the North Olympic Peninsula Red Cross chapter, said Tuesday.
Fires in Southern California have burned more than 1,300 homes and caused more than 500,000 people to be evacuated since Sunday.
American Red Cross chapters in Washington state had deployed about 36 volunteers and four emergency response vehicles as of Tuesday.
Three or four more volunteers from the North Olympic Peninsula are likely to be deployed to California, Darling said.
Their destinations aren’t clear yet, Darling said, because calls for help are coming from one of half a dozen chapters in Southern California calling for help.
In order to be a disaster relief volunteer, a person must undergo about 20 hours of training, Darling said.
