WEBVTT - Go Now: How to Prepare for Fire Evacuation 

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<v Speaker 1>Also media.

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<v Speaker 2>Not so long ago, I decided to try and avoid

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<v Speaker 2>another day spent sweating in my non air conditioned office

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<v Speaker 2>and take some meetings at the local coffee shop. Just

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<v Speaker 2>as I arrived at one of these, my phone started

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<v Speaker 2>to go eight ship, as I normally do when I'm

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<v Speaker 2>talking to someone. I had muted it, but it kept

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<v Speaker 2>going off enough for me to pull it out as

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<v Speaker 2>I looked around and everybody else in the coffee shop

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<v Speaker 2>was doing the same. A fire that had begun in

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<v Speaker 2>one of the nearby canyons had grown, and our neighborhood

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<v Speaker 2>has been placed on a level two evacuation warning. If

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<v Speaker 2>you're not familiar with the levels, think of them as ready, set, go, ready,

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<v Speaker 2>as one, go, as three. By the time I got home,

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<v Speaker 2>I could taste smoke in my yard and the warning

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<v Speaker 2>was at level three. My phone blared notifications saying go now.

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<v Speaker 2>I have a bag for such occasion, so I threw

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<v Speaker 2>that in my truck, along with a shotgun that long

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<v Speaker 2>to my grandfather, which I had to find a lock

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<v Speaker 2>and a case for on my laptop. I paused briefly

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<v Speaker 2>to make sure my chickens had full water and food

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<v Speaker 2>tanks and an escape route. And then I went over

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<v Speaker 2>to my neighbors to make sure they knew what was

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<v Speaker 2>going on. By the time I got them more squared away,

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<v Speaker 2>I realized I'd forgotten some things I really couldn't stand

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<v Speaker 2>to lose. So I went back home. Then I drove

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<v Speaker 2>to a friend's place. By that evening, the fire was

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<v Speaker 2>out and I could go home. And I also had

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<v Speaker 2>an extensive list of things on my phone that I

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<v Speaker 2>could do better next time. It's a familiar experience to

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<v Speaker 2>anyone living in North America these days, and I think

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<v Speaker 2>after the fires in Los Angeles, the idea that they

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<v Speaker 2>won't let it get to us. It's not as prevalent

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<v Speaker 2>as it once was. As we will see over the

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<v Speaker 2>next few weeks of the show, they don't get to

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<v Speaker 2>decide when and where a fire will burn. With climate change,

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<v Speaker 2>more often are overstretched and underfunded fire resources seeing fires

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<v Speaker 2>get away from them. Mostly this means more forest or

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<v Speaker 2>public land burning, but increasingly it also means fires burning structures, homes,

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<v Speaker 2>even suburbs. I've been smoked out of cat sites socent

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<v Speaker 2>evacuation notifications half a dozen times the last few years.

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<v Speaker 2>I appreciate the chance to have a dry run the practice.

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<v Speaker 2>Every time it's happened, I've learned something about how I

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<v Speaker 2>could be more prepared, or how I could demor to

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<v Speaker 2>help folks in my community prepare for the fires or

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<v Speaker 2>whatever else might impact us. But in no way does

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<v Speaker 2>that mean I'm ready what I saw a few weeks

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<v Speaker 2>ago in Spokane to happen to where I live. Indeed,

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<v Speaker 2>I don't think anyone could be ready for that. In

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<v Speaker 2>eastern Washington this August, fires struck with such ferocity and

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<v Speaker 2>frequency that fire resources were stretched to their limit. The

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<v Speaker 2>state issued a particularly Dangerous Situation warning, a level beyond

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<v Speaker 2>the usual high alert indicated by a red flag warning.

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<v Speaker 2>But the speed with which existing fires on the Cobal

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<v Speaker 2>Tribes's Retervation and Spokane Tribes Reservation grew, and with which

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<v Speaker 2>the fires had struck outside the city of Spokane struck

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<v Speaker 2>and then grew, caught everyone by surprise. Resources were stretched,

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<v Speaker 2>and air attack resources were pulled off the fires on

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<v Speaker 2>the reservations to fight the fires in town then had

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<v Speaker 2>to set down entirely due to small drone activity. Within

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<v Speaker 2>a few hours, people in Spokane were getting those same

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<v Speaker 2>evacuation notices on their phones, and for some of them

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<v Speaker 2>leaving their homes for the last time. If you're listening

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<v Speaker 2>outside the USA, this could happen to you. Two the

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<v Speaker 2>communities I grew up in caught fire that we come

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<v Speaker 2>writing this, which is mid August twenty twenty sixth if

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<v Speaker 2>you're listening later in pershal houses just a few yards

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<v Speaker 2>away from home, to where I pulled wet carpet and

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<v Speaker 2>wet plasters so we could dry them out from flooding,

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<v Speaker 2>back when I used to work with my hands, and

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<v Speaker 2>now catching fire, where once we worried that it would

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<v Speaker 2>be too wet even in summer, it is now so

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<v Speaker 2>dry that fires make runs across fields and woods and

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<v Speaker 2>into people's homes. So hopefully there's something here for everyone.

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<v Speaker 2>So for those of you who hadn't had the chance

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<v Speaker 2>at to dry run, but who still think the fire

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<v Speaker 2>could never get into town, I want to offer three

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<v Speaker 2>fire experiences for you to learn from. In this episode,

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<v Speaker 2>we're here from people who evacuated and people who hosted

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<v Speaker 2>and helped with evacuees. Next episode, we're here from Miles Gray,

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<v Speaker 2>a colleague at I HUT who tragically lost his home

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<v Speaker 2>in the Los Angeles fires. I hope we can all

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<v Speaker 2>use their experiences to better take care of each other

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<v Speaker 2>when the fire or any other disaster comes for us.

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<v Speaker 2>First of all, I want to introduce you to Dan.

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<v Speaker 3>My name is Dan Wilson. I lived in Spokane for

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<v Speaker 3>around twenty years, and I worked in conservation that brings

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<v Speaker 3>me all over most of central and eastern Washington into

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<v Speaker 3>our rural communities and live on the outskirts of Spokane.

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<v Speaker 2>I met Dan when I arrived in Spokane. Despite his

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<v Speaker 2>own family being evacuated, he spent the day with me

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<v Speaker 2>filling up a truck and driving supplies out to the

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<v Speaker 2>Kobal Tribe's reservation, a journey which took several hours imparted

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<v Speaker 2>due to fire closures of ferries across Lake Roosevelt. But

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<v Speaker 2>a couple of days before, Dan had been headed in

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<v Speaker 2>the opposite direction to evacuate his house and his family

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<v Speaker 2>from a fire which is rapidly pushing towards a home

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<v Speaker 2>in side city limits. As we drove up and down

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<v Speaker 2>the banks of the reservoir created by damning the Columbia River,

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<v Speaker 2>we talked about the fire, the damage, and Dan's experience,

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<v Speaker 2>and it occurred to me there was a lot that

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<v Speaker 2>people could learn from it, because I don't think Spokane.

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<v Speaker 2>It's going to be the last city that burns like this.

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<v Speaker 2>I didn't want to record in the pickup cab, so

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<v Speaker 2>I called down once he was back home and asked

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<v Speaker 2>when he first thought the fire could reach his house.

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<v Speaker 3>I went to a community event, to a pow wow

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<v Speaker 3>about an hour and a half away from my house

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<v Speaker 3>on a reservation out here, and I was watching pings

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<v Speaker 3>happen and nothing serious had come up yet that I

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<v Speaker 3>personally had to be worried about. And right as the

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<v Speaker 3>pow wow was just kicking off, I got a pang

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<v Speaker 3>from watch study that said this fire was small at

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<v Speaker 3>the time, you know, twenty acre or something like that.

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<v Speaker 3>And I thought to myself, oh, I need to watch

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<v Speaker 3>that fire, and started planning in my head, thinking about

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<v Speaker 3>how long it would take me to get back to Spokane,

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<v Speaker 3>and in my own head, I knew that if that

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<v Speaker 3>reaches one hundred or one hundred and fifty acres, I

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<v Speaker 3>need to turn and go home. And that next pain

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<v Speaker 3>came about five minutes later, and I was half jogging

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<v Speaker 3>across a parking lot full of cars, getting back to

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<v Speaker 3>my truck and driving down to Spokane and calling my

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<v Speaker 3>partner to tell them that they need to get back

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<v Speaker 3>to the house and start getting things ready.

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<v Speaker 2>Work in conservation gave Dan a perspective on fires that

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<v Speaker 2>maybe some people lack. I think a lot of folks,

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<v Speaker 2>especially folks who grew up in cities and in more

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<v Speaker 2>mainstream US politics, people who see things like the state

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<v Speaker 2>as a benevolent entity, struggle to process the idea that

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<v Speaker 2>there are some things that came before the state which

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<v Speaker 2>the state can't control. But fire is one of those things.

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<v Speaker 2>Despite the collective might and heroic efforts of firefighters from

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<v Speaker 2>around the country and indeed the world, and all the

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<v Speaker 2>technology in tankers and helicopters and flame retardant and massive

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<v Speaker 2>fire hoses, the fire at Spokane ripped through whole neighborhoods.

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<v Speaker 2>The state didn't get to decide if it came into town.

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<v Speaker 2>In the end, as the state could do was defend

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<v Speaker 2>a fire line and use this resources to get people

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<v Speaker 2>out of their homes and out of the path of

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<v Speaker 2>the fire.

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<v Speaker 3>I think there is an urban complacency that comes from

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<v Speaker 3>the state. The state exists, you live in it, You're

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<v Speaker 3>surrounded by infrastructure and resources, and so even though we

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<v Speaker 3>live towards the outside edge, there's a reasonable assumption that

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<v Speaker 3>if something is going to happen, the different aspects of

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<v Speaker 3>living in a society are readily at your fingertips, and so, yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>it's not going to reach you or impact you. I

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<v Speaker 3>think that's a reasonable assumption most people make until they're

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<v Speaker 3>confronted with the reality that you can't always control those factors.

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<v Speaker 2>Having watched fires burn on the Covid tribes's reservation for

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<v Speaker 2>several weeks and participate in the mutual aid response, Dan

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<v Speaker 2>had a very clear idea of what could happen, and

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<v Speaker 2>when he saw the fire grow, he dashed home. It's

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<v Speaker 2>easy to forget that we're all living through a crisis.

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<v Speaker 2>It is our indigenous communities have been surviving a crisis

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<v Speaker 2>ever since people from Europe first set foot on this continent.

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<v Speaker 2>As many of us has come to see the state

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<v Speaker 2>as a less benevolent entity than we once did. I

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<v Speaker 2>think there's a lot that we can learn from the

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<v Speaker 2>resilience and strength of these communities. So, having seen the

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<v Speaker 2>fire around the Cobalt Tribes and Spokan Tribes reservations, Dan

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<v Speaker 2>new fire could sometimes move a lot quicker than firefighters.

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<v Speaker 2>He also knew that there probably wouldn't be much time,

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<v Speaker 2>if any, between being told to leave and seeing flames.

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<v Speaker 2>Certainly among my neighbors, I've noticed an attitude that should

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<v Speaker 2>you really be at risk, someone's going to come and

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<v Speaker 2>tell you personally that you need to go. That was

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<v Speaker 2>not the case when Spokane. Indeed, people were not getting

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<v Speaker 2>level worn or two warnings to allow them to prepare

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<v Speaker 2>to evacuate. They were going from no vack status to

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<v Speaker 2>go now across the city. This isn't any particular failure

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<v Speaker 2>on the part of the state or the city or

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<v Speaker 2>the emugency response plan. It's a reflection of how quickly

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<v Speaker 2>the fires were able to move under those conditions.

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<v Speaker 3>At no point during that day was a level one

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<v Speaker 3>or level two evacuation notice issued. It was just level three,

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<v Speaker 3>and then a new block of level three, and then

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<v Speaker 3>a new block of level three. And so when I

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<v Speaker 3>got home, I knew that we were not going to

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<v Speaker 3>get a level one or level two notice. We were

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<v Speaker 3>going to be in the next block or two of

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<v Speaker 3>level threes.

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<v Speaker 2>As I said earlier, the state had issued a PDS

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<v Speaker 2>designation the night before.

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<v Speaker 3>It was the first PDS that had ever been issued

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<v Speaker 3>in Washington and for fire season up here, and so

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<v Speaker 3>a lot of us didn't really have an idea of

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<v Speaker 3>what a PDS means, even as the news talked about it.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, we understood it was worse than a red

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<v Speaker 3>flag day, and we've had red flag days up here.

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<v Speaker 3>The best way most of us understood what a PDS

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<v Speaker 3>meant was in a comparison to a devastating fire we'd

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<v Speaker 3>had up here a few years earlier, at the Organ

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<v Speaker 3>Fire and the Gray Fire, as well as the Palisade

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<v Speaker 3>Fire in California. When they talked about the PDS in

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<v Speaker 3>the news up here, they said, this is the same

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<v Speaker 3>conditions that were on the ground around those fires. So

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<v Speaker 3>I think myself and a lot of people knew we

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<v Speaker 3>were at the risk of a really bad day, and

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<v Speaker 3>we knew that it wouldn't take much if a spark hit.

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<v Speaker 3>It was kind something was going to go bad. I

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<v Speaker 3>think we all just were hoping it wasn't going to happen,

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<v Speaker 3>but knowing we really didn't know where it would happen

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<v Speaker 3>if it did, because it covered such a large portion

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<v Speaker 3>of the area.

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<v Speaker 2>And so Dan had prepared as best he could. But

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<v Speaker 2>I'm not sure how it was possible to prepare for

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<v Speaker 2>something like this fully other than with a moving truck,

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<v Speaker 2>and even then, where would you go? As I flew

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<v Speaker 2>into Spokane, I saw numerous other fires burning across the

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<v Speaker 2>whole of the Pacific Northwest. Still, by hitting the warning,

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<v Speaker 2>Dan saved himself some time the next day.

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<v Speaker 3>I have most of my personal go bag style clothes

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<v Speaker 3>and things like that already prepared for camping season and

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<v Speaker 3>other things, so I can usually grab a bag and

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<v Speaker 3>be out of the house pretty quickly. But the night

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<v Speaker 3>before I did start doing a mental inventory of I

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<v Speaker 3>know where all our files are in the basement, I

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<v Speaker 3>know what I need to grab if I need to

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<v Speaker 3>get out of the house quickly, and you know, we've

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<v Speaker 3>got young kids. And I'd even talk to my wife

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<v Speaker 3>and we didn't have the bags as prepped as I

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<v Speaker 3>would say I wanted, but we knew what we needed

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<v Speaker 3>to grab if we had to go the next day.

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<v Speaker 2>It's by his BET's effort. Evacuating his house facing up

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<v Speaker 2>to the fact that he might never come back to

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<v Speaker 2>it was far from easy.

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<v Speaker 3>I had to have a conversation with my wife at

0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:34.800
<v Speaker 3>one point when the kids were in the other room,

0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:38.520
<v Speaker 3>and kids are a whole different aspect of this, where

0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.280
<v Speaker 3>you know she was grabbing some things, and I had

0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:45.040
<v Speaker 3>to talk to her and say, really sternly and empathetically,

0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:47.640
<v Speaker 3>I hope you need to be grabbing things like you

0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.120
<v Speaker 3>might not come back to this house. That's the priority

0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:53.880
<v Speaker 3>of the things you need to grab. And I think

0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:55.840
<v Speaker 3>that's when it clicked for her. And it helped me

0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:58.600
<v Speaker 3>saying that, because it really clicked for me on the

0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:01.400
<v Speaker 3>you know, handful of things, things that were really important

0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.400
<v Speaker 3>to me besides our basic needs, they got thrown in

0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:08.040
<v Speaker 3>the truck of you know, airloom possessions. You know, you

0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.240
<v Speaker 3>might only have time to grab one. It's not every airloom,

0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:13.960
<v Speaker 3>it's the closest one at hand that you can think of.

0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.960
<v Speaker 2>In that moment, a stand left. He saw some of

0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:20.319
<v Speaker 2>his neighbors still hadn't packed up. I don't want for

0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:22.680
<v Speaker 2>a second to apportion blame or scorn here. As I

0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.439
<v Speaker 2>said earlier, our whole political system rests on this Hobbsyan

0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:27.720
<v Speaker 2>notion that we give up some of our freedom to

0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:29.959
<v Speaker 2>the state, and in turn we get some safety and

0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:33.800
<v Speaker 2>protection the full might of the federal government, albeit a

0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.360
<v Speaker 2>federal apparatus. That it's somewhat diminishing to the richest man

0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:37.920
<v Speaker 2>in the world, thinking it would be funny to fire.

0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.000
<v Speaker 2>Forest service staff, who make very little money maintaining our resources,

0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:44.200
<v Speaker 2>was marshaled to fight these fires, and thinking of the

0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.840
<v Speaker 2>government won't let the fire get into suburban neighborhoods is

0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:48.960
<v Speaker 2>entirely reasonable inside that worldview.

0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:51.640
<v Speaker 3>Friends of ours who had kids that go to school

0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.040
<v Speaker 3>night kids were out in their front yard watching the

0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:56.760
<v Speaker 3>smoke down the hill, watching the planes starting to come in.

0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:58.959
<v Speaker 3>All you could do is pull over and say, you know,

0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:01.320
<v Speaker 3>are you planning to go oh? And they're oh, I

0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.640
<v Speaker 3>don't know, because an evacuation level hadn't reached us yet.

0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:07.640
<v Speaker 3>And I said, well, I'm going home to get my

0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:11.080
<v Speaker 3>family ready. You should, You should think about getting ready

0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.280
<v Speaker 3>right now. We're going to get evacuated.

0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:17.160
<v Speaker 2>But soon as people realized her risk, they began to

0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:19.440
<v Speaker 2>leave in huge numbers, which, your course, resulted in pretty

0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:20.200
<v Speaker 2>gridlock traffic.

0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.640
<v Speaker 3>The traffic it took us about four hours to make

0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:27.319
<v Speaker 3>it forty miles north of our house because of how

0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:31.160
<v Speaker 3>much the reduced traffic happened. As the fire burned all

0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:33.680
<v Speaker 3>the other routes out of our neighborhood and another fire

0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:34.679
<v Speaker 3>started closing.

0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:37.600
<v Speaker 2>In, some people had to abandon their cars altogether, picking

0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:40.960
<v Speaker 2>up their belongings, and children are fleeing. Hopefully you're not

0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:42.920
<v Speaker 2>in gridload traffic listening to this, but if you are,

0:13:43.200 --> 0:14:00.679
<v Speaker 2>now you're stuck in their traffic and listening to these adverts. Leopold,

0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:02.760
<v Speaker 2>who died from a heart attack while fighting a small

0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:07.040
<v Speaker 2>grass flyer, once wrote, all ethics so far evolved rests

0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.000
<v Speaker 2>upon a single premise that the individual is a member

0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:14.079
<v Speaker 2>of a community of interdependent parts. His instincts prompt him

0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.440
<v Speaker 2>to compete for his place in the community, but his

0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:19.920
<v Speaker 2>ethics prompt him to also cooperate, perhaps in order that

0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:22.880
<v Speaker 2>there may be a place to compete for the land.

0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:28.720
<v Speaker 2>Ethics simply enlargened the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants,

0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:32.680
<v Speaker 2>and animals, or collectively the land. I think we need

0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:34.600
<v Speaker 2>to think about fire not as something that happens to

0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:36.960
<v Speaker 2>trees and plants and not us, but it is something

0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:38.800
<v Speaker 2>that happens to the communities in which we are part,

0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.680
<v Speaker 2>especially in towns like Spokane with a huge wildland urban

0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.760
<v Speaker 2>interface and in a time of climate change and reduce

0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:48.480
<v Speaker 2>government capacity. The way we live with fire in the

0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:50.360
<v Speaker 2>forest is the way we live with fire at home.

0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.160
<v Speaker 2>We can't just stop fire once it gets to city limits. Indeed,

0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.520
<v Speaker 2>I would argue we can't stop fire period. We can, however,

0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.360
<v Speaker 2>choose when and how things burn. But that's a topic

0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:03.640
<v Speaker 2>for another day. Let's get back to Dan, who is

0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:04.880
<v Speaker 2>now facing a second fire.

0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:09.120
<v Speaker 3>Our family's evacuation plan has always been to go to

0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:11.480
<v Speaker 3>my in laws house, which is out in the country

0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:15.280
<v Speaker 3>a bit. That's always been my emergency plan. And they

0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.240
<v Speaker 3>lost their house in the Autumn Lane fire that was

0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:21.120
<v Speaker 3>happening at that exact same time, was the second fire

0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:24.640
<v Speaker 3>to strike that day, and so we were pivoting really

0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:27.600
<v Speaker 3>rapidly on the move. Here where do we need to go?

0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:32.200
<v Speaker 3>And I was fortunate I have a friend who lives

0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.040
<v Speaker 3>really far out of town in a rural community that's

0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:39.560
<v Speaker 3>very fire adapted, and I called him and just said, hey,

0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:41.720
<v Speaker 3>we don't know where we're going yet, but I'm going

0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:42.520
<v Speaker 3>to need a place.

0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.200
<v Speaker 2>Like thousands of people in Spokane that day, Dan's friend

0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:49.040
<v Speaker 2>stepped up to help, opening his home to a family

0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:51.800
<v Speaker 2>who needed place and given them an island of stability

0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.160
<v Speaker 2>a mix of flames and uncertainty. In fact, lots of

0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:56.880
<v Speaker 2>friends stepped up. This is something I heard from everyone

0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.640
<v Speaker 2>who evacuated, the people who they hadn't heard from in

0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:03.040
<v Speaker 2>months years reached out. This desired to help has admirable,

0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:05.800
<v Speaker 2>and we're going to get into how you can help helpfully.

0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:08.520
<v Speaker 2>But in a stressful time, the volume of notications can

0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:12.640
<v Speaker 2>get a little bit overwhelming. Fortunately Dan's house survived and

0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.320
<v Speaker 2>he and his family were able to go home. Luckily

0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:17.240
<v Speaker 2>they avoided the worst of the smoke damage as well.

0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:20.040
<v Speaker 2>I wanted to ask Dam what on reflection he had

0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:22.960
<v Speaker 2>learned from his nine day evacuation experience and what people

0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:24.360
<v Speaker 2>had done that really helped.

0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:27.320
<v Speaker 3>We have friends that were like, hey, we can order

0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:29.840
<v Speaker 3>pizza and have it delivered wherever you're at. Like, just

0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:32.160
<v Speaker 3>let us know what pizza you want and where you're at,

0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:33.680
<v Speaker 3>and we'll send you a pizza. I don't think we

0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:36.240
<v Speaker 3>took anybody up on that, but that's like a real

0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:39.840
<v Speaker 3>simple solution, honestly, of like, I can just send food

0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.840
<v Speaker 3>to you if you tell me where you wanted. Our

0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:45.480
<v Speaker 3>kids got pretty cooped up by day four, and we

0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:47.760
<v Speaker 3>had had some friends up in the area where were staying.

0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:49.640
<v Speaker 3>You said, you know, let us know if we can

0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.400
<v Speaker 3>do anything for you. And I don't want to be

0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:56.120
<v Speaker 3>an imposition to anybody, and even that person I think

0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:57.880
<v Speaker 3>was pretty pretty humble. I'm like, we don't know what

0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.600
<v Speaker 3>we can do, but if there's anything we can do, well,

0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.120
<v Speaker 3>Like they lived on a farm, and by day four

0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:05.320
<v Speaker 3>it was like, can we just like bring our kids

0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:08.240
<v Speaker 3>to the farm to look at animals and get out

0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.720
<v Speaker 3>of a house and like you know, petagoat or something.

0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.080
<v Speaker 3>I don't think they thought of that in their offer

0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.720
<v Speaker 3>of what can we do? And I didn't know what

0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.080
<v Speaker 3>somebody could do for me until that moment I got

0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.359
<v Speaker 3>to get my kids out of the house. We can't

0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.919
<v Speaker 3>hang out in the smoke down here. What can we do? Oh,

0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:25.879
<v Speaker 3>they have animals, Let's go out there. So like that

0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:28.879
<v Speaker 3>was just it was a weird way that people probably

0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:30.359
<v Speaker 3>didn't think they were going to show up for us,

0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.639
<v Speaker 3>but like maybe a huge improvement on the quality of

0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:34.200
<v Speaker 3>life for our kids.

0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:36.800
<v Speaker 2>In that moment, he also wanted to reflect on what

0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:37.359
<v Speaker 2>he had lived.

0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:42.360
<v Speaker 3>The kids were a little nutty without ways to entertain them,

0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:45.960
<v Speaker 3>which is something that you know, coloring books and crans

0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:48.480
<v Speaker 3>and things like that, something productive to keep them busy

0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:51.520
<v Speaker 3>would have been huge for our kids. You know, we

0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:53.359
<v Speaker 3>were able to go buy those things with just having

0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.840
<v Speaker 3>those you know, I wish I had done a better

0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:01.399
<v Speaker 3>job of actually having all our files sorted into you know,

0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:05.359
<v Speaker 3>three or four go folders for our family, one for

0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:10.280
<v Speaker 3>you know, insurance and those kind of PaperWorks, and also

0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.920
<v Speaker 3>you know, a Manila folder of the documents I want

0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:15.760
<v Speaker 3>to have or the handful of pictures I want to

0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.000
<v Speaker 3>keep in saying for other members or our family. I

0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:21.840
<v Speaker 3>didn't do a good job of having that as prepared

0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:22.680
<v Speaker 3>as I wanted.

0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:27.080
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think that's about it. Dani also mentioned that

0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:29.240
<v Speaker 2>if he could have left earlier, he would not only

0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.159
<v Speaker 2>have avoided the traffic, but he also would not have

0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.040
<v Speaker 2>contributed to the traffic and thus helped other people get

0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:37.600
<v Speaker 2>out faster. Less than two days after being evacuated, Dan

0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.480
<v Speaker 2>and I drove up to Insulin to drop off supplies

0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:43.680
<v Speaker 2>for the Covial tribes. Obviously, this is an exceptionally kind

0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:46.359
<v Speaker 2>thing to do, but it also reflects an understanding of

0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:48.399
<v Speaker 2>how different the state response is to a crisis in

0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.119
<v Speaker 2>a city as opposed to a tribal community, and indeed

0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:52.800
<v Speaker 2>in any rural community.

0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:57.960
<v Speaker 3>The weekend before that fire, so the Saturday before the

0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:01.199
<v Speaker 3>Saturday where that fire lit, I had driven out to

0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:07.720
<v Speaker 3>the calvill tribes reservation to drop off supplies for their fire,

0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.040
<v Speaker 3>because you know, I'm fortunate to get to work in

0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:13.199
<v Speaker 3>a lot of our rural communities out here, including some

0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:15.840
<v Speaker 3>of our tribal communities, and they've been you know, dealing

0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:19.040
<v Speaker 3>with a massive it was already over one hundred thousand

0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:22.440
<v Speaker 3>acre fire at that point for weeks before it, and

0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.840
<v Speaker 3>we were running supplies from Spokane because who is supporting

0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:30.160
<v Speaker 3>our tribal friends out here, like what do they need?

0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:33.879
<v Speaker 3>And they're incredibly durable and self sufficient and rallying their

0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.920
<v Speaker 3>own community and also recognizing we've got to bring resources

0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:40.960
<v Speaker 3>up here because of the resources available for them to

0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:45.040
<v Speaker 3>draw from, we can bring more from Spokane. And then

0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:49.560
<v Speaker 3>spokanees on fire. And it's the same thing in that

0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:52.240
<v Speaker 3>we just sucked all the energy out of the room,

0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:55.119
<v Speaker 3>all the oxygen out of the room. About fire in

0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:59.479
<v Speaker 3>Washington State got put on Spokane. And I think it

0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:01.600
<v Speaker 3>makes sense why some of our rural communities would be

0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.679
<v Speaker 3>like we've been fighting these fires for weeks. There's hundreds

0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.000
<v Speaker 3>of thousand acre fires happening. There is you know, a

0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:11.320
<v Speaker 3>fire further north off the reservation, two other large fires

0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:13.960
<v Speaker 3>that have now been going on, but all the attentions

0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.159
<v Speaker 3>on Spokane because there's so many people there in comparison

0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:20.239
<v Speaker 3>to these rural areas. It's burning into a city. And

0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:23.240
<v Speaker 3>the reason I say all that is someday there's going

0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.400
<v Speaker 3>to be a bigger fire than the fire in Spokane happening,

0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:29.159
<v Speaker 3>and nobody's going to pay attention to Spokane. You know,

0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.440
<v Speaker 3>La catches on fire at the same time Spokane is

0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:36.119
<v Speaker 3>on fire. Spokane's not making it in the CNN news,

0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:39.920
<v Speaker 3>and we need to realize that's the reality of these

0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:42.920
<v Speaker 3>situations and we have to take care of each other

0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:45.080
<v Speaker 3>and our own communities too.

0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:02.879
<v Speaker 2>Speaking ofies, I also wanted to get a sense of

0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:05.280
<v Speaker 2>how it can be to be in a crisis but

0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.880
<v Speaker 2>not also directly impacted by the fires. In my time

0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:11.280
<v Speaker 2>is Spokane. I also met Hadley, who wears an absolutely

0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:13.240
<v Speaker 2>wild number of Mutual Aid hats.

0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:16.800
<v Speaker 4>I'm the secretary for NAACP branch. I'm on the board

0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:19.679
<v Speaker 4>for a local Queer community center, and I'm part of

0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:22.400
<v Speaker 4>a mutual aid group called Mutual Aid Survival Squad.

0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:25.280
<v Speaker 2>When the fires began, they were not on a path

0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:28.200
<v Speaker 2>towards at home, so instead of grabbing her reliants and documents,

0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:30.760
<v Speaker 2>she started trying to organize for the people who were

0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:31.080
<v Speaker 2>doing that.

0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.600
<v Speaker 4>My immediate thing was to like think about my network.

0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:39.160
<v Speaker 4>So I posted on my personal Facebook page and said,

0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:41.440
<v Speaker 4>you know, hey, what's likely to happen in the next

0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:43.280
<v Speaker 4>couple hours is there are going to be a lot

0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:47.560
<v Speaker 4>of people who need to evacuate. So start immediately by

0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:49.679
<v Speaker 4>checking on your people and figure out who in your

0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:52.600
<v Speaker 4>life that might be that needs assistant. And I asked

0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:57.280
<v Speaker 4>my community to start listing, you know, who could take people,

0:21:57.280 --> 0:21:59.800
<v Speaker 4>who could take pets, who could do an hour of

0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:04.080
<v Speaker 4>you know, cell phone charging or a shower, things like that,

0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:06.600
<v Speaker 4>and just try to build an inventory to know who

0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:09.560
<v Speaker 4>I could start referring folks to if I had people

0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:13.120
<v Speaker 4>who needed a safe place or a safe whatever.

0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:16.320
<v Speaker 2>Quickly it became clear that there was a huge amount

0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:18.159
<v Speaker 2>of goodwill, but it was going to take someone with

0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:21.199
<v Speaker 2>experience organizing to help herd those cats in a useful direction.

0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:23.840
<v Speaker 4>A lot of people who could, you know, so that

0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:25.480
<v Speaker 4>you could come hang out here, you could park a

0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:28.679
<v Speaker 4>trailer here, you could you know, charge things here. It

0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:31.080
<v Speaker 4>was harder to find folks who had space or the

0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:33.440
<v Speaker 4>willingness to offer, you know, a room in their home

0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:36.080
<v Speaker 4>or let someone land with them, and I'm part of

0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:39.320
<v Speaker 4>a mutual aid group called Mutual Aid Survival Squad, and

0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:43.320
<v Speaker 4>we've got some like really both great community connected people

0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:46.439
<v Speaker 4>and some wonderful nerds who I say that very lovingly,

0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:50.959
<v Speaker 4>who you know, very quickly were making spreadsheets of you know,

0:22:51.240 --> 0:22:54.879
<v Speaker 4>here's all the businesses that are starting to offer donation

0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:57.960
<v Speaker 4>sites or you know, open their doors, you know, masks.

0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:01.480
<v Speaker 4>Our group made a list that we could start to

0:23:01.520 --> 0:23:05.080
<v Speaker 4>refer to really easily, because frankly, it just it's suddenly

0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:08.960
<v Speaker 4>massively overwhelming how many people want to help, and the

0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:11.560
<v Speaker 4>main way people wanted to help within like I mean

0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:15.520
<v Speaker 4>literally two hours before. Most people don't have any idea

0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:18.199
<v Speaker 4>what they're going back to, and you have piles of

0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:22.440
<v Speaker 4>donated clothing and furniture like stacking up at different businesses

0:23:22.480 --> 0:23:26.000
<v Speaker 4>and nonprofits all over town, which is really well meaning,

0:23:26.320 --> 0:23:29.280
<v Speaker 4>but a little bit disconnected from you know, the timing

0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:29.960
<v Speaker 4>of the situation.

0:23:30.800 --> 0:23:33.240
<v Speaker 2>Well, her friends organized spread sheets to resources she wanted

0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:35.440
<v Speaker 2>to help to, and she found it was most effective

0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:38.320
<v Speaker 2>to offer concrete solutions and stop asking people who are

0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:40.560
<v Speaker 2>already so overwhelmed to make more choices.

0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:42.720
<v Speaker 4>In my case, one of my friends who was out

0:23:42.720 --> 0:23:45.479
<v Speaker 4>of town. I just called and I said, hey, like

0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:47.959
<v Speaker 4>you just moved to level two, Can I just go

0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:48.600
<v Speaker 4>get your cats?

0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:49.040
<v Speaker 2>You know?

0:23:49.359 --> 0:23:51.600
<v Speaker 4>And she was quiet for a couple seconds and just

0:23:51.680 --> 0:23:56.080
<v Speaker 4>was like, yes. You know, if I had said, hey,

0:23:56.160 --> 0:23:58.639
<v Speaker 4>can I do anything? I don't know. We're great friends,

0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:00.480
<v Speaker 4>but I don't know if she would have felt comfortable

0:24:00.520 --> 0:24:03.920
<v Speaker 4>just saying, hey, can you drive twenty minutes and wrestle

0:24:03.920 --> 0:24:05.680
<v Speaker 4>these two cats that you don't know and do the

0:24:06.080 --> 0:24:06.480
<v Speaker 4>whole thing?

0:24:07.200 --> 0:24:09.479
<v Speaker 2>One thing she began to find something I found all

0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:11.760
<v Speaker 2>over the world the places people could go when they

0:24:11.760 --> 0:24:14.439
<v Speaker 2>needed help, but the same places where they went to

0:24:14.480 --> 0:24:17.760
<v Speaker 2>help other people who needed help. That's what strong communities

0:24:17.800 --> 0:24:20.040
<v Speaker 2>look like. All of us have times in our lives

0:24:20.040 --> 0:24:22.440
<v Speaker 2>when we need help. None of us is an island,

0:24:22.840 --> 0:24:24.520
<v Speaker 2>and all of us have times in our lives when

0:24:24.560 --> 0:24:27.360
<v Speaker 2>we're able to help other people. When we create systems

0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:29.480
<v Speaker 2>that allow us to rely on each other, we have

0:24:29.600 --> 0:24:31.560
<v Speaker 2>someone to rely on what we need help as well.

0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:35.560
<v Speaker 4>So I am like really privileged and spoken to be

0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:38.520
<v Speaker 4>organizing a lot of different spaces. You know, as folks

0:24:38.520 --> 0:24:41.280
<v Speaker 4>started to hear, oh, you know, you know somebody who

0:24:41.359 --> 0:24:46.440
<v Speaker 4>was award recipient at our ENDPACP volunteer appreciation event last

0:24:46.520 --> 0:24:48.800
<v Speaker 4>year lost their home. As that starts to hear, you know,

0:24:48.840 --> 0:24:50.960
<v Speaker 4>that community starts to activate around Okay, well, what can

0:24:50.960 --> 0:24:51.199
<v Speaker 4>we do?

0:24:51.480 --> 0:24:52.720
<v Speaker 2>Where can we out for support?

0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:55.520
<v Speaker 4>I do a lot of organizing with an immigrant community,

0:24:55.560 --> 0:24:57.760
<v Speaker 4>and we were hearing about folks who were, you know,

0:24:57.880 --> 0:25:01.040
<v Speaker 4>needing to figure out where to go. Resources weren't translated,

0:25:01.480 --> 0:25:04.200
<v Speaker 4>you know, not sure whether or not the shelters are

0:25:04.200 --> 0:25:04.720
<v Speaker 4>going to be safe.

0:25:04.720 --> 0:25:05.159
<v Speaker 2>Who's up?

0:25:05.160 --> 0:25:07.119
<v Speaker 4>You know, the National Guard's getting called in. What does

0:25:07.200 --> 0:25:09.640
<v Speaker 4>that mean? You know, there's just a lot of confusing

0:25:09.680 --> 0:25:11.120
<v Speaker 4>information that can also create fear.

0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:15.280
<v Speaker 2>All right, as you might expect, I got some feelings

0:25:15.280 --> 0:25:17.840
<v Speaker 2>about this. First, we have to be clear about the stakes.

0:25:17.880 --> 0:25:20.320
<v Speaker 2>I think any hesitation in the face of a fire

0:25:20.320 --> 0:25:22.920
<v Speaker 2>can cost lives. That is why there is so much

0:25:22.920 --> 0:25:25.000
<v Speaker 2>in this episode about going when you get a level

0:25:25.000 --> 0:25:28.560
<v Speaker 2>three warning, if not before, people are going to hesitate

0:25:28.640 --> 0:25:31.719
<v Speaker 2>if they think National Guard troops manning checkpoints are going

0:25:31.760 --> 0:25:35.119
<v Speaker 2>to deport them or hurt them, or that those National

0:25:35.119 --> 0:25:37.520
<v Speaker 2>Guard troops are actually bortec who tend to wear similar

0:25:37.560 --> 0:25:41.480
<v Speaker 2>camera uniforms. So let's talk a bit about what might

0:25:41.560 --> 0:25:44.240
<v Speaker 2>cause people to wonder if evacuating or going to a

0:25:44.280 --> 0:25:48.159
<v Speaker 2>shelter is the safest choice for them. There is sadly

0:25:48.200 --> 0:25:50.800
<v Speaker 2>a long history of migration enforcement fucking with people at

0:25:50.800 --> 0:25:53.200
<v Speaker 2>the moment they are at their most vulnerable. In the

0:25:53.280 --> 0:25:55.920
<v Speaker 2>San Diego two thousand and seven which Creek fires, a

0:25:56.000 --> 0:25:59.119
<v Speaker 2>Mexican American mixed status family we're accused of taking shelter

0:25:59.200 --> 0:26:02.560
<v Speaker 2>supplies to resell and handed over to CBP, who deported them,

0:26:02.720 --> 0:26:06.560
<v Speaker 2>including a US citizen who was two years old. As

0:26:06.560 --> 0:26:09.440
<v Speaker 2>their own community was hurting as people were reaching out

0:26:09.480 --> 0:26:12.760
<v Speaker 2>to help each other, CBP stepped in to ruin someone's life.

0:26:13.080 --> 0:26:14.959
<v Speaker 2>Should point out that it was the police who detained

0:26:14.960 --> 0:26:18.280
<v Speaker 2>them in the first place, not CDP. There's an excellent

0:26:18.400 --> 0:26:21.760
<v Speaker 2>ACLU report in that fire. Other notable San Diego fuck

0:26:21.840 --> 0:26:24.320
<v Speaker 2>ups in this report include reverse nine one one calls

0:26:24.320 --> 0:26:27.880
<v Speaker 2>to evacuate only being in English, the police doing sweeps

0:26:27.920 --> 0:26:31.400
<v Speaker 2>of the evacuation center to look for people whose ideas

0:26:31.440 --> 0:26:34.960
<v Speaker 2>were not from evacuated areas, and the Superior Court extending

0:26:35.000 --> 0:26:38.080
<v Speaker 2>the time someone could be detained without arraignment from forty

0:26:38.080 --> 0:26:40.240
<v Speaker 2>eight hours to a week, and keeping this rule long

0:26:40.280 --> 0:26:43.080
<v Speaker 2>after the worst of the fires was gone. San Diego

0:26:43.119 --> 0:26:46.520
<v Speaker 2>never changes, I guess I hear about this Witch Creek

0:26:46.600 --> 0:26:50.600
<v Speaker 2>fire all the time. Every time there's a fire and

0:26:50.680 --> 0:26:54.479
<v Speaker 2>we are worried about people evacuating, this comes up. It

0:26:54.520 --> 0:26:58.359
<v Speaker 2>was nearly twenty years ago, and it's still stopping people

0:26:58.600 --> 0:27:03.840
<v Speaker 2>from making the safest choice. So a few days after

0:27:03.880 --> 0:27:06.720
<v Speaker 2>I got home for Spokane, I wasn't shocked, I guess,

0:27:06.760 --> 0:27:10.120
<v Speaker 2>but still sad to see CBP posting pictures of their

0:27:10.160 --> 0:27:14.520
<v Speaker 2>OFOSRT that see Office a Field Operations Special Response Team.

0:27:14.880 --> 0:27:17.840
<v Speaker 2>Think about like a SWAT team responding to another fire

0:27:17.880 --> 0:27:20.920
<v Speaker 2>in Washington in an area with a large Latino population.

0:27:21.520 --> 0:27:23.800
<v Speaker 2>Par take a level of ignorance will be quite spectacular

0:27:23.840 --> 0:27:26.159
<v Speaker 2>to not realize that this would make people afraid to

0:27:26.240 --> 0:27:29.959
<v Speaker 2>access state resources and assistants, especially when you combine us

0:27:29.960 --> 0:27:32.639
<v Speaker 2>with the fact that last year in Washington State, the

0:27:32.680 --> 0:27:37.080
<v Speaker 2>BLM apparently requested assistant from CBP, who detained a contract

0:27:37.119 --> 0:27:41.359
<v Speaker 2>fire crew and arrested two of its members. Quote. I

0:27:41.440 --> 0:27:44.000
<v Speaker 2>asked them if his family can say goodbye to him,

0:27:44.160 --> 0:27:47.120
<v Speaker 2>because they're family and they're just ripping them away, one

0:27:47.160 --> 0:27:50.720
<v Speaker 2>firefighter told the Seattle Times, and this is what he said.

0:27:51.200 --> 0:27:54.200
<v Speaker 2>You need to get the expletive out of here. I'm

0:27:54.240 --> 0:27:56.680
<v Speaker 2>going to make you leave. Well, that's why I thought

0:27:56.720 --> 0:27:58.520
<v Speaker 2>it was going to end this section until I came

0:27:58.560 --> 0:28:02.439
<v Speaker 2>across an Instagram post of Army National Guard firefighters, or

0:28:02.480 --> 0:28:05.080
<v Speaker 2>at least what the post claims a National Guard firefighters

0:28:05.560 --> 0:28:08.480
<v Speaker 2>fighting a fire in Washington posing for a photo with

0:28:08.480 --> 0:28:11.440
<v Speaker 2>a Rhodesian flag. If you're not familiar with Rhodesia, we

0:28:11.480 --> 0:28:14.359
<v Speaker 2>call it Zimbabwe now, and it is very amusing that

0:28:14.440 --> 0:28:16.359
<v Speaker 2>this is happening at a fire. If you know how

0:28:16.440 --> 0:28:20.520
<v Speaker 2>Rhodesia ended. Rhodesia was the last bastion of white ethno

0:28:20.600 --> 0:28:24.520
<v Speaker 2>nationalism in Africa. There's no reason why anyone would have

0:28:24.560 --> 0:28:28.760
<v Speaker 2>that flag other than crass and disgusting racism. It is

0:28:28.800 --> 0:28:31.840
<v Speaker 2>the same flag that Dylan Ruth chose to adorn his

0:28:31.880 --> 0:28:34.840
<v Speaker 2>hateful website with when he murdered nine people in the

0:28:34.840 --> 0:28:40.320
<v Speaker 2>Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in twenty fifteen. National Guard soldiers,

0:28:40.480 --> 0:28:44.920
<v Speaker 2>of course, are also manning checkpoints in evacuated communities and

0:28:45.000 --> 0:28:48.240
<v Speaker 2>people associating them with this kind of disgusting bigotry. It's

0:28:48.320 --> 0:28:50.719
<v Speaker 2>not going to make people feel safe with those soldiers

0:28:50.760 --> 0:28:55.800
<v Speaker 2>in their communities. I have contacted several pios over the

0:28:55.840 --> 0:29:01.080
<v Speaker 2>last week. The pios for different fire organizations, for different

0:29:01.080 --> 0:29:05.240
<v Speaker 2>military organizations. I have left a voicemail for the Washington

0:29:05.320 --> 0:29:09.200
<v Speaker 2>National Guard PIO three days ago at this point and

0:29:09.560 --> 0:29:12.160
<v Speaker 2>still not heard back. And I think, I hope, I

0:29:12.200 --> 0:29:15.440
<v Speaker 2>guess so that gives people a sense of like why

0:29:15.480 --> 0:29:18.320
<v Speaker 2>this is such a problem. Right, The Washington State National

0:29:18.320 --> 0:29:21.560
<v Speaker 2>Guard were guarding the checkpoints at the neighborhoods that people

0:29:21.600 --> 0:29:23.360
<v Speaker 2>had to evacuate. They were deciding who've got to go

0:29:23.440 --> 0:29:25.880
<v Speaker 2>in and who got to go out, And they were

0:29:25.880 --> 0:29:29.560
<v Speaker 2>present in those neighborhoods where people couldn't be safe, and

0:29:29.600 --> 0:29:31.360
<v Speaker 2>they were present on the ways into and out of

0:29:31.400 --> 0:29:34.440
<v Speaker 2>those neighborhoods, right, And I hope people can see that

0:29:34.560 --> 0:29:37.680
<v Speaker 2>the fact that the Washington National Guard not only have soldiers,

0:29:37.760 --> 0:29:40.000
<v Speaker 2>and my understanding is that these soldiers run a little

0:29:40.040 --> 0:29:43.040
<v Speaker 2>giant fire and not the Spokane Complex fire, but nonetheless,

0:29:43.080 --> 0:29:45.800
<v Speaker 2>not only do they have soldiers who are so proud

0:29:45.840 --> 0:29:48.600
<v Speaker 2>of being racist, so proud of being associated with someone

0:29:48.640 --> 0:29:52.560
<v Speaker 2>who murdered nine people in a church that they bought

0:29:52.600 --> 0:29:55.640
<v Speaker 2>their flag to wave about it, but that the institution

0:29:55.720 --> 0:29:58.680
<v Speaker 2>as a whole doesn't think that this bears remarking upon.

0:29:59.160 --> 0:30:02.240
<v Speaker 2>They don't think that this is important enough to merit comment.

0:30:03.440 --> 0:30:06.080
<v Speaker 2>You can understand perhaps why people might not want to

0:30:06.120 --> 0:30:09.280
<v Speaker 2>go to them for help. You can understand perhaps how

0:30:09.360 --> 0:30:13.440
<v Speaker 2>that might have very severe consequences when a fire is coming.

0:30:14.560 --> 0:30:17.160
<v Speaker 2>So that's where we're at right now. Not only is

0:30:17.200 --> 0:30:19.640
<v Speaker 2>this happening, but it's happening in a way that the

0:30:19.640 --> 0:30:23.640
<v Speaker 2>institution doesn't seem concerned about, doesn't seem to think merits

0:30:23.720 --> 0:30:27.440
<v Speaker 2>remarking upon, let alone condemning. This is why it is

0:30:27.480 --> 0:30:30.200
<v Speaker 2>important for people to take care of each other, because

0:30:30.200 --> 0:30:32.880
<v Speaker 2>there are people right now who have very good reasons

0:30:33.160 --> 0:30:36.120
<v Speaker 2>not to trust the state, and even that at the

0:30:36.120 --> 0:30:39.840
<v Speaker 2>time when they are most vulnerable, they still can't look

0:30:39.880 --> 0:30:42.240
<v Speaker 2>to the state for support because the state has failed

0:30:42.240 --> 0:30:47.200
<v Speaker 2>them anyway, back to Hadley, because when the state does

0:30:47.240 --> 0:30:50.000
<v Speaker 2>the opposite of helping, we have even more reason to

0:30:50.120 --> 0:30:54.600
<v Speaker 2>help each other. I arrived in Spokane on Monday, and

0:30:54.640 --> 0:30:56.560
<v Speaker 2>I was able to find a hotel room. I was

0:30:56.640 --> 0:30:58.320
<v Speaker 2>kind of shocked. I thought they might all be full.

0:30:59.040 --> 0:31:01.400
<v Speaker 2>I drove by the convict that was sheltering people the

0:31:01.440 --> 0:31:03.040
<v Speaker 2>next day and I was surprised to find it looked

0:31:03.040 --> 0:31:05.840
<v Speaker 2>pretty chill. It seemed that rather than leaning on the state,

0:31:06.240 --> 0:31:08.880
<v Speaker 2>the one third of people living in Spokane who were

0:31:08.880 --> 0:31:10.960
<v Speaker 2>evacuated leaned on each other.

0:31:11.640 --> 0:31:15.120
<v Speaker 4>Sixty five thousand people had to evacuate. I would love

0:31:15.240 --> 0:31:17.680
<v Speaker 4>to actually figure out and map where everybody went, because

0:31:17.720 --> 0:31:21.520
<v Speaker 4>it's shocking to me that that many folks were absorbed

0:31:21.600 --> 0:31:23.840
<v Speaker 4>kind of by our community. I think it's a beautiful thing.

0:31:24.280 --> 0:31:26.720
<v Speaker 4>My understanding is the height of the shelter capacity was

0:31:26.760 --> 0:31:29.640
<v Speaker 4>only about four hundred. All of the hotels were full,

0:31:30.280 --> 0:31:33.240
<v Speaker 4>so that means most people found a friend or found

0:31:33.280 --> 0:31:36.280
<v Speaker 4>a family member someone who was able to take them.

0:31:36.560 --> 0:31:39.040
<v Speaker 2>That's remarkable, and it meant that the people who most

0:31:39.200 --> 0:31:42.080
<v Speaker 2>needed help from the state or NGOs or even needed

0:31:42.080 --> 0:31:44.320
<v Speaker 2>hotels could still get that help.

0:31:45.000 --> 0:31:46.720
<v Speaker 4>I was really encouraging folks that if you had a

0:31:46.720 --> 0:31:48.440
<v Speaker 4>place to go, if you had a family member or

0:31:48.440 --> 0:31:51.280
<v Speaker 4>friend to go to, even though if you were telling yourself,

0:31:51.360 --> 0:31:52.720
<v Speaker 4>I'm going to be a burden, I don't want to

0:31:52.760 --> 0:31:55.720
<v Speaker 4>annoy folks. I don't want to bother people do it,

0:31:55.840 --> 0:31:57.920
<v Speaker 4>because you might actually be fraying a hotel room or

0:31:57.920 --> 0:32:00.560
<v Speaker 4>an AIRNB space for someone who does not have a

0:32:00.600 --> 0:32:03.280
<v Speaker 4>community to hold them in and shelter them in last time.

0:32:04.240 --> 0:32:05.520
<v Speaker 2>And I think that's where I want to end this

0:32:05.600 --> 0:32:08.760
<v Speaker 2>week with a reflection on how letting people help us

0:32:08.920 --> 0:32:11.080
<v Speaker 2>helps us build a world where people can get help

0:32:11.120 --> 0:32:13.959
<v Speaker 2>when they need it. This happens on a big scale

0:32:14.160 --> 0:32:16.840
<v Speaker 2>and on a small scale, in cities of two hundred

0:32:16.880 --> 0:32:20.600
<v Speaker 2>thousand people like Spokane, and in tiny rural communities. As

0:32:20.640 --> 0:32:23.920
<v Speaker 2>our federal government is stripped for parts, climate change increases

0:32:24.160 --> 0:32:25.760
<v Speaker 2>and the gap between the rich and the rest of

0:32:25.800 --> 0:32:28.560
<v Speaker 2>us grows even bigger. We are going to face more

0:32:28.560 --> 0:32:31.920
<v Speaker 2>and more crises and get less and less help. We

0:32:32.000 --> 0:32:34.880
<v Speaker 2>need to build communities where that's okay, because we can

0:32:34.920 --> 0:32:36.920
<v Speaker 2>rely on each other in the short term and in

0:32:36.960 --> 0:32:39.080
<v Speaker 2>the long term. And that's what I want to talk

0:32:39.120 --> 0:32:42.040
<v Speaker 2>about next week. The long term. What it looks like

0:32:42.120 --> 0:32:44.560
<v Speaker 2>a year and a half later, when you're still out

0:32:44.600 --> 0:32:46.640
<v Speaker 2>of your house and you're trying to move on with

0:32:46.680 --> 0:32:50.040
<v Speaker 2>your life as a state, and the giant corporation that

0:32:50.080 --> 0:32:52.840
<v Speaker 2>caused the fire that burned down your home don't show

0:32:52.920 --> 0:32:53.520
<v Speaker 2>up to help you.

0:32:53.520 --> 0:33:00.360
<v Speaker 5>Rebuild natural causes the production of cool Zone Media. For

0:33:00.440 --> 0:33:04.000
<v Speaker 5>more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website cooalzonmedia

0:33:04.040 --> 0:33:06.480
<v Speaker 5>dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app,

0:33:06.520 --> 0:33:09.760
<v Speaker 5>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts, you can

0:33:09.800 --> 0:33:13.240
<v Speaker 5>find sources for natural causes listed directly in episode descriptions.

0:33:13.480 --> 0:33:14.280
<v Speaker 2>Thanks for listening.