Oregon wildfires have burned over one million acres. So there’s no doubt that the need for supplies and relief is greatly needed.
20 planes, 100,000 N-95 masks, and over 5,000 pounds of supplies—which cost around $150,000—rolled onto the runway of the Eugene airport. And it was thanks to the nonprofit Direct Relief. It’s an organization based out of California that responds to disasters all over the world.
Andrew MacCalla is Direct Relief’s Vice President of Emergency Response. He said, “Three years in a row now, California has had the most historic fires, breaking records year after year. Now, we are seeing that here in Oregon.”
Volunteer private pilots from the California Pilots Association’s Disaster Airlift Response Team and Angel Flights West loaded up the supplies at the Santa Barbara airport Saturday morning as well as other northern California airports and then they were on their way.
“We know what’s needed,” MacCalla said. “We have the supplies to help. And then it’s connecting with these great groups here on the ground that can distribute the supplies where they’re needed.”
The supplies being flown in from California will be given out to evacuation sites and distribution centers across Oregon to those who need it the very most. Some of those sites include the Eugene Masonic Lodge, Lane County Public Health, Glide Revitalization and the Medford Expo Center, but the list goes on and volunteers with reach out worldwide were on the ground ready to work.
The airlifts carried enough medication and supplies to help 750 people. This includes inhalers, poison oak treatment, masks and other items to help those on the front lines.
This is the first time direct relief has utilized a fleet of private pilots like this to fly in supplies for those who need it the most.
“You actually see the best of humanity in these times,” MacCalla said.
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