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Brian Crater, executive director—program
services of Camp Ronald McDonald for Good
Times and president of ACA, Southern California/
Hawaii, shares his insights into the camp
community's reaction to the Southern California
fires, "Again, we (Camp Ronald McDonald)
have dodged the fire's rage. I will say
that the fires have called for evacuation
of over 12,000 campers. This fire is in
a very camp populated area known as Jenks
Lake. I am proud to say that the evacuation
of all campers was completed in less than
three hours due to all the preparation/plans
of all the camps and to the years of ongoing
emergency planning and cooperation amongst
the local camps and local officials. All
campers were evacuated to a local high school
and supported by the local Red Cross. The
only 'hitch' was that the local Red Cross
was not able to handle the organized influx
of so many campers . . . so . . . . camp
took over. Boy Scouts set up camp on the
playing field to make way for the diabetes
camp and others that needed more 'civilized
accommodations.' Now all campers are home
and safe. No camp facilities have been lost
(according to latest reports). The media
is publishing glowing reports of the camps'
preparedness and organization of the evacuation
and care for the campers in this situation.
As we speak, the fire is 90 percent contained
and due to allow camp staff to return to
their camps in the morning."
Michele Branconier, executive director of Southern California/Hawaii, states, "From the reports that I have, almost all of the camps sent their campers home. Camps that retained their campers were: Ta Ta Pochon, Conrad Chinock, and I believe the Boy Scouts. They bunked at Redlands University on Wednesday night. Highway 38 was opened yesterday to allow folks to return to camp. On Tuesday, when they evacuated Arbolado, they were in the middle of a meal and campers left directly from the dining hall to the busses. As you can imagine, the clean-up they will incur to put camp back into order for the next group of campers arriving Saturday and to pack all of the campers belongings from last session will be no small feat! All in all, it was a scary experience, but there was no structural damage and the evacuation and emergency planning paid off . . . "
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