I Cranked My Red Cross Emergency Radio

November 14th, 2008 · No Comments

The Santa Ana winds kicked up a fire in Santa Barbara overnight. The Red Cross has opened a shelter and is providing feeding and mental health and health services.

LAist has the goods on your real time updates. We particularly enjoyed Ken Layne’s dispatch wherein he describes just how handy a Red Cross Emergency Radio can be:

Just as my son and dog and I got back to the house, the power went out. It would flash on and off for the next hours, as hot white ash rained from the sky and I cranked my little Red Cross emergency radio to hear the live coverage by KTYD-FM. Santa Ana gusts blew open the doors and windows. You couldn’t go outside without a wet towel clutched over your nose and mouth. When the teevee did work, the scenes were devastating. The fire was headed to the ocean. We packed up and left our house a day early.

The radio warned against taking surface streets. All the stoplights were out, and drivers were so bewitched by the flames dancing on the mountains that they were crashing, everywhere. I took the 101 from Las Positas and drove through a hellscape.

Get your own emergency radio (and lots of other helpful products and even some gift ideas) at our Red Cross Store.

Tags: Development · Disaster Response

0 responses so far ↓

There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.

Remember, we encourage you to participate in this blog via comments. All viewpoints are welcome, but please be constructive. We reserve the right to make editorial decisions regarding submitted comments, including but not limited to removal of comments. The comments are moderated, so you may have to be a tiny bit patient in waiting to see them. We will review and post them as promptly as possible during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 8:30 - 5:30).

Red Cross Chat

Meta