Guy Fieri Is Feeding Wildfire Evacuees Hundreds of Meals in Northern California
The West Coast is burning up. In Northern California, six people-two of them firefighters-have died as a result of the Carr fire, a blaze that has burned more than 100,000 acres in a week, taking almost 1,000 structures with it, CNN reports. First responders are heavy on the ground, as are volunteer relief groups like the Salvation Army. And celebrity chef Guy Fieri was there too, cooking up meals for those displaced by the flames in Redding, California.
Fieri brought a group of about 20 volunteers and set up a makeshift kitchen to serve hot meals, adding to the efforts of folks with the Salvation Army and Operation BBQ Relief, which organizes barbecue pits and cooks to feed big groups after natural disasters. Fieri and his crew cooked up about 1,400 meals Sunday for people forced out of their homes and into shelters by the Carr fire.
“My son and I, and his buddies and a bunch of mine, loaded up our caravan from the wine country and drove four hours up here," the chef told CNN. “[We’re] just working arm-in-arm with the Salvation Army, and local chefs and residents and everybody, helping out the evacuees. There’s like 36,000 folks that have been displaced, so it’s quite a program.”
Chef James from Sheraton Redding Hotel stepped up HUGE with pasta salad and coleslaw for 1000 people for lunch and in for another 1000 tonight. Real deal!! @sheratonhotels pic.twitter.com/KXM8d4aJZs
- Guy Fieri (@GuyFieri) July 31, 2018
Fieri grew up in Northern California, and he was on hand with meals last year when the Tubbs fire, one of the deadliest fires in California history, blazed across Sonoma County. This year, he told CNN that the Carr fire is so intense that "you can't even see the sun."
Another celebrity chef, José Andrés, joined the efforts as well, sending a team from his non-profit World Central Kitchen to feed first responders and evacuees. They'll be cooking up 5,000 meals every day.
Our @WCKitchen Relief Team is on the ground in Redding, California to serve the #CarrFire evacuee shelters & emergency crews! Coordinating with @Cal_OES @RedCross @SalvationArmyUS to deliver hot meals with our Food First Responder partners @GuyFieri @OpBBQRelief! More soon... pic.twitter.com/16j2eIw5uu
- José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) July 30, 2018
As of Monday evening, the Carr fire is "23 percent contained," according to ABC7.
As man-made climate change burns the earth around us, we're going to need more Guys (and Josés) in the world.
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