As thousands fled the wildfires in northern and southern California, the flames weren’t selective in which homes they choose to torch, and everyday working people, the retired, business owners, and celebrities all had homes destroyed by the flames.
One result of the mass evacuations prompted by the wildfires was the difficulty in contacting family and friends. People with animals, including horses, cats and dogs, and exotic birds were fearful of leaving their animal friends behind. The numbers of people needing help grew exponentially with the number of orders to get out of harm’s way.
Turning a Twitter feed into a bulletin board
Perhaps not surprisingly, partisan politics was quieted and people became just good Americans again when veteran actor James Woods turned his Twitter feed into a signal-boosting “bulletin board” for victims, their families, and facilities and organizations offering help.
Woods, known as a conservative with very combative political views, called on Hollywood to take a break from “trolling Twitter” and instead focus on helping victims of the fires in any way they could. Woods has been manning his Twitter accounts almost nonstop since November 8.
In order to differentiate specific needs in specific areas, Woods has been using hashtags #CampFireJamesWoods or #SoCalFiresJamesWoods, as well as his own Twitter name. And amazingly, he has already connected some people with their loved ones and found shelter for livestock, and reunited lost pets with their owners.
RealJamesWoods A man in who isn’t on Twitter hasn’t seen his daughter or heard from her in 2 days.Her name is Kele Carter and he sent me her pic so I could tweet to your hashtags. Kele, get in touch with your dad. CampFireJamesWoods SoCalFiresJamesWoods bz80y2glai
— JReimiel (@JReimiel) November 12, 2018
Those using the Woods’ Twitter feeds can also find safe routes or road closings. And many local volunteer agencies have already taken advantage of the “bulletin board,” calling for volunteers to help feed or shelter people.
Tess has found a CampFireJamesWoods SoCalFiresJamesWoods RealJamesWoods) November 13, 2018
Woods has urged followers to foster pets, shared messages seeking volunteer veterinarians and even distributed information about local colleges impacted with cancellations. “Please think about fostering #pets while evacuees are dealing with the crisis, Woods wrote. “Los Angeles #animal shelters are mostly filled, so follow my hashtags, and see if someone in need is someone you can help!”
Perhaps Woods summed things up pretty good when he tweeted that they are “literally saving lives” when another missing family member had been found safe. He added, “This is so much more rewarding than arguing politics.”
Grandma Joyce has been found alive & well. THANK YOU so much everyone for retweeting. I continue to pray for the others still missing. Thank you @RealJamesWoods for having such a great heart & organizing this & spending so much of your time reuniting #CampFireJamesWoods pic.twitter.com/fPbeIpZqZt
— Debbie T (@Debsrenee) November 12, 2018
