Dear friends in Christ,

In all my years of disaster response ministries I have never seen such wide-spread and total destruction as I saw these past days in southern California.  For mile after mile it was as though we were driving on the surface of the moon.  Everything was gray and black.  The ground was burned and baked.  Vegetation was gone, and bare boulders showed on mountain sides.  In communities there is random destruction:  the fires were fanned by the Santa Ana winds, so they acted like tornadoes, randomly destroying one house and not another, burning entire blocks and sparing others.  The air smelled of charred wood, and was full of ash.

I recently returned from several days in San Bernardino and San Diego counties, which are the two worst of five counties affected by the recent wildfires.  Approximatedly 750,000 acres burned, with over 3,600 houses destroyed.  I traveled with John Clawson (CEO of Lutheran Social Serivces of Southern California, the agency managing this response for Lutheran Disaster Response), Andrea Muir (LDR-SCal coordinator, and Christie Yoder (LDR Project Manager).

I spoke with Pastor Woody Hall at the Lutheran Church of Our Savior in San Bernardino.  LDR has an office in this facility.  He told us that the bushes caught fire behind the church, and neighbors came and threw dirt on the fires to extinguish them.  If this large church facility had burned, it is probable that houses within several blocks would also have burned.  He, along with his neighbors, had to evacuate.  He was informed that the fire alarm system in his home had sounded.  Several families of this congregation lost everything, several more had severe damage.  His own house sustained some damage in yard structures and landscaping, but his own house was saved when a neighbor extinguished fires with a garden hose. "In this area," he said, "there are about 175,000 residents.  Of those, 80,000 are below the poverty level.  Here some 300-400 houses were burned, mostly of middle and low income families."

The emotional energy for all the people is just exhausted.  "The trauma of the evacuation, and the sight of the huge walls of fire and smoke, will last for years," Pastor Hall said.  On this day the winds had shifted, and the smells of the fires were fresh again in the air.  Some 40 per cent of the houses were under- or uninsured.  Many houses were over 30 years old.

We met with Lutheran pastors at Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church in Ramona, in San Diego County.  Three people from this congregation died in the fires.  Don Erlanbusch, pastor, described that deadly Sunday, when the sky was orange and filled with the smell of smoke.  The fire wall was 30-40 feet high.  He described how the members of the congregation came together to share their stories and their grief.  "Everyone has lost something," he said.  "Much of the low income housing and trailer parks are simply gone."  LDR has set up an office in this church facility as well.

We ended up in the mountain town of Julian, where we spoke with Pastor Rick Malak, the local United Methodist Committee on Relief pastor.  Twenty of the one-hundred members of his congregation were affected.  We were joined by Carlos Hernendez, LCMS Staff member who lives in California, and Stuart Craig, assistant to LCMS President Larry Stoterau (Pacific Southwest District).  LDR is working in cooperation with the United Methodists in case management and distribution of emergency supplies.

As we busy ourselves with Christmas preparations, I wonder if we are also going to remember those who have been made homeless because of these fires.  As we buy gifts for our loved ones, will we also remember these thousands who have lost everything, who have no houses in which put put up Christmas trees.

This week I sent the remaind of the first three-month LDR grant to provide ministries in this situation.  These first grants totaled nearly $100,000.  They are helping to provide survivors with things they need for basic existance.  They are helping to minister to the elderly, the poor, th unemployed, the children.  "Camp Noah" is being planned for these areas, as well as support for the pastors who are doing intense ministry on the front lines.

Please pray for those who have experienced the loss and trauma of these fires, as well as those who are giving endless hours to help.

Please give generously to sustain our Lutheran presence, providing ministry to so many who are presently helpless and hopeless, bringing them help and hope in the long haul in the name of our Lord Jesus.  Send your gifts to:

To contribute:
ELCA DOMESTIC Disaster Response - "Southern California Fires"
PO Box 71764
Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764
Credit card gift line: 1-800-638-3522
Credit card gifts via the web: www.elca.org/disaster

LC-MS World Relief
P.O. Box 66861
St. Louis, MO 63166-9810
        Credit card gift line: 1-888-930-4438

Yours in Christ,
Gil Furst

Gilbert B. Furst  (Written on 12/05/03, at 9:00 PM)  Director for
  ELCA DOMESTIC DISASTER RESPONSE (Division for Church in Society) and
  LUTHERAN DISASTER RESPONSE (a cooperative ministry of the ELCA and LC-MS)
  8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago 60631  PHONE: 773-380-2822
Please visit our websites:  www.ldr.org  and  www.elca.org/dcs/disaster