San Diego Came Together, Spanish-Speakers Left Out

What We (Haven't) Learned from the 2003 Fire

La Prensa-San Diego, Editorial, Daniel Muñoz, Posted: Oct 27, 2007

Editor's Note: The Spanish-language community was once again left out of the information loop during the first few days of the emergency - one of the lessons San Diego apparently didn't learn from the 2003 fires, according to an editorial in the bilingual newspaper La Prensa-San Diego.

During the 2003 Cedar fire there was a sense of panic and chaos. This week, with the Witch Creek and Harris fires, there was quick and controlled response to the fires. Homeowners were notified.

Evacuations were timely and orderly. Emergency shelters were established and all the communities throughout San Diego jumped in together to volunteer, donate, and offer support in any way possible. The sense of panic we felt in 2003 was not visible and was supplanted by a community coming together.

All San Diegans should feel proud for the way they have responded to this emergency.

Some lessons from the 2003 Cedar fire have been learned. There is greater coordination between agencies. There is more air support. There is better communication. There is military support and the federal government responded in a timely fashion, probably a lesson learned from Hurricane Katrina.

Another lesson learned from the 2003 fires was homeowners have taken precautions to fire-proof their homes by clearing brush from their property and roofing their homes with fire-retardant materials. These improvements saved many homes.

While some lessons have been learned, it quickly became obvious that San Diego was still woefully under prepared for this disaster.

For the Hispanic and Mexican communities of the region, in particular the monolingual Spanish-language community, once again, just like in 2003, there was no information coming out during the first few days of the emergency in Spanish.

Up-to-date information was being provided by the English-language television and radio stations from the outset, yet they provided no information in Spanish during the most crucial time – the first few days of the disaster. The daily newspapers stuck to their English-only news.

The Spanish language media did little better. Univision provided little information in the beginning, possibly due to the fact that they do not have a large local staff. Nor did any of the local radio stations provide the type of comprehensive reporting needed – until days later. It wasn’t until several days later that the English-language television stations started scrolling information at the bottom of screen in Spanish.

It was also painfully obvious that there simply is not enough fire personnel. Only one fire station has been built in San Diego since the Cedar fire in 2003. This is not to say that even with more men, they could have stemmed the fire with the Santa Ana winds blowing, but perhaps they could have saved a few more homes and they may have had some reserves available in case of a downtown fire emergency.

Despite planning to provide emergency shelters, by Monday the Red Cross only had five shelters open, with local governments and military providing 10 more shelters. And there were not enough supplies to deal with the some 230,000 evacuees.

This is where the community came together and really responded to the need. Schools, community centers, health centers opened their doors and created shelters. Residents pulled together and donated what they could. And local business kicked in with supplies and monetary contributions. Space was even found for animals of all types.

While there was more air support, it still was not enough and some did not arrive until the middle of the week. Better coordination and air support more readily available would have gone a long way in fighting this fire.

With the winds dying down and the fire seemingly subsiding, as more and more people return to their homes, stories of heroism will be forthcoming as will stories of failures. As with the Cedar fire in 2003, let us hope that we can take these lessons and once again learn from them as we prepare to better handle these types of disasters in the future.


Related Articles:

Ethnic Media Cover the Fires

Invisible Fire Victims in the Canyons

Fuego in San Diego: Very Little Information in Spanish

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