Thousands of people have been displaced by the devastating wildfires tearing through Northern California and over the weekend, celebrity chef and California native Guy Fieri aided in the relief effort by doing what he does best: serving up comfort food.
Fieri partnered with the Salvation Army and Operation BBQ to help feed those in need in the city of Redding, where the Carr Fire has destroyed more than 880 homes and killed six people, including three people in the same family.
However, despite the widespread destruction of the fires, the Food Network star noted the remarkable resilience of the Redding community:
“It is unbelievable to see what folks are going through, but also how great this community is,” Fieri said. “It is great to see how all these folks have come together with the Salvation Army. We are in tough times in the world, with all the things going on, and boy, you take a moment like this, and you really see what America’s made of, a lot of great people coming together.”
Fieri took to social media to thank the many volunteers who helped him feed nearly 1,000 people, including the Cattlewomen of Humboldt, a local hotel chef, and World Central Kitchen, a relief organization that also provided food to the people of Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Big thanks to the Cattlewomen of Humboldt for a great beef donation for the Redding evacuees! pic.twitter.com/Wb4kwsZqqL
— Mayor Guy Fieri (@GuyFieri) July 30, 2018
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
— Chef José Andrés 🕊️🥘🍳 (@chefjoseandres) July 30, 2018
This is not the first time Fieri has teamed up with organizations to help feed California wildfire evacuees. In October 2017, he brought comfort food to the devastated communities of Santa Rosa, where the Tubbs Fire destroyed more than 2,800 homes and killed at least 22 people, making it the most destructive wildfire in California history. The Carr Fire, which was sparked July 23 by the mechanical failure of a vehicle, was deemed by state fire officials on Tuesday to be the seventh most destructive wildfire in the state’s history.