California chief service officer urges safety, organized volunteering after Pasadena shelter visit

Josh Friday, California's chief service officer and head of California Volunteers, urged residents to prioritize safety and follow local evacuation orders after visiting a large shelter in Pasadena that was housing evacuated residents, including an entire nursing home.

Friday described the scene at a Pasadena convention center converted to a shelter: "It was, it was harrowing. I was at the there's a convention center in Pasadena, which is turned into a shelter. There was about 12 100 people there, including a nursery an entire nursing home full of seniors who had been evacuated and we're staying there in the evening." He also said he saw "families... struggling and choking from the smoke and people with their pets."

The chief service officer emphasized immediate safety steps for people who want to help. "The most important thing that that people can do now is to to be safe, to sign up for alerts, at ready dotca.gov, to and to heed the the advice of the evacuation orders, from local officials," Friday said. He urged residents to prepare for power outages, check on neighbors who are elderly or high risk, and avoid self-deploying to disaster zones during the crisis phase. "We're not asking for people to self deploy at this point," he said.

Friday noted volunteer organizations and first responders on the ground. "Members of the California Service Corps were there helping, run the shelter along with the Red Cross," he said, describing coordinated shelter operations. For people able to give money now, he pointed callers to philanthropyca.org as a place to donate to groups assisting those who lost homes or possessions.

Looking ahead, Friday said Californians should expect a long recovery and broader policy conversations. "We know in California that... climate change is just gonna continue to make, these issues more difficult, that we have an insurance crisis that that we're gonna have to, continue to tackle and deal with, and and that we, we have to build communities that can, that can withstand, these types of, environmental conditions as our environment changes," he said. He added that volunteer needs will grow in the coming weeks and months when recovery shifts from immediate sheltering to rebuilding.

During the interview, the host Alex asked for practical guidance for volunteers and for the state's path forward; Friday reiterated the immediate priorities of safety and following local authorities. The interview concluded with a mutual note of appreciation for on-the-ground responders and volunteers.