Fire Blankets for Unsheltered Berkeley Residents
Until everyone has a safe and permanent shelter, this fundraising effort is to purchase Fire Blankets and distribute them to unsheltered Berkeley residents.
A Fire Blanket can be used to smother small fires such as out-of-control cooking fires or small campfires. Fires in Berkeley encampments are common and very dangerous, especially as people use fire to cook and stay warm in the winter.
Why Fire Blankets: For this effort, we consulted with Berkeley Fire Department, and learned that Fire Blankets are a good idea and could be more useful and accessible than fire extinguishers in this context. Fire Blankets are easy to use, and can't be used in harmful ways like traditional fire extinguishers. We are choosing wool or kevlar as the material, although it is more expensive than fiberglass, because fiberglass can cause skin irritation and can be dangerous if the blankets are cut.
What Will We do With This Money: We will use this money to purchase wool or kevlar Fire Blankets at a cost of $25-$40 per blanket, and we will distribute these to unhoused Berkeley residents living in encampments or RVs.
Who are We: We (Shawn Connors and Gradiva Couzin) are long-time Berkeley volunteers working in disaster preparedness and fire safety. The wonderful Aiden Hill has volunteered to distribute the Fire Blankets and explain their use.
Please share this GoFundMe and help us raise these funds to help prevent encampment fires and keep Berkeley safer this winter!
Photo By Rama - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=333786
A Fire Blanket can be used to smother small fires such as out-of-control cooking fires or small campfires. Fires in Berkeley encampments are common and very dangerous, especially as people use fire to cook and stay warm in the winter.
Why Fire Blankets: For this effort, we consulted with Berkeley Fire Department, and learned that Fire Blankets are a good idea and could be more useful and accessible than fire extinguishers in this context. Fire Blankets are easy to use, and can't be used in harmful ways like traditional fire extinguishers. We are choosing wool or kevlar as the material, although it is more expensive than fiberglass, because fiberglass can cause skin irritation and can be dangerous if the blankets are cut.
What Will We do With This Money: We will use this money to purchase wool or kevlar Fire Blankets at a cost of $25-$40 per blanket, and we will distribute these to unhoused Berkeley residents living in encampments or RVs.
Who are We: We (Shawn Connors and Gradiva Couzin) are long-time Berkeley volunteers working in disaster preparedness and fire safety. The wonderful Aiden Hill has volunteered to distribute the Fire Blankets and explain their use.
Please share this GoFundMe and help us raise these funds to help prevent encampment fires and keep Berkeley safer this winter!
Photo By Rama - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=333786
Organizer
Shawn Connors
Organizer
Berkeley, CA