The Bay Area was dealt an environmental disaster and the concerned citizens of San Francisco took matters into their own hands instead of waiting for the help to arrive. Local surfers and kite boarders Darin Rosas, Kathleen Egan and Byron Cleary who live at and spend a lot of time on the coast saw globs of oil wash up on their beach. They started to collecting it before it could be washed back out to the sea. They used their personal email lists to crowd-source and set up a blog to share information and formed Kill the Spill. Before agencies had began cleaning on Ocean Beach they had amassed a volunteer army of over 500 people. Since the bunker oil that was spilled in the Bay is a hazardous waste the agencies said that it could only be handled by people who have been Haz Mat trained. Due to the large amount of volunteers that had already stepped up Kill the Spill got the agencies to set up training sessions. The agencies had never had civilians want to clean up hazardous waste before. As of Saturday November 17th over 1,400 volunteers have been trained and are ready to be deployed where needed. I have never been prouder to live and be apart of the amazing community that is San Francisco.
Kill the Spill had to make their own signs because people unaware of
the spill were playing with their children and dogs in the toxic material.
Should we wait till the next disaster? Who better to be trained first responders than the local people. We can set up communication channels and train willing citizens in search and rescue for an Earthquake and not have to wait for authorities to arrive to help us. I'm in.
For more about Kill the Spill and Updates please refer to the following:
LA Times Article
Surfer Magazine
Kill the Spill
Information Blog
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