I’m sitting in my house next to a tinder-dry forest staring in horror at my computer screen, watching the Valley Fire devastate the communities of Cobb and Middletown less than an hour’s drive away. In vain I tweet: What should I be doing to help my neighbors?
Where should I take food, blankets, tents? Does a family need a place to stay? Do you need in-person volunteers? But, with all this wonderful interactive media, all I’m getting back are more sensational pictures narrated by ernest newscasters bent on causing my heart to race while my muscles remain limp.
We’re missing an important opportunity here. We have the technology to communicate about local emergencies within minutes of a fire, explosion or other catastrophic event. All of us can contribute either physical labor, intellectual problem solving, or money — but we shouldn’t descend, en masse, on a chaotic scene and demand to be told how to help. Instead we should have buckets ready to receive donated goods to be deployed to the disaster location. (Yes, there’s always the Red Cross but did you hear about their fiasco over funds given for Haiti relief?) We could have a “job bank” set up, ready to be activated immediately to direct volunteers to places where their skills can be best used. And any organization that wants to funnel money for relief should have its nonprofit status and 
other bona fides in place and available so people can give money with confidence that it will actually reach the intended beneficiaries. These conduits for good deeds need to be in place before the devastating event, not after when authorities are overwhelmed protecting life and limb.
Maybe the disaster relief infrastructure I’m looking for already exists but it certainly isn’t easy to find on this sunny, Sunday afternoon. And if it does exist, why isn’t the media telling me about it? I don’t need a gazillion photographs of burning buildings, Facebook posts about praying for victims, or frantic tweets asking whether a particular house is still standing. I need a constructive channel for my energy and my sympathy. It’s a resource allocation problem. If Uber and AirBNB can mobilize the “sharing economy” we can use the same technology to help our neighbors in distress.
By now, 8 pm, Sunday, the sharing frenzy has started. The Red Cross says it’s overwhelmed with donated items and only wants money and the crowd is mobilizing trucks to take stuff to the shelters. But the people in those shelters don’t yet know whether their houses are still standing or not. They have clothes now. What about next week? Even if we give to them the victims have no place to put stuff. I hope our (including my) binge generosity outlasts the headlines.
…and the Valley Fire is still 0% controlled.