scorecard
  1. Home
  2. Retail
  3. A Walmart parking lot in California has become a camp for wildfire evacuees

A Walmart parking lot in California has become a camp for wildfire evacuees

Áine Cain   

A Walmart parking lot in California has become a camp for wildfire evacuees

Walmart Camp Fire

Noah Berger/AP Images

The Camp Fire's death toll has reached 56.

  • A Walmart parking lot in Chico, California, is now the site of a makeshift evacuee camp.
  • Californians fleeing the disastrous Camp Fire have gathered in the store's parking lot.
  • Volunteers have also converged in the area to help fire victims.

A Walmart parking lot in Chico, California, is now doubling as a evacuee camp for Californians fleeing the devastating Camp Fire.

CBS reported that the fire has displaced thousands of people in Northern California. The Camp Fire's death toll has reached 56, making it the deadliest wildfire in California history.

One group of evacuees is now living in makeshift shelters in the parking lot of a Chico, California, Walmart.

A spokesperson for Walmart did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment.

Read more: It was a thriving town of 27,000, and now it's smoldering ash; here's how Paradise, California, became a fire trap

On November 12, actor James Woods asked Walmart to keep the bathrooms in the store open for evacuees via Twitter. The company replied that it would provide fire victims with portable bathrooms, blankets, sleeping bags, and water.

Bay Area news station Kron 4 reported that volunteers were converging on the parking lot as well, passing out free meals, clothing, and water, and managing donations.

"All of us here are in the same situation - whether you lost a trailer or a really nice home, we're all in the same place," fire evacuee Laura Whitaker told The Chico Enterprise-Record.

Other evacuees in the camp told the local newspaper that Walmart had given them a $100 gift card.

On its Facebook page, Walmart's Chico location said that the company has created a foundation for Camp Fire victims. The company will reportedly donate $500,000 to the cause.

READ MORE ARTICLES ON



Popular Right Now



Advertisement