Conference of the Rebbe's Shluchim in California 5768

00:05 Speaker 1 California tonight is still burning.

00:07 Speaker 2 Over a dozen wildfires are still burning out of control tonight.

00:10 Speaker 1 Running Springs got hit hard.

00:12 Speaker 3 And now the latest on the devastating Slide Fire. That fire doubled in size today to 8,500 acres. More than 100 homes have been lost near Running Springs.

00:23 Speaker 4 We are here at Chabad of Running Springs. This is a 70-acre campus where we have 17 buildings. Wednesday was a very difficult day. I was surrounded by flames, right near the kitchen, opposite our swimming pool. A wall of flames.

00:42 Speaker 5 They opened up the pool for the helicopter operation, which was a big, big help.

00:48 Speaker 4 I took my hose to the fire hydrant, cranked it open, and ran with that hose to the pool.

00:53 Speaker 6 By allowing the aircraft to come and dip out of the pool, they were able to drop several thousand gallons of water each minute. That amount of water, that fast, makes all the difference in the world.

01:05 Speaker 5 We got here, and it was like they were on double espresso. They were bending over backwards to help the firefighters coming in here to do the job.

01:12 Speaker 4 The first thing I asked them was, “Do you guys want any drinks? You want to eat something, drink something?”

01:15 Speaker 6 How about the fresh salami sandwich? I’m not real familiar with kosher cooking, but I’ll tell you, the salami sandwich I had—the kosher salami, the kosher pickles—awesome.

01:26 Speaker 4 They said a bunch of guys were sleeping on the floor, on the asphalt, in the rigs. Rabbi Krinsky got very emotional and said, “I have 300 beds here, and human beings who are trying to save people’s lives are sleeping on asphalt?”

01:39 Speaker 5 They went above and beyond the call by opening up the dormitories to the firefighters. You get a nice warm bed, a nice shower. It was like coming home. We can’t thank them enough.

01:56 Speaker 4 We’re making fresh-brewed coffee for the firefighters who are supposed to leave pretty soon. We want you to have a good, a good start in the morning, as we say.

02:04 Speaker 6 You guys are a never-ending source of hospitality, a river of hospitality.

02:12 Speaker 4 Shalom. Have a good day. Thank you. Thank you again.

02:16 Speaker 6 It was the coming together of two cultures. I have never been so readily accepted or had such kindness shown to me and the others.

02:26 Speaker 4 We’re living in a modern world. We don’t realize the power an individual person has. One strike of a match can destroy, G-d forbid, so many thousands of homes. If one individual can destroy, each individual has that same power to build. Just do an act of kindness that goes a long way.