Imperial Beach helps those in Cumbres de Rubi who lost homes

On December 3, over 30 homes reportedly burned down in the Cumbres del Rubí neighborhood of Tijuana. M. García reportedly died attempting to rescue her cats.

"She was a really nice lady," Ana Wooten said to me on December 6. "She lived by herself; she was able to get out at first."

"And [Garcia] returned inside, because she had her kittens locked up, which were about ten in total, and she wasn't able to escape," neighbor-Mario Javier Renteria said in an ElImparcial.com article.

"And the roof fell on her, and someone tried to get her out, and he got really bad burns, but he survived," Wooten continued. "She used to sell candies right outside the elementary school in the neighborhood."

"Then there was another woman, she was [said to be] sleeping, and her husband woke her up because he smelled something burning, and when he looked outside, a lot of houses were burning. She woke up her kids, and as soon as she ran out with her kids, the house caught on fire. And in less than ten minutes, the house was basically gone," Wooten said. "She was a teacher in a private daycare center."

Wooten, 26, is an Imperial Beach teacher's assistant on maternity leave.

"I grew up around that Tijuana neighborhood, and I know other people that lost their homes there. My friend’s father and mother-in-law lost their home, also his brother-in-law and his sister."

The day after, Wooten reached out to her IB neighbors on Facebook and asked for used clothing donations for the families that lost their homes about ten miles south of the San Ysidro/Tijuana border and west of the Carreterra Transpeninsular/México 1.

"I saw the smoke yesterday," responded an IB local. "I have clothes for baby boy size three months to 18 months, a few kids' shoes and a few women's' clothes too. All have been washed and clean."

Wooten's post got over 100 responses.

"Initially, around 24 individuals donated, including myself and my husband," Wooten said. "Every person brought at least six bags, and some brought boxes of food, including cereal, canned food, milk, baby cereal, and Gerber baby food."

Wooten couldn't fit the initial 60 bags of donations in her car, so she borrowed her mom's van and covered the contributions with blankets. "Luckily, I haven’t been stopped and haven’t paid a tax fee."

About four years ago, I reported about a truckload of used clothing and food en route to a Rosarito orphanage that was stopped by the aduanas (Mexican customs). The official reportedly said at the time that the do-gooders could not bring in a large load of used clothing articles, even to donate.

As this story goes to print, Wooten said she'll continue transporting donations to the fire victims.

"A single mother with a nine-month-old lost her home and everything she owned; her baby didn’t have any food, blankets, or clothes to wear. She cried when I took out diapers, blankets, baby clothes, 40 cans of Gerber, and eight baby rice portions of cereal. She asked me to thank the lady that donated all those things personally, and she was super thankful. There was a pastor that lost her home, and thankfully she was building a church and was able to move inside her church to live. I took a lot of donations to her so she can pass around things for the people she was letting stay with her."

Mexican news outlets state the Santa Ana winds were the cause of the fires that Thursday.