Community Volunteers Gather in San Bruno City Park

Hundreds of people crowded around the Park and Recreation building in San Bruno's City Park, carrying blankets, food and water to donate to fire victims.  The air smelled strongly of smoke, and a hand-written banner taped to the window said "Evacuation Center."

Only a few evacuees had arrived at the center by 10:30 p.m. It was set up as a shelter by the Red Cross in coordination with the county.  This is the main shelter fire victims should come to if they need beds, food and water, said Jim Mallory, public affairs co-chair of the American Red Cross Bay Area chapter.

Though only a few evacuees were there so far, the pile of donated blankets and clothes grew steadily through the evening outside the building as hundreds of potential volunteers paced around outside.

A small group of South San Francisco Costco employees had brought 20 case of water and chips and were planning to deliver two more trucks of supplies, including dog food, toothbrushes, water, cookies and chips.

"We just called each other up," upon hearing of the fire, said Costco assistant manager Nassar Khaury, adding that a Costco vice-president had participated in the effort.  "It's just to give back to our community.

Geno Caccia, 36, brought a pile of blankets, but said he was planning a much larger donation tomorrow.

"My brother is coming with a mobile trailer kitchen," he said. 

Caccia and his brother Anthony, 33, are members of the Millbrae Lion's Club.  They "like to tinker" and had previously built the mobile kitchen and donated it to the Lion's Club for disasters.  It can feed 1,000 people a day, Geno said.

"My cousin lives on the fire line, and he's staying with us tonight," Geno said.

Individuals continued to show up through the evening with cases of water, clothing and blankets.  A group from BJ's Pizza brought 15 boxes of pies.

Mary Alotis, 55, is a registered nurse who lives in Millbrae. 

"I got the call to report to the closest location," she said.  "I'm happy to wait and see anyone come.  Just talking to the people here, we're ready to give clothing, shelter."

But a few moments later, Red Cross representative Chris Orman gathered the volunteers to make an announcement.

"We appreciate you coming in to help out," he said.  "Right now we don't know what we need help on.  It may be that we don't need help.  We're got it pretty well covered."

The Red Cross will set up a hotline tomorrow that people can call to see if help is needed then, he added.

By midnight, the shelter had registered 30 adults and four children, who went to sleep on cots in the large gymnasium upstairs.

If you want to help, the Red Cross says the best way to give is by donating money or blood.  You can make a financial donation at www.redcrossbayarea.org and donate blood by making a blood donation appointment.