The last few days have shown that online resources, social media, and collaboration on the Net can make a huge difference in a natural disaster. As the wildfires have spread in Southern California, the evacuees and local residents have utilized the Internet not only to connect and get updated information; they have used it to tell their stories, share photographs and video of the fires with the outside world.
Probably the most heartening aspect of the online coverage is the way that mainstream media and individual citizen journalists have worked together. Local media has been highlighting user-submitted photos and videos, and embedding new technology in their prime coverage. San Diego’s public television station, KPBS, used Twitter to give its audience updates when its website went down, and the Twitter updates now have a prominent place on their home page.
Just how extensive and deep has the online coverage been for the fires? It stretches from local news sources to video on YouTube to photos on Flickr to message boards on Craigslist. These aren’t traditional places where people would get their news during a natural disaster, but they are becoming more important with each new event.
We’d like to create a comprehensive resource guide, listing all the places you can find coverage of the fires, with an emphasis on social and citizen media. MediaShift associate editor Jennifer Woodard Maderazo put together a large collection of links, and we are asking that you add to the list by sending along any other resources you’ve seen online in the comments below. We’ll update the list over the next week or so, and give you credit for any important sources you add.
California Wildfire Coverage Online
Special Websites
City of San Diego fire information and list of destroyed homes [PDF file]
San Diego Public Works road closures
San Diego County Emergency Homepage, with updates and fire maps
County of San Diego’s air quality reports
National Interagency Fire Center reports
American Red Cross shelter info
DiscoverSD’s How you can help resource list
Local News
CBS8 has its entire site dedicated to coverage of the fires, with no ads
The Ramona Sentinel has ongoing reports on the Witch Fire
Topix’s San Diego site is almost all fire news
North County Times has continuing coverage of the fires and a Q&A with reporters
The OC Register’s Fire Central continuing coverage
Fox6’s fire updates
Los Angeles Times breaking news blog
Message Boards
SignOnSanDiego’s fire board features missing people search, and temporary accommodation info
LostPodcast’s San Diego fire forum
Craiglist’s San Diego Fire Forum
Wikis
Wikipedia’s entry for California wildfires of October 2007, including 84 references
Sun Microsystems San Diego’s Fires Wiki
Flickr Photos
Southern California Fires – 2007
KPBS San Diego Wildfires Photo Group
Podcacher.com’s fire set on Flickr
Maps
KPBS San Diego Fire Map (constantly updated)
Blogger Rich Knitter’s Mashup of Google Earth and MODIS satellite maps of fire
Fox6’s constantly updated evacuation map
USDA Forest Service’s active fire maps
NASA’s views from space of the fires
San Diego State University fire mapping
Twitter Feeds
KPBS’ Twitter newsfeed provides constant fire updates
10News’ Twitter newsfeed with evacuation and emergency info
Nate Ritter’s San Diego fire Twitter updates
Hannabanana’s San Diego fire Twitter updates
LA Fire Department Twitter feed
Journalist Erin Kotecki Vest reports on her evacuation
Consolidated San Diego fire “tweets”
All mentions of “San Diego fires” on Twitter via Terraminds
Online Radio Streams
KOGO 600 radio live online coverage
KPBS live radio online
760 KFMB live stream of fire coverage
FM949 Radio’s continuing coverage
KNX1070 has breaking news and live coverage online
Blogs
San Diego Union Tribune Fire Blog
CalFire comprehensive blog reports
Firefighter blog Firefighter images and accounts
San Diego Fires Mostly features photos
Blog Posts [independent]
In Case of Emergency blog on New Disaster Media
Recovering Journalist on how media did or didn’t use Web 2.0 to report on the incident
MobileMessaging2’s post on SMS’s role in the tragedy
Palms Springs Savant on his own personal experience with the fires
Brad Slavin’s tech blog has a list of destroyed homes
Bloodhound Realty blog has many posts about the fires
Tech editor Jim Forbes blogs from his shelter
San Diego Home Blog has info as it relates to real estate affected by the fires
Blogger Bruce Henderson is covering the fires
Blog Ranger’s list of online resources
Jim 2.0’s comprehensive list of online resources
Non-profit Technology Networks list of Twitter feeds
Blogger Lee Fuhr’s personal account of living through the fires
BlogHer blog’s roundup of San Diego fire blogs
LAist’s roundup of blog posts related to the fires
GigaOm on Web 2.0 and the fires
Blog Posts [major media]
NYT’s The Lede Blog posts on the fires
Wired’s Threat Level blog has extensive coverage of the fires
Wired’s Epicenter blog on the promise of Web 2.0 in times of disaster
Information Week blog on how Twitter and Google Maps have helped in reporting the story
YouTube Videos
VoiceofSanDiego.org’s collection of videos
Most recent San Diego fire videos on YouTube (last 24 hours)
User armanx858 has a number of fire videos
Most viewed San Diego fire video on YouTube: A journalist reporting on destruction of his own home
Sign453’s evacuation video
Other Video
10News.com live video coverage of the fires
NBC San Diego live video stream
Technorati videos tagged “San Diego fire”
Lyon’s Peak: Live webcams of fire scene
KUSI’s live streaming coverage
Audio
FatJewishGuy.com’s Live Telethon for the San Diego fires
Podcacher wildfire update podcasts
San Diego fire podcasts on Bloodhound Realty blog
Nathan Gibb’s interview on KPBS about their ongoing web coverage
Please add resources we’ve missed in the comments and we’ll update our list throughout the week.
Mark – I covered the same topic, with a LEGO infused angle, on my blog this morning:
http://danblank.com/blog/2007/10/26/remembering-how-to-play/
Nice work on pulling together this list.
Have a great weekend.
-Dan
Great list of website to help people with the fires. It’s nice to find all of this information in one spot!!
Great list of website to help people with the fires. It’s nice to find all of this information in one spot!!
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At the Orange County Register, we are also showing a feed of fire-related tweets in and around the county …
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sections/news/firecentral/octwitters/
… and our map is being updated all the time …
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fire-map-orange-2191967-county-perimeter