Winds were picking up Tuesday morning as Dale Pitman nosed his Ram 2500 pickup through the fire-scarred hillsides of Altadena , its bed piled high with protein bars.
He pulled up to Station 66, a tiny firehouse behind a National Guard checkpoint draped with caution tape. Tables outside were laden with donated food for the firefighters — bulk boxes of crackers, chewy candies, sanitary wipes, bottled water and browning bananas.
With parts of the Los Angeles area still smoldering from a string of wildfires that have incinerated homes, taken lives and displaced thousands, desperate residents rallied on social media. In a span of days they formed a vast donation and transport network from delicate architecture: information spread by word of mouth among people with good intentions, some of whom own big cars and don’t mind driving across town…