Full house attentive crowd at community meeting at Buena High School.
by Elizabeth Rodeno
Our heartfelt thoughts and best wishes go out to the citizens of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties especially those who have suffered personal tragedies caused by the devastating fires. We celebrate the extraordinarily courageous efforts of thousands of fire fighters, law enforcement personnel and other first responders from our community and beyond who continue to risk their lives for all of us. We thank and admire all of the citizens of Ventura who reacted to a shattering crisis with astonishing calm and then opened their hearts and hands to help those in need. Perhaps Ventura’s greatest strengths lie within those of us who call Ventura home and who will work together to rebuild our very special community.
We invite everyone to help us remember and document our common experience by collaborating with CAPS Media and the Museum of Ventura County to create a series of exhibits, videos and stories that were Forged by Fire. The Museum and CAPS staffs, along with students in the El Camino High School ECTV program, are gathering photos, videos, artifacts and personal anecdotes from the public, officials, responders and others to create a multidimensional, multimedia series of presentations that capture the remarkable stories of the most devastating natural tragedy in county history. We welcome everyone to contribute to the archive of media and stories of heroism, sacrifice and tragedy. Go to capsmedia.org or venturamuseum.org for more details and to learn how you can contribute to this historic project.
On Saturday, December 9 and again on Saturday, December 16 CAPS Media recorded, broadcast and streamed the community meetings held at Buena High School where city, county and state officials provided information to the public, especially those who were displaced by the firestorms in the foothills. The hour-long programs aired live on CAPS Channel 6 & 15, were streamed on capsmedia.org, broadcast on CAPS Radio KPPQ 104.1 and on city and county websites. The informative programs are being rerun every day on channel 15 and online at 9AM, 12noon and 4PM.
CAPS Media is also producing a series of related updates for the Ventura Police Department that will provide the public with critical information. The updates are airing on CAPS Channel 6 & 15 throughout the day and are posted on Ventura city and police department websites including cityofventura.ca.gov/alertcenter and social media sites including facebook.com/venturapd. Additional vital information on recovery efforts, relocation, repopulation and more can be found at readyventuracounty.org, vcemergency.com and venturacountyrecovers.org
We wish everyone a safe and restful holiday season. CAPS Media will continue to update fire-related information throughout the holidays on channel 15, capsmedia.org and KPPQ 104.1FM, however the CAPS Media Center will be closed from Friday, December 22 through Tuesday, January 2.
We look forward to 2018 as a time to start rebuilding, healing and celebrating our community and the joys that are uniquely of Ventura.
