Language barrier may be impeding fire safety in California

As fires threaten people and homes in southern California, emergency communications with Spanish-speaking residents are often hit or miss. Although some search-and-rescue personnel and Red Cross workers speak Spanish, in some areas there has been little systematic effort to keep Spanish-speaking residents informed. In the city of Fillmore, which is 50 percent Latino, the job of informing Spanish-speaking residents fell on a Spanish-speaking member of the City Council. Spanish-language radio and TV provided information in some areas, while in others Spanish-speaking residents had to call their neighbors or bilingual city workers on the phone to find out what was going on. Read more... (Source: Ventura County Star)