Chaplains minister to fire victims in Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills
Chaplain Keith Stiles, right, of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, consoles Vivian Vargas, left, after she lost her home on Aviemore Drive in Yorba Linda in the Freeway Complex fire. Stiles gave them a Bible and prayed with them. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (in blue shirts) and Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief volunteers pray with homeowner Jim McElroy (in red hat) at the site where McElroy’s home once stood in Yorba Linda. The seven chaplains, led by a retired police chief from North Carolina, had received just 15 requests for help since they arrived in Southern California last week. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The chaplains offered McElroy spiritual guidance, and Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief volunteers sifted through ashes and debris of McElroy’s home searching for family mementos. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Stiles and McElroy chat as they look out over the charred Yorba Linda hills. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Stiles and Chaplain Ray Thompson, left, pray with John Lewis, whose Anaheim Hills apartment narrowly escaped burning. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief volunteers coordinate plans to help fire victims in Anaheim Hills, Brea and Yorba Linda from their base at the Rose Drive Friends Church in Yorba Linda. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
