Lyft is offering free rides to people evacuating the Southern California fires — just use this code
Strong winds and dry weather stoked a series of wildfires that broke out in the Los Angeles area on December 4th and 5th. And in response to the blazes that continue to rip through Southern California, Lyft is currently offering free rides to the evacuees.
Rides of up to $40 will be free on the app with the use of the promo code “LASAFERIDES.” And Lyft is offering rides to evacuation centers in both Ventura and L.A. counties, including the Ventura County Fairgrounds, the Oxnard College gym, the Santa Paula Community Center, and UCLA.
Lyft will be providing free rides until 11:59 p.m. on December 7th.
The first in the series of Los Angeles-area fires was the Thomas fire, which began in Santa Paula in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles, on the night of December 4th and continued to spread on December 5th. Separate blazes sprang up near L.A. on December 6th, causing part of the 405 Freeway to be closed.
The New York Times reported that about 200,000 people have been evacuated in the fires so far. More than 116,000 acres have been consumed in the wildfires.
https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/938634208922124289
Winds of up to 80 mph are expected to continue until December 8th, meaning that there is a threat of fires worsening. Small fires broke out on the morning of December 7th near Malibu and Huntington Beach, but the Malibu fire was quickly contained.
Latest fire activity & perimeters (as of 9:30AM Thurs. Dec. 7, 2017) for the Thomas, Rye, Creek, and Skirball wildfires in Ventura & Los Angeles Counties.
Image accessed via: https://t.co/DNloxk2nze #Thomasfire #Ryefire #Creekfire #Skirballfire #CAwx #SoCal #LAweather pic.twitter.com/OxV6qRqi7S
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) December 7, 2017
This isn’t the first time Lyft has stepped up to help people in need. In January, following the announcement of Donald Trump’s first attempt at a travel ban affecting Muslim-majority countries, Lyft spoke out against the ban in a blog post. The company also pledged to donate $1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union.
We applaud Lyft for its efforts to help those affected by these wildfires. We hope that the fires are contained soon and that those affected are able to evacuate safely.
