"We need band aids, water, blood pressure kits and baby wipes," said Donna, a volunteer at a sprawling open air donation centre in Arcadia, Los Angeles County.
But she was at pains to point out that they were not taking any more clothes.
Already piles and piles of donated clothes spilled out of cardboard boxes while armies of volunteers tried to sort them into men's, women's and children's sections.
Other volunteers scooped hot noodle soup into takeaway bowls, to serve to queues of displaced people.
There were stalls giving out nappies and baby wipes, soap and shampoo. Others offered children's books and toys.
I watched one little girl pull a yellow stuffed bunny from a box and smile.
There are 92,000 LA residents under mandatory evacuation orders and a further 80,000 could be displaced in the coming days if heavier winds cause further fires.
"The danger has absolutely not passed," said Chief Kristin Crowley of the Los Angeles Fire Department as she urged residents to comply with evacuation orders if they come.
Read more: Fire-stricken Los Angeles braces for dangerous Santa Ana winds
Across town, in the fashionable neighbourhood of Santa Monica, displaced residents were also visiting donation centres.
I met Nathalie Lichenthaeler who moved to Los Angeles from Ireland ten years ago, with her husband and four children.
They left their home last Tuesday and watched on television as it burned down.
"We also lost our community, we lost everything we built up over the past ten years," she said.
"We have an autistic son - his best friend, who lived in the neighbourhood is autistic too - and the two of them would meet up and go for walks together," she said.
"This has all gone now," she added. "The place we knew doesn’t exist anymore."
