As firefighters are battling the 33,117-acre brush fire called the Sand Fire off the northbound Highway 14 freeway near Sand Canyon Road, which is forcing the evacuation of some Santa Clarita Valley residents, many residents are left wondering how they can help.

“Unfortunately, there are people that take advantage of a crisis,” said Shirley Miller, the Public Information Officer with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. “People need to be careful who they give money to.”

Miller encourages sticking with major organizations, and not to donate to organizations that are lesser known or not well-established.

GoFundMe is one very popular crowdfunding site residents have been using to raise money for firefighters, residents and law enforcement officials affected by the Sand Fire.

The following helpful tips are courtesy of GoFundMe:

Only donate to people you know and trust. When in doubt, don’t donate.

Donors should only contribute payments to GoFundMe users they personally know and trust. We’re often asked how a donor can tell the authenticity of a personal cause found on GoFundMe. Unfortunately, there is no way to 100 percent guarantee that a user’s GoFundMe donation page contains accurate or truthful information. As such, donors should not make payments to any campaigns or people unless they fully understand and trust the cause presented.

Payments to GoFundMe ‘Certified Charity’ donation pages will always be delivered to the indicated organization. GoFundMe pages that contain the ‘Certified Charity’ graphic (top, right of screen) do not allow the user to receive payments. Instead, all donations are securely processed and delivered by our Donations partner FirstGiving.

Beware of donation pages that attempt to bypass the prescribed donation method (ie, posting direct links to alternative payment methods). Only complete payments by clicking on the large ‘Donate’ button found on each GoFundMe donation page. Please report any pages that request direct payments or users who attempt to contact you to arrange an alternative method of payment.