In 1965, when San Diego voters passed a $27 million bond initiative to build what is now Qualcomm Stadium, it was for the creation of a “multi-use” structure that would house both football and baseball. Stadiums like this were popular in the ’60s and ’70s, springing up in cities such as Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Bureaucrats loved these dual-purpose structures, envisioning them as cost-effective monuments to practicality.

Now, 42 years later, the Padres have moved to a smaller, more intimate building that better suits their needs, while the Chargers are trying to build a bigger place that might one day host a Super Bowl. Yes, by 21st century standards, Qualcomm Stadium stands as a leaky, dilapidated antique, a remnant of a distant past when Brutalist-style architecture was en vogue.

But during the wildfires last month that destroyed 1,400 homes, this “multi-use” relic earned a whole new respect when nearly 14,000 residents flocked to its gates seeking refuge after the largest mass evacuation in California history.

To say there was a plan to use the stadium as an evacuation site might be generous. But, as George Biagi, deputy press secretary for Mayor Jerry Sanders, explained recently in an interview, many of the other, smaller shelters that had been set up were closed almost as soon as they were opened, and others had already filled to capacity. The intensity of the Santa Ana winds caused the fires to spread beyond what public safety personnel could predict, putting many shelters in danger.

With more and more people being evacuated, it soon became clear a larger facility was needed that was far away from the danger, but close enough to get to in a short time.

Mayor Sanders acted quickly.

“At about 5:15 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 22,” Biagi said, “I got a call that we were opening Qualcomm as an evacuation site.” An hour later, Biagi says he was dressed and on-site coordinating with a handful of volunteers. Remarkably, half of them were gay.

“There were just six people at the Q that morning to help,” Biagi said. Among his crew were local gay residents Carlo Menor and Carl DeMaio.

These two volunteers gave early efforts that were critical to the impromptu success of the evacuation site and helped give early comfort to more than 1,000 evacuees who descended on the site starting at about 7:15 a.m., before trained city workers could arrive.

Menor, and two other volunteers, according to Biagi “registered the first thousand people who came in that morning pretty much by themselves.”

DeMaio, for his part, had a personal stake in the fires. “Carl came directly there because he had been evacuated and figured we may open the Q as an evacuation site,” Biagi said.

As soon as he arrived, DeMaio, who is also an openly gay candidate for City Council District 5, rolled up his sleeves and went to work.

“[He] helped organize the volunteers the first morning until city staff members fully took over all the leadership positions by midday,” Biagi said. “He continued to assist with volunteer coordination on Tuesday and Wednesday as well.”

Menor and DeMaio were the first of what Biagi called a “great response from our community,” confirming that as the senior public information officer on site, he witnessed several gay and lesbian city employees give their time to help both on and off the clock.

“I saw city workers from our community volunteering,” Biagi said. “I saw the Stonewall Citizen’s Patrol bring donations to the Q and I’d also heard they helped out in other ways, too.”

Stonewall’s Bob Lehman confirmed his organization’s help in the relief effort.

“We did bring food down to Qualcomm,” Lehman said, “and we took socks, Gatorade and ice to the firefighters on the front lines.”

The Patrol, which is basically a neighborhood watch program on steroids, also saw some extra duty on the streets. “We were asked by [Councilmember] Toni Atkins to help out with patrolling,” Lehman said. “Normally our patrols start Thursday and go through the weekend. During the fires we started patrolling that Tuesday.”

As for the facility itself, Qualcomm Stadium held up remarkably well.

“The fascinating thing about the Q,” Biagi said, “is that it’s multi-faceted. It’s perfect for an emergency shelter because it has multiple facilities.”

For example, before city residents began inundating the site with food and water, Biagi said stadium manager Eric Stover opened the facility’s concession stands, and staffers were able to cook hot dogs and hand out water, providing some relief immediately.

In the Club Level area of the stadium, where some newer, more recently remodeled facilities exist, nothing was off limits.

“One of the long bars there that serves beer and wine,” Biagi noted, “was used as a pharmacy, where people could come and get their prescriptions filled. We had actual pharmacists standing behind the bar where bartenders usually are. All week long they jokingly called it the ‘barmacy.’”

According to Biagi, Stover and others went far above and beyond the call of duty.

“Tons of credit needs to go to Erik Stover, the Qualcomm Stadium manager, who (although not gay) was part of the original six (he was the other city staff member along with me, who opened the site on Monday morning),” Biagi said. “Like Jill Olen (the city’s director of homeland security) and I, Erik was at the site from start to finish, and he made the entire stadium available to us for whatever we needed.”

For Biagi, “start to finish” meant just that. He arrived on site at shortly after 6 a.m. on Monday and didn’t leave until shortly after 3 p.m. on Friday.

While certainly the GLBT community stepped up, so too did all of San Diego, demonstrated by the tremendous outpouring of generosity displayed through thousands of people dropping off key donations at the Q and other evacuation sites.

“We never ran out of anything,” Biagi said. “We never ran out of food. We never ran out of water. We had plenty of wipes and diapers for the kids. Anyone who needed a cot got a cot. Families that needed a tent got a tent. The response was really amazing.”

Some of the responses were just plain smart, too. Wireless companies such as Verizon showed up and set up a tent with electricity, laptops, and a wide variety of a/c adapters, so customers could charge their cell phones and access the internet. Alcoholics Anonymous sent counselors to help people in recovery channel some of their feelings and stress.

Many other San Diegans also gave their time. Doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and pet experts all made the trek to the Q to help out and volunteer their special skills.

“Only in San Diego,” Biagi noted, “would you have massage therapists, acupuncturists, and yoga instructors come to an evacuation site and help out giving free services.”

Music groups, clowns and gymnasts showed up to provide some much needed entertainment and distraction. Circus performers such as stilt-walkers were even seen in the background of Katy Couric’s “CBS Evening News” broadcast from in front of Gate C one night.

All this combined to create what has been described as a kind of carnival atmosphere, prompting NBC reporter Martin Savage to end one of his reports with a phrase that may help define America’s Finest City for a generation: “San Diego really knows how to throw an evacuation.”