Written by Katie Traversino and Edited by Kevin Liu
At the beginning of Fall 2019, eight fires sprouted in Southern California beginning with the daunting Kincade fire in Northern California. Unfortunately, many of these regions, such as the Getty, were still impacted by the major wildfires that occurred a year ago. The Camp Fire of 2018, located near Sacramento in Paradise, was declared the deadliest fire in California’s history. Most of these fires have been sourced to faulty power equipment of utility companies Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison. To reduce the chance of ignition, controlled mass power outages have been implemented during high winds.
Although the wildfires are determined to be man-caused, the effects of global warming have further enabled these conditions. With less rainfall each year, the vegetation becomes drier and the perfect fuel for fire. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) calculates that 500 percent more land was burned in 2018 than in 1972 [1]. This trend of longer and more aggressive fires is the new normal.
Wildfires pose a multitude of public health dangers, one being poor air quality. The particulate matter from the fires could scar lungs and impose other detrimental health effects. In addition, survivors’ homes and physical safety are also threatened by landslides during rain due to the loss of plants.
Besides these physical dangers to the people’s health, wildfires also cause psychological harm to evacuees and victims of the fire– particularly children and people with mental illness(es). I too personally experienced the evacuation process, which resembled refugee camps in terms of the lack of supplies and overcrowding conditions. We slept in our cars and I vividly remember waking up every hour to ensure that the fire glowing just beyond the mountain would not engulf us in our sleep. My family was in a separate town surrounded by wildfires and trapped for the night since the access roads were closed. I was alone, stressed, and traumatized by the experience– the paranoia and fear that ensued after impacted my mental health and therefore, I believe that this is an issue that should be addressed.
Even after the containment of the fires, there is a feeling of insecurity and mourning left in the affected communities. This feeling is summarized by the term solastalgia, defined as the distress caused by damage to the surrounding natural environment. In a recent study, evacuees who reported experiencing solastalgia also communicated the feeling of stress, grief over loss, and the need to refamiliarize with the environment [2]. In an interview with a Santa Rosa resident who lost his home in the 2017 Tubbs fire, the resident related, “I live in the city; it’s not supposed to burn” [3]. Loss of security is a recurring theme among wildfire survivors.
After surveying and further interviewing Fort McMurray residents for mental health diagnoses, researchers concluded that most evacuees experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The study identified an obvious negative association with the wildfire in the form of a high frequency of reported traumatic recollections that lead to insomnia and the inability to have a complete memory recall among the subjects. According to the questionnaire, about 60% of interviewees suffered from PTSD and about 50% experienced insomnia, along with higher-than-normal rates, around 15-17%, of eating disorders, depression, and alcoholism among this small sample of 400 evacuees [4]. Unfortunately, the long-term psychological toll on evacuees is still uncertain considering this study was performed only three months after the wildfire. Possibly with time, these symptoms may improve unless poor coping habits and lack of access to programs interfere.
There is an unprecedented number of civilians who need to be treated for PTSD caused by the evacuation process. This ever-increasing number of individuals affected places a huge stress on mental health resources and public programs. To amend this, California should allocate a fund for future incidences in order to prepare to extinguish wildfires and provide long-term public health services to encourage healthy coping habits in those affected.
References:
- Limaye, Vijay and Constible, Juanita. “Climate Chaos: California Wildfires Endanger Millions.” Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 1 Nov. 2019, https://www.nrdc.org/experts/vijay-limaye/climate-chaos-california-wildfires-endanger-millions
- Eisenman, D., McCaffrey, S., Donatello, I., Marshal, Grant. (2015). An Ecosystems and Vulnerable Populations Perspective on Solastalgia and Psychological Distress After a Wildfire. EcoHealth, 12: 602-610.
- Kuipers, Dean. “After the Wildfire: Treating the Mental Health Crisis Triggered by Climate Change.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 26 Aug. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/26/climate-change-mental-health-wildfires-santa-rosa.
- Belleville, G., Ouellet, M.C., Morin, C.M. (2019). Post-Traumatic Stress among Evacuees from the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfires: Exploration of Psychological and Sleep Symptoms Three Months after the Evacuation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(9):1604.