Implications of the California Wildfires for Health, Communities, and Preparedness Proceedings of a Workshop (2020) / Chapter Skim
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2 California Wildfires: Past and Future
2 California Wildfires: Past and Future
Pages 7-16
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The first set of presentations at the workshop provided an overview of wildfires in California and, to provide a broader geographic context, a particular wildfire in southwestern Colorado. Speakers examined the contributions of climate change to more frequent and intense fires, the range of potential responses to wildfires, and some of the ways in which consideration of health equity can increase preparedness.
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Today, climate change is manifesting itself in weather extremes, including hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires, all over the world, whether heat waves in India or flooding in the American Midwest or extreme heat events and wildfires in California, said Houlton. "Our continued reliance on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions is putting its foot on the pedal in terms of creating risk." In a 2018 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
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(2006) found that regional forest wildfire activity increased substantially since the mid-1980s and is strongly associated with warmer temperatures, earlier spring snowmelt, and increased climatic water deficit.
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California is starting to see the emergence of green bonds, where investors fund municipalities and industries that are using hydroelectric power, and those industries deploy a workforce to clear forest environments and reduce wildfire risk (see Figure 2-2)
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SOURCE: Presented by Benjamin Houlton. HEALTH AND MEDICAL RESPONSES TO THE CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES In California, the Emergency Medical Services Authority within the Department of Health and Human Services partners with the Department of Public Health to provide Emergency Support Function (ESF)
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"We had to basically re-create a hospital within an exhibition hall," said Backer. In addition, the staff of the facility left their local communities and traveled to the fairgrounds to take care of their patients "because these patients have highly specialized needs, and it would be very challenging for providers unfamiliar with them to provide optimal care." Many kinds of professionals responded to the Camp Fire, including 135 members of California Medical Assistance Teams, staff from health care systems, 70 California Air and Army National Guard members, 28 National Disaster Medical System task force team members, 116 disaster health care volunteers, and 419 California Veterinary Medical Reserve Corps volunteers.
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Every one of those shelters had to have a medical operation." Replacing medication was especially difficult given how quickly people had to evacuate, requiring that pharmaceutical areas be set up in the shelters. Emergency personnel also took advantage of the federal emergency pharmaceutical program for uninsured patients to fill prescriptions at no cost.
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Planning proceeded for potential impacts to agriculture, municipal water, wildlife, public health, water quality, tourism, energy, and the economy, with a particular focus on health equity. For example, the state identified agricultural needs associated with the drought, though local planners knew the local communities had seen many years of dryland farming with limited income and rangeland issues.
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San Juan Basin Public Health responded by providing planning and evacuation support for medical and health facilities, evacuation support for individuals with additional needs, information on air quality and health for the community, help with the multiple mudslides and debris flows that started while the fire was still burning, and disaster assistance centers. Jollon cited several lessons learned from this experience: • Additional consultation is needed with long-term care facilities to support their evacuation needs.
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It has a long history of health equity issues." -- Liane Jollon DISCUSSION During the question-and-answer period, Houlton noted, in response to a question about water quality, that much water contamination occurs because of flame retardants. Also, if a house is burned, household chemicals can be released into local water systems, and some toxins accumulate in ash.
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