Opinion | Are You Ready for Wildfire Season?

A few weeks ago, I received a text from a medical school friend: “My dad’s house is in the red area after fire spread rapidly overnight. They were evacuated…they got both cars out but little else. It’s called the Park Fire if you heard in the news.”

Then, a few days later: “Still no photos of the property.”

And finally: “House gone…marveling at how your life can become both more simple and more complicated at the same time.”

For millions of Americans, this is the new normal. Over the past two decades, wildfires have worsened across nearly every indicator used to measure them: they have become more frequent, more extensive, more destructive, and more expensive. What’s more, the proportion of Americans at risk of being impacted by a wildfire has grown exponentially.

In 2022, one investigation found that 1 in 6 Americans now lives in an area at significant risk for wildfire damage, and half of all Americans in the continental U.S. face some degree of wildfire risk. And it’s not just California anymore: Utah, Colorado, and Texas have all been victims of devastating wildfires in the past few years. For millions of Americans, it’s no longer a question of if, but when.

For healthcare workers, wildfire season is a double whammy. When communities burn, medical facilities are inevitably impacted. During a wildfire event, local hospitals often see surges of patients (both the injured and the displaced), experience structural malfunction such as power outages and road closures, and may even undergo evacuation.

At the same time, healthcare workers may be personally impacted by the same wildfire. My healthcare organization in Northern California has fully evacuated a hospital twice, “decanted” (partially evacuated) another hospital once, and put numerous facilities on evacuation warning during various wildfires. In each of these events, some of our healthcare workers lost their homes and beloved pets, suffered damage to personal property, and were forced to evacuate their families — sometimes while simultaneously on shift and caring for patients in impacted facilities. The cognitive dissonance of rendering medical care to victims of a wildfire while one’s own family flees or is injured by the same flames is gut-wrenching at best.

Get Ready

Given this new normal and the unique stressors clinicians face, I encourage all healthcare workers to take the necessary steps to protect their own families and property during wildfire events — as the saying goes, you have to put your own oxygen mask on first.

Have a family “wildfire and evacuation plan”: One of the first steps to take in wildfire preparedness is a well-thought-out family plan. Since wildfires often happen while family members are separated, you should establish a meeting place where your family will reunite, and make sure everyone has every family member’s contact information. Your plan should include an additional adult contact that children and non-driving adults can reach out to if the family is separated. Cellular and phone service are often haphazard during wildfires; your plan should establish an out of area contact who can help you coordinate if local communication systems are unreliable.

Know how you will evacuate: Map out at least two routes from your home, since road closures are common during wildfire events and navigation systems may not work. Consider what form of transportation you will use to evacuate and have a back-up plan. Don’t forget to include your pets and any elderly or vulnerable family members in your planning!

Know how you will balance clinical and family responsibilities if wildfire strikes while you are on shift. If possible, plan ahead. In my organization, we do our best to flex and cover for each other when one of our own ranks is personally impacted by a wildfire.

Know your wildfire risk and harden your home: Wildfire risk differs by community and individual. There are multiple websites that allow you to research the wildfire risk particular to your home or region. Individuals at high risk should take precautions to “harden” (fireproof) their home. This includes creating a 5-foot buffer zone free of vegetation immediately surrounding your home, regularly removing debris from your roof and gutters, and clearing your decks and porches of branches and weeds. Retrofitting options include installing ignition-resistant roofing and decking, mesh screening over vents, and dual-pane, tempered glass in windows.

A note about fire insurance: Most home insurance plans cover damage from fire, including wildfires, but how much a plan covers varies. The record-breaking number of wildfires in recent years has also led to record-breaking insurance losses; as a result, affordable insurance has become more difficult to obtain. You should know exactly what is and isn’t covered by your plan. It’s also a good idea to have photos or video inventory of your property and personal belongings.

Get Set

Sign up for local emergency alerts: Poor communication is the downfall of many disaster events. In a rapidly evolving wildfire, emergency alerts can be lifesaving. Local emergency alerts are geographically-based notifications sent by municipalities, counties, or townships to individuals’ cell phones, landlines, and/or email accounts. In the case of a wildfire, an emergency alert might warn the receiver of a developing fire, place certain areas on evacuation warning, or issue the command to evacuate.

To receive local alerts, you must sign up for them (in contrast with the federal Emergency Alert System). Find your local alert agency by typing the name of your city or county and the word “alert” into an Internet search engine. Individuals who work and live in different counties may want to sign up for alerts in both. Likewise, healthcare workers with children, dependents, or aging family members may want to receive alerts where these individuals live or attend school. It goes without saying that you should follow the instructions in these alerts: if you receive an evacuation order, it’s time to evacuate.

Go

Assemble a grab-n-go bag: When you receive the order to evacuate, you may have only 30, 10, or 5 minutes to leave. An easily accessible, portable, pre-assembled grab-n-go bag can mean the difference between evacuating empty-handed or with your family’s essential items and documents. Things to consider in your bag include family heirlooms, photographs, medications and medical devices, prescriptions, eye wear, laptops/computers, cellular phones, chargers, cash, a stethoscope, and work identification. Don’t forget to include important documents, such as passports, insurance policies, and birth certificates (it’s also a good idea to have digital backups). Your grab-n-go bag should include a 3-day supply of non-perishable food and water per person in your family, at least one change of clothing, and essential cosmetics (think toothbrush and toothpaste). If you plan to evacuate with your pets, consider a pet preparedness kit.

Know your reporting instructions for work: Your healthcare workplace may have a pre-designated wildfire strategy, or you may receive just-in-time instructions. If you need to report to work, keep your ID with you and be aware of both the movement of the wildfire and any road closures. Stay safe: never go into an evacuation zone unless you are a first responder who is specifically trained and instructed to do so.

Join the Fight

There is now extensive evidence that climate change is the main driver of today’s worsening wildfire seasons. As one of the most respected professions in society, healthcare workers can play a pivotal role in fighting climate change — through climate-informed clinical care, advocacy, and efforts to decrease healthcare’s environmental impact. There are many ways for healthcare workers to join the fight against the climate crisis; consider how you might integrate sustainability into your practice.

And in the meantime, make sure you’re ready for wildfire season. If you’re not safe and healthy, you can’t be there for your patients either.

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