(The Center Square) – A new report has made recommendations for improving wildfire response efforts for seniors in California.
The report also goes into detail over wildfire responses that were made to older adults in January during the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles County.
That report, compiled by the California Commission on Aging, calls for more collaboration between groups who provide response and rescue efforts for seniors in communities impacted by wildfires.
“The thing that stuck out is that emergency planning and emergency response is an aging issue now, and I don’t think it’s being framed as an aging issue,” said Patrick Smith, policy and research analyst for the California Commission on Aging.
“Older adults and people with disabilities are at much higher risk of death during a natural disaster, especially a wildfire,” Smith told The Center Square.
According to the report, 26 of the 31 victims who died in the January wildfires in the Los Angeles area were over age 65 or had a disability. The report noted communities and local governments are not adequately prioritizing older adults in emergency planning. Older adults also face more challenges when evacuating, and recovery from wildfires is more arduous for these adults than their younger counterparts, the report said.
The commission recommended pre-designating specific sites for emergency evacuation centers where people in wildfire-stricken communities can go after evacuating their homes. The report also recommended coordinating with local government agencies that aid seniors and provide disaster response and ensure older adults have representation on boards that plan for disasters. The report also noted the state should explore establishing a disaster registry of residents in a disaster-prone area who have specialized needs.
The report also advocated for re-establishing a congressionally-funded program enacted in 2020 and 2021 that paid up to $500,000 to low-income homeowners whose homes were lost or damaged in wildfires. Without a federal source of funding, a private source of funds would have to be identified to ensure these homeowners can rebuild, according to the report.
“We see a wonderful opportunity to increase coordination and increase communication, but it will require resources to do that,” said David Lindeman, the chair of the California Commission on Aging, about agencies that respond to wildfires.
“There’s a possibility of doing registries of identifying people who are at risk, those who live alone, those who have mobility problems.” Lindeman told The Center Square. “There’s pros and cons to doing a registry, but that can also be helpful to identify people when we do have these emergencies and disasters, which, unfortunately, are going to continue.”
According to a 2023 study published by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, increased summer forest fires in California have caused a five-fold increase in burned forest areas in Northern and Central California during the 1996 to 2021 period compared to 1971-1995. Researchers attribute the increase to anthropogenic climate change in the state.
In other words, forest fires are getting worse.
“The January fires devastated our communities,” said state Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles.
“This report makes it clear: Our emergency response systems need to do better to protect our most vulnerable residents,” Durazo wrote in an email to The Center Square. “As our population ages and wildfires intensify, we must ensure seniors and people with disabilities are not left behind.”
Representatives from the California Department of Aging said the department couldn’t comment on the report and that the department doesn’t respond to natural disasters, but noted local and state agencies in affected communities often respond to those in danger of wildfires. The department added it offers an emergency preparedness guide and articles that could aid people in getting ready for a number of natural disasters.
Representatives from Kaiser Permanente and AltaMed, the two medical providers who provided care to those affected by the Los Angeles area wildfires and were named in the report, were not available to answer questions before press time.
