The lasting mental health damage of the California wildfires

On Tuesday evening, Jane Brown watched on television as a gigantic apartment convoluted in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles went up in flames. It was the home of her 92-year-old mother.

On Wednesday morning, Ms. Brown, 63, noticed that the building was “just not there at all.”

Iris Kameny, Mrs. Brown’s mother, evacuated to Chino, California, before the fire, but treasured family photos and artwork were lost, as was furniture purchased by Mrs. Kameny around the time she got married, in 1959.

The Palisades and Eaton fires, which tore through homes and entire neighborhoods this week, are believed to be among the most destructive fires to ever hit the city. Experts warn that the fires have put many residents, especially those like Ms Kameny who lost their homes, at risk of profound and long-term mental health consequences.

“The loss of your home, the displacement you experience, the difficulty in rebuilding, living in fear that it might happen to you again – all of this causes lasting psychological damage for many people,” said Dr. David P. Eisenman, primary care physician and director of the Health Center in Public and Disaster Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. Research suggests that even those who do not lose their homes may experience anxiety, depression or mental health problems for years after the fire is extinguished.

According to data from 2020, California’s most destructive wildfires have destroyed more than 10,000 homes, businesses and other buildings. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

For some people who lost their homes in previous wildfires in California, the current disaster in Los Angeles has renewed anxiety.

Eric Reinbold, police chief in Paradise, California, said he never thought he would live in the city again after a devastating camp fire reduced his home and many others to a “pile of ash” in 2018. Almost residence were destroyed and 86 people died in the fire.

Mr. Reinbold, his wife and three children evacuated to nearby Chico and lived there for five years before deciding to rebuild in Paradise.

“It was tough to make this decision, to return to a city where we lost everything,” he said.

He said he limits his exposure to news about the fires around Los Angeles to avoid adding to the anxiety and grief he still sometimes feels, thinking about the home his family lost and the scars it left in his community.

Studies have shown that wildfires can have both short- and long-term effects on the mental health of survivors. IN paper published last year, researchers found an augment in emergency room visits for anxiety disorders after wildfires in California and other parts of the western United States.

Other test in Fort McMurray, a city in Alberta, Canada, that was evacuated during the 2016 wildfire, found that in the year after the event, about one-third of residents struggled with depression, anxiety, substance operate disorder, or post-traumatic stress disorder. AND researchers who followed in their footsteps those affected by the bushfire in Victoria, Australia, found that about 4 percent of people still suffered from mental disorders ten years later.

People are mourning more than just the loss of life and property. Dr. Eisenman says fire survivors may feel a collective sense of loss as a result of the environmental damage. He and his wife experienced that feeling themselves this week as they watched the Palisades Fire consume their favorite hiking trails.

In some cases, living in a damaged home can be more tough than a total loss, said Jonathan Sury, a public health researcher at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia Climate School. Mr. Sury and his colleagues studied the impact Hurricane Sandy on the mental health of Recent Jersey residents and found that even those whose homes suffered minor damage experienced anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after the storm.

For residents who fled the Los Angeles area and don’t yet know the fate of their homes, the uncertainty can be traumatic, Sury added.

Shabnam Melwani, another Pacific Palisades resident, fled her home Tuesday after firefighters told people to evacuate. Before leaving, she grabbed a statue of Lord Ganesha, a Hindu god known as the remover of obstacles, and placed it in front of the front door.

Ms. Melwani, 55, spent the evening at her cousin’s house in Santa Monica, overcome with fear. Five years ago, she packed her bags and left her community in Singapore in search of a recent life for her family in California. Mrs. Melwani feared she would lose her home again.

However, on Wednesday morning, she received a text from a neighbor saying that her house had so far withstood the flames and most likely only suffered smoke and soot damage.

For Ms. Brown, seeing her mother’s house go up in flames was “devastating,” she said, but at least knowing what had happened was a “saving grace.”

“There is no question whether it is still standing or not,– she said.

Alain Delaquérière contributed to the research.