Officials Try To Find Ways To Alleviate Firefighters’ Emotional Trauma Following Stressful Battle Against Wildfires
"The culture's always been, you know, suppress, suppress, suppress," says Cal Fire captain Kevin Malloy. "We're good and go on to the next call." But firefighters experience PTSD at rates similar to what's seen in combat veterans, and are at high risk of suicide. Many are trying to combat the stigma within the field about seeking help. Media outlets look at the aftermath of the fires, with stories about evacuees' living conditions, survivors returning to their homes and addiction treatment patients whose rehab was interrupted.
KPCC:
California Offers Safe Space For Firefighters To Work Through Stress And Trauma
On the morning of his 23rd birthday, Leonel Salas is just getting off the fireline after battling the Woolsey fire all night in Southern California. "[We] can't get any rest while we're on the lines," he says. He's exhausted after working for 24 hours, but relieved to be at the base camp in Camarillo where there are hot meals, sleeping pods and mobile showers. (Perry, 11/17)
KQED:
Shunning Shelters, Fire Evacuees Find Freedom But No Comfort In Walmart Tent Encampment
Of the tens of thousands of people who have been displaced by the deadly Camp Fire burning in Butte County, some of them are making their temporary home in an encampment of about 45 tents set up in a lot next to a Walmart in downtown Chico. Some have decided to sleep there because they want privacy a FEMA shelter can't provide. Others stay in this field of dead, brown grass because they're worried they'll get the norovirus that's being passed around the shelters like a Thanksgiving plate. (Wiley, 11/18)
Sacramento Bee:
Ron Zimmer, Pastor Of East Ave Church In Chico, Explains The Norovirus Outbreak In His Shelters And The Evacuation Site Staff's Attempts In Mitigating The Spread Of The Virus
Ron Zimmer, pastor of East Ave Church in Chico, explains the norovirus outbreak in his shelter. He details the evacuation site staff's attempts in mitigating the spread of the virus. (Kim, 11/16)
The New York Times:
California Fire Hits ‘Rehab Riviera,’ Putting Addiction Care In Jeopardy
At Creative Care’s serene hilltop campus in Malibu, Calif., patients typically pay more than $35,000 a month to be treated for addiction and mental health problems against the backdrop of a spectacular Pacific Ocean view. On Friday, just a few hours after an early-morning evacuation order from the city, all anyone could see were flames. (Hsu, 11/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
A Fire, A Newborn Baby And A Pact: Tales Of Survival From Paradise
In the last hours that this town still stood, Rachelle Sanders rested at Feather River Hospital after a C-section. It had been a high-risk pregnancy. But the baby was perfect — 6 pounds, 5 ounces, with a feathering of blond hair. She named him Lincoln. (Johnson, 11/18)
San Jose Mercury News:
Camp Fire Survivors Return Home, Some To Devastation
Some found devastation, some found miracles. Authorities on Sunday afternoon began allowing some residents to return for the first time to the destruction zone of the Camp Fire, and though many had already seen pictures taken by emergency workers and knew whether their homes had made it or not, the scenes that greeted them came as a shock. (Baron and Baldassari, 11/18)