International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc.
International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc.
By: Marilyn J. Wooley, PhD.
Wildfires. Power blackouts. And now COVID-19. Welcome to summertime in California.
To add to summertime stress, frequent Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) “public safety power shutoffs” during “wind events” last for days and disrupt air conditioning, refrigeration for food and medicine, internet access for news regarding fire danger, and other necessities. The shutoffs, designed to prevent wildfires, began after the California utility company was held responsible for failure to maintain equipment that started the Camp Fire, the deadly 2018 horror that razed the town of Paradise and killed 85 people (KPIX, 2020). The shutoffs are tough for most, life threatening for a few, and destabilize hundreds of thousands of lives.
And to top off the stressors, with disruptive COVID-19 restrictions arriving in 2020, if fire or a power shutoff forced you to flee, where could you find safety, including food and shelter?
The summer of 2020 brought a new fire season, as it turned out the worst in California history. Every time the wind blew, or the temperature rose above 100 degrees, or a thunder and lightning storm burst across the horizon, the residents of Redding and California in general, collectively held their breath and anticipated a reverse 9-1-1 call to evacuate. As the summer progressed, we constantly checked the sky for smoke and the news, waiting for what we knew was coming. The Eagles’ song “Hotel California” recycled through my head. “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”
The siege began in August. Thousands of fires ignited, six of which were among the top 20 largest in California history. The August “Megafire” Complex alone burned more than one million acres over seven counties. The North Complex burned through three counties just south of us and killed 15. The Creek and SQF Fires hit seven counties in Central California and the Bay Area. The LNU Lightening Complex killed six and reached the grounds of the West Coast Posttrauma Retreat in Angwin, where I volunteer treating first responders with posttraumatic stress injuries. And so on. Almost nine thousand wildfires burned over four million acres, causing 31 fatalities, and destroying 10,488 structures. (CalFire, 2020).
On the afternoon of Sunday, 27 September 2020, a PG&E meter six miles from our home reported alarms. Despite 45-mph winds in the area, the power remained on. Shortly thereafter, the rapidly moving Zogg Fire caught hold. (Morris, 2020). Our neighbors began sending nervous texts asking for information. I contacted my CalFire CISM teammate, Kyle Johnson, for information. He advised me to prepare to evacuate. We put the cats in carriers, our go-bags in the car, and settled in for several sleepless nights watching the ridge behind our home for signs of smoke and flame.
Days later, firefighters stopped the Zogg Fire before it crossed the creek drainage over the ridge. Our community was safe. But before containment, the fire burned 56,000 acres and tragically killed a mother and her young daughter, a great-grandmother, and a father, all of whom fled in cars or on foot but couldn’t outrace the flames. (Pinho, 2020).
This is the reality we live with.
One of my civilian clients resides in a wildland-urban interface town that hasn’t burned—yet. To add to her challenges, her disabled spouse is in a high-risk category for succumbing to COVID-19.
The client presented with significant anxiety. She is isolated in her home, with intermittent internet. She constantly scans the sky looking for wildfire. Watching the news for COVID-19 and fire information heightens her anxiety. When PG&E power shutoffs disable her power, phone, and internet, she spins into a panic. Relaxation exercises were only temporarily helpful. Anxiety medications made her feel slowed down and she feared not being alert enough to react in a crisis. She came to me emotionally paralyzed: her reactions bounced between fight, flight, and freeze.
I’d faced the same external threats. I could empathize.
During our therapy session, I found it helpful to use some CISM concepts. “You feel crippled by your fears,” I said, “but they are based on actual threats over which you have no control. You’re a normal person reacting normally to an abnormal situation.”
“Really?” She laughed. “I’m not crazy?”
“Not at all. So, what scares you the most?” I asked.
“A wildfire will come, and no one will save us. The thought makes me panic.”
“Well in reality,” I said. “that’s a logical thought. Firefighters may be not be able to get to you in time.” As I said it, I worried about contributing to her anxiety. But in reality, first responders are often overwhelmed and don’t have adequate resources. People die in fires waiting to be rescued.
Her face blanched. “Then what would we do?”
It dawned on me that this intelligent woman had never experienced a fire and she really didn’t know what to do.
“Do you have a go-bag?” I asked. To me it was such a simple concept.
“A what?”
“If the fire came right now and you had to evacuate, what would you take?” I asked,
“Well my husband takes 12 different medications, so we’d have to gather them from the kitchen and the bathroom, and we’d have to pack a suitcase with clothes, and our papers–I think they’re in the downstairs desk. And well, I’d have to think. What else? My jewelry? My husband’s special food?”
“How long would that take to gather all that stuff?”
“Probably too long.” She was catching on. “We should have all that packed and in one place.”
“When we were facing evacuation,” I said, “we made a five-minute plan, a 30-minute plan, and an hour or longer plan. We could literally leave in an emergency with the most critical things to survive in five minutes or less. If we had longer, we could gather things that were important but not essential.”
“Because of my husband’s health, we’d have no option but to leave at the first sign of fire.”
“That’s a great plan. Now, where would you go?”
She thought for a moment. “Once we get to a main road, we could drive to my sister’s place instead of a shelter. She works with a doctor and has masks to protect against COVID.”
“What if the wildfire blocked the roads?”
“We could to go to the reservoir as a last resort.”
“How much gas do you have in your car? How far could you drive? The gas stations probably will be closed or swamped with people trying to get gas.”
“I guess I should keep the tank full.” She began to relax.
We looked at other safety options including clearing her land of brush and maintaining a land phone line for reverse 9-1-1 calls in case the cell towers went down. Ironically, talking about the terrors associated with wildfire and potential exposure to COVID made my client feel less helpless. Once she understood what she was dealing with, she could decide what action to take besides passively waiting for the apocalypse.
The most important thing she learned was not to try to predict all that could happen during a disaster. The crucial factor was that she developed a plan, to be modified as necessary. She gained sense of control and feeling and it helped prepare her to develop productive ways of coping with real stressors, which reduced her anxiety greatly.
To help this client using CISM concepts, I first gathered the facts about her situation and normalized her reactions. Then I helped her process her thoughts and emotions in a manageable manner, and finally provided relevant education to help her make rational decisions.
We agreed that it was one of our most productive sessions.
CalFire (2020). 2020 Statewide Fire Summary. https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/
Pinho, F. (2020, October 22). A great-grandmother. A mechanic. A mother and daughter. These are the victims of the Zogg fire. Los Angeles Times.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-22/zogg-fire-lives-lost-shasta-county-california-wildfire
Morris, J.D. (2020, October 9)
https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Cal-Fire-takes-PG-E-equipment-as-it-investigates-15635099.php
KPIX CBS SF Bay Area. (2020, October 10). Zogg fire update: CalFire seizes PG&E equipment as part of investigation into fatal wildfire.
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/10/10/shasta-coroner-identifies-four-victims-of-zogg-fire/
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