University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
Human Rights Center, University of California School of Law, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Mar 26;16(3):e0248617. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248617. eCollection 2021.
Wildfires in California have become more deadly and destructive in recent years, and four of the ten most destructive fires occurred in 2017 and 2018. Through interviews with service providers, this article explores how these recent wildfires have impacted surrounding communities and the role various recovery resources have played in responding to the short- and long-term health and social needs of survivors.
Using a purposive sampling methodology, we interviewed 21 health and social service personnel who assisted in wildfire recovery efforts in California in 2017 and 2018. The study participants worked or volunteered in medical facilities, social services agencies and philanthropy/nonprofit organizations located in communities affected by wildfires. Participants were asked about three common, overarching themes that fire-impacted communities navigate post-disaster: health issues, social issues, and response and recovery resources. Inductive coding was used to identify common subthemes.
The two most frequently discussed social issues during interviews were housing and employment access. Mental and emotional well-being and access to health resources were identified as being the most challenging health concerns that survivors face post-disaster. Participants also identified the following private and public recovery resources that survivors use to attempt to restabilize following the fire: community support, county agencies, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA,) insurance companies and philanthropic organizations. However, participants noted that the cumulative impacts of these efforts still leave many of their patients and clients without the resources needed to restabilize emotionally, financially and physically. Finally, participants spoke about the community-wide, downstream impacts of wildfires, noting that "survivors" are not only those whose health is immediately compromised by the disaster.
Given the worsening wildfire seasons in California, we must increase our understanding of both the scope of the health and social issues that survivors navigate following a disaster, as well as the effectiveness and sustainability of recovery resources available to survivors. We must also understand the "ripple effect" that wildfires have on surrounding communalities, impacting housing access, social services, and health care access. More research and support, especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic, is urgently needed to improve our ability to support the health and social needs of wildfire survivors in the future.
近年来，加利福尼亚州的野火变得更加致命和具有破坏性，其中十场破坏力最大的火灾中有四场发生在 2017 年和 2018 年。本文通过对服务提供者的采访，探讨了最近的野火如何影响周边社区，以及各种恢复资源在应对幸存者短期和长期健康和社会需求方面所发挥的作用。
采用目的性抽样方法，我们采访了 2017 年和 2018 年在加利福尼亚州参与野火救援工作的 21 名卫生和社会服务人员。研究参与者在受野火影响的社区的医疗设施、社会服务机构和慈善/非营利组织工作或志愿工作。参与者被问及受灾社区在灾后应对中普遍存在的三个共同的、总体性主题：健康问题、社会问题以及应对和恢复资源。采用归纳编码方法识别常见的子主题。
访谈中讨论最多的两个社会问题是住房和就业机会。精神和情绪健康以及获得卫生资源是幸存者在灾后面临的最具挑战性的健康问题。参与者还确定了幸存者用来试图在火灾后重新稳定下来的以下私人和公共恢复资源：社区支持、县机构、联邦紧急事务管理局（FEMA）、保险公司和慈善组织。然而，参与者指出，这些努力的综合影响仍然使许多患者和客户没有重新稳定情绪、经济和身体所需的资源。最后，参与者谈到了野火的社区范围的下游影响，指出“幸存者”不仅是那些健康因灾难而立即受到影响的人。
鉴于加利福尼亚州的野火季节恶化，我们必须加强对幸存者在灾难后应对的健康和社会问题的范围的理解，以及对幸存者可用的恢复资源的有效性和可持续性的理解。我们还必须了解野火对周边社区的“连锁反应”，这些影响包括住房机会、社会服务和医疗保健机会。在当前 COVID-19 大流行期间，迫切需要更多的研究和支持，以提高我们未来支持野火幸存者健康和社会需求的能力。
