Snyder Mitchell, Miles Mira, Hertz-Picciotto Irva, Conlon Kathryn C
Geography Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, United States of America.
Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, United States of America.
Environ Res Health. 2025 Mar 1;3(1):015008. doi: 10.1088/2752-5309/ad951c. Epub 2025 Jan 10.
Wildfires are impacting communities globally, with California wildfires often breaking records of size and destructiveness. Knowing how communities are affected by these wildfires is vital to understanding recovery. We sought to identify impacted communities' post-wildfire needs and characterize how those needs change over time. The WHAT-Now study deployed a survey that was made publicly available for communities affected by the October 2017 Northern California wildfires or the accompanying smoke at beginning approximately four months post-fire with the vast majority completed by nine months post-fire. Among other questions, the survey asked an adult household member to report on their households' greatest need both one-week post-fire and at the time of survey. A total of 1461 households responded to these questions. Households reported many types of needs, with 154 responses that did not directly name needs but rather described how their households had been affected, which we classified as impacts. Four major themes were identified: physical, health, air, and information, each representing an array of varied specific needs or impacts. Physical needs (e.g. housing, food) were the most common (cited by more than 50% during the fires and about a third at the time of survey). The need for clean air was strong during the fires, but not months later, at the time of survey. In contrast, health needs were reported by a quarter of households during the fires. Needs that were reported at both times were categorized as 'persistent', and there were more persistent mental health needs over time compared to other health themes. Understanding the needs and impacts that arise during wildfires, their diversity and duration, and how they change over time is crucial to identifying types of assistance that are most needed during recovery efforts and when they are needed. Results presented here along with other wildfire needs assessments can be utilized to improve disaster preparedness, including for wildfire recovery.
野火正在全球范围内影响着各个社区，加利福尼亚州的野火常常在规模和破坏力方面打破纪录。了解社区如何受到这些野火的影响对于理解恢复情况至关重要。我们试图确定受影响社区的野火后需求，并描述这些需求如何随时间变化。“现在怎么办”研究开展了一项调查，该调查在2017年10月北加利福尼亚野火或随之而来的烟雾影响的社区中公开提供，大约在火灾发生后四个月开始，绝大多数在火灾发生后九个月完成。在其他问题中，该调查要求成年家庭成员报告他们家庭在火灾后一周和调查时的最大需求。共有1461户家庭回答了这些问题。家庭报告了许多类型的需求，其中154份回答没有直接说出需求，而是描述了他们的家庭受到了怎样的影响，我们将其归类为影响。确定了四个主要主题：物质、健康、空气和信息，每个主题都代表了一系列不同的具体需求或影响。物质需求（如住房、食物）最为常见（火灾期间超过50%的家庭提及，调查时约为三分之一）。火灾期间对清洁空气的需求强烈，但在调查时的几个月后则不然。相比之下，火灾期间四分之一的家庭报告了健康需求。在两个时间点都报告的需求被归类为“持续存在的”，随着时间的推移，与其他健康主题相比，心理健康需求持续存在的情况更多。了解野火期间出现的需求和影响、它们的多样性和持续时间，以及它们如何随时间变化，对于确定恢复工作期间最需要的援助类型以及何时需要这些援助至关重要。此处呈现的结果以及其他野火需求评估可用于改善灾害准备工作，包括野火恢复方面的准备。
