California’s devastating wildfires leave lingering mental health toll on residents

John Yang:

This weekend, California officials declared that the last of the deadly fires that scorched more than 59 square miles and destroyed 16,000 structures were fully contained. Now recovery and rebuilding gets underway.

Cleanup crews are working to clear debris, contain toxins and evaluate damage while residents grapple with the lingering mental health effects of this life altering event. Ali Rogin has more on this ongoing toll.

Ali Rogin:

Rebecca Lombino's home of 20 years burned to the ground three weeks ago. She and her sister donned hazmat suits and picked through the rubble.

Crayne Plfuke, Fire Victim’s Sister:

It was an overwhelming feeling of seeing the devastation and I had seen a picture of the house, but that did nothing to give me any forewarning of what I was going to feel when I got here. And it just overtook me.

Steve Guttenberg, Actor and Producer: Look at this beautiful home where someone lived, you know?

Ali Rogin:

Actor and producer Steve Guttenberg captured the destruction the day after fire tore through. His Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

Steve Guttenberg:

I was really conscious of my mental state and my mental health because the last three, four days, three days, I've seen such tragedy. I've seen people scared, people in wheelchairs, you know, mothers and fathers trying to find their kids, you know, people having anxiety attacks, panic attacks.

Ali Rogin:

One study found that up to 60 percent of adults might suffer post-traumatic stress disorder for up to six months after a wildfire. At least a quarter may experience major depression and anxiety. PBS News spoke with Americans who have lived through past wildfires about how they continue to be affected.

Todd Mott, Montana:

It does take a toll on you, mental health wise, because it's not something you could just turn off.

Ali Rogin:

Todd Mott is a veteran wildland firefighter in Montana.

Todd Mott:

I think I went into avoidance mode for a long time, and I was holding on to things and not really necessarily expressing whatever the dissatisfaction with the situation was or how I was traumatized by, you know, seeing somebody's family album with the burning pictures blowing down the street.

Ali Rogin:

And it's not just first responders and those who've lost their homes who suffer. Mitch Stone, evacuated during the massive 2017 Thomas Fire.

Mitch Stone, Santa Paula, California:

Everyone still talks about it as though it was a recent event. It's hard to believe it's as long ago as it really was because it stays very present in your mind.

Ali Rogin:

His home survived, but the experience has stayed with him.

Mitch Stone:

Every time that wind blows, and especially if you see fires burning in other areas, you're immediately put into a different state of mind.

Ali Rogin:

For more on how people can be affected for years by the trauma of a disaster, we turn to Dr. Sheri Weiser. She's the co-founder of the University of California Center for Climate Health and Equity and a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco. Sheri Weiser, welcome.

These LA residents, many of them are moving from survival mode to recovery mode. What are the intended challenges with that?

Sheri Weiser, University of California Center for Climate Change, Health and Equity: There are so many challenges. As you said it some people have lost their homes, some are evacuated and their homes are at risk. Many others are just affected by wildfire smoke. For others that are maybe not directly affected, but they're emotionally impacted by things like ego anxiety and feelings like Los Angeles will never be the same. The impacts on people's psychological health is maybe a little bit different depending on what group people fall into.

I think with people who are displaced there's also a mental health burden of evacuation and the uncertainty that comes with not knowing where you're going to live, how you're going to deal with your insurance, where you'll resettle, are you going to go back to your home, is your home going to be safe? So there's just a lot of stressors for those individuals.

Ali Rogin:

Research shows that trauma of a disaster like this can last for years. What can people do to cope with some of those long term effects?

Sheri Weiser:

So first of all, just to emphasize what some of those long term effects are, you mentioned post-traumatic stress disorder. People also can develop a new onset of depression of anxiety disorders, for people with preexisting mental illness you can see exacerbation of those and people can develop suicidal thoughts and ideations and people will sometimes increase their substance use and worsen substance use disorders.

So there's a lot of mental health consequences and then to protect themselves, I think it's really about implementing proactive strategies to mitigate those risks. So, first of course people need to go to a safe place so they need to meet their basic needs. Once that's taken care of, I think it's very important for people who have been directly impacted to limit their exposure to the media. Particularly very vivid images of wildfires can be very triggering social support.

I can't even overstate how important that is. People tend to want to isolate themselves, but reaching out to friends, family, neighbors for support is so important.

Finally, maintaining your healthy behaviors, getting enough sleep, getting some exercise, engaging in things like mindfulness and breathing exercises can be very helpful and making sure you have access to mental health support.

Ali Rogin:

What about people who may not live in a disaster prone area but are thinking about these things, are watching them on TV, are worried about this sort of thing happening where they live?

Sheri Weiser:

So certainly there is tremendous eco anxiety that people are experiencing all over California and really across the U.S. about the devastation that they're witnessing in Los Angeles. And our center is getting many emails and inquiries about this issue. About half of young people in the world experience eco anxiety and sometimes eco anxiety enough to disrupt their daily lives.

And I think that as a society, we need to be proactive to take measures to address eco anxiety, which can have mental health impacts even if you're not directly impacted.

And at the University of California, we are trying to address this in an innovative way through a class providing people with tools to address their eco anxiety and help to convert their eco anxiety into activism by getting engaged in community efforts, which has been shown to be a really helpful strategy for mitigating the symptoms of eco anxiety.

Ali Rogin:

Sheri Weiser with the University of California, thank you so much.

Sheri Weiser:

Thank you so much for having me.