As California struggles to protect itself from increasingly destructive urban wildfires, the recent deaths from the fires in Altadena are a growing trend in the victims’ demographics, as researchers say. It emphasizes.
Until the last decade, California wildfires have traditionally affected high-income white households, with deaths skewed to older people and men. However, recently, according to researchers, as fires grow intensive and more populated areas, wildfires are exposed to increasingly diverse communities.
Of the 17 people killed by Eton Fire, more than 70% were black and 64% were women. More typically, however, people killed in the fire were median age 77, with at least a third suffering from impairments that could affect mobility, according to the Los Angeles Times analysis. and.
A 2023 study on California wildfires conducted by researchers from the US Forest Service found that “new fire regimes are increasingly affecting more urban census regions across the state. These changes are It meant that Latino, Asian and Black Californians were more affected by wildfires than ever before.
According to them, this trend could become even more pronounced in the future, with potentially serious consequences for wildfire preparations.
” …The increase in urban wildfires suggests there is a need for increased outreach to residents of more urbanized regions and communities who have never experienced wildfires.” The research author wrote.
“Even those who have historically been affected by wildfires are likely to lower their awareness of the risk, believing that wildfires will not occur in their neighborhoods. Similarly, “Go.” You may not be ready for a wildfire, such as having a bag or completing household mitigation measures. ”
In the case of Eton Fire Department, emergency management officials have been severely criticized for the significant delay in issuing electronic evacuation orders.
Eastern Altadena received warning texts and evacuation orders within about an hour of the fire beginning on the evening of January 7th. The western boundary of the alert, North Lake Avenue, will become a fateful division line. Northlake received an evacuation order at least eight hours before the west home.
All 17 Eton Fire Deaths occurred west of North Lake Avenue, and in areas that have never received an evacuation warning, an evacuation order several hours after the home was reported to be already burned. An investigation was found to have occurred in.
Many Western Altadena residents, shaped by discriminatory lending practices in the 1960s and ’70s and became known for their powerful black community, spoke at a time when they felt they had been forgotten. North Lake Avenue is the boundary between these Redline efforts, and the racial gap continues. The east side of Altadena is white, with revenues higher than those in the West, according to census data.
Almost a third of those killed in the Eton fire suffered from some form of disability. Among them was Carolyn Burns, 56.
Burns, who avoided using a wheelchair and a walker, lived with his 76-year-old mother.
Carolyn Burns, 56, passed away from Eton Fire.
(Los Angeles County Sheriff d)
Burns’ mother, also known as Carolyn, told The Times that she called the Los Angeles County Fire Department around 10 or 11 on the night of the fire to inquire about the situation in her neighborhood. They reportedly were told that the streets are safe at the moment and that someone would knock on the door if they needed to evacuate.
At about 3:30am, the mother woke up to the sound of her neighbor slamming the window and screaming that the house was on fire. She jumped out of bed and saw the flames in the kitchen. She managed to get away, but her daughter didn’t.
“I don’t think they did the job because they didn’t knock on our door or knock on our door,” the mother told The Times. “I think it was too late. Even if they had to get her out of there, they didn’t have enough time. We’re very angry inside and we’re never the same there is no.”
The Los Angeles County Fire Department declined to comment on the evacuation order or Burns’ death. In a statement, the agency said the LA County Board of Supervisors has begun an investigation into evacuation and emergency notices. Reports return to the board of directors every 90 days and are shared with the public.
The fire department “recognizes the great losses and challenges our community faces during a wildfire and remains deeply committed to supporting those affected,” according to the statement.
Eton and the Palisade Fire
The catastrophic fire killed at least 28 people, leaving over 18,000 buildings worth more than $275 billion, leaving a burn zone 2.5 times the size of Manhattan.
Mark Guilarducci, director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services for more than a decade, said that if disabled residents are actually left to evacuate themselves, they “sound normal.”
“In general, there’s an understanding of individuals who have access and functional needs where they can support,” he said. “The 911 centres may know that they exist. Often, it’s a law enforcement agency that goes door-to-door to door to ensure people are out and notified.”
Elderly people tend to die from wildfires, he said, they are not adapting to social media, their mobility may be more restricted or they may rely on others to drive them down It’s the body.
“We need to know exactly what happened and why the decision has come to their state. If it was a technology failure, then we can identify it and how to deal with it. Is that so?” Ghilarducci said. “That’s not normal. We want to harm people and then get out.”
Large-scale deaths are relatively rare in California history, but have been rising frequently over the past decade, according to Michele Steinberg, a spokesman for the wildfire division of National Fire Protection ASSN.
In all major incidents, including the Eaton and Palisade fire, seniors are the most vulnerable.
Steinberg said older people could be experiencing difficulties or simply refuse to leave due to potential mobility issues.
In the past, Steinberg has reviewed, and young people in their 50s or 60s died while trying to help others.
“You’re trying to save your pets, you’re trying to save people, you’re trying to take care of people,” Steinberg said. “You may be possible and you may be happy to be prepared, but you can be someone else to take care of it.”
Ultimately, life and death can depend on how quickly a person can respond to unexpected situations when they move quickly, she said. “People are just waking up in their cars and not jumping in independently. That’s confusion.”
In Altadena, where the fire spread “late night,” residents had even fewer warnings, Steinberg said the fire speed and possible issues with alerts could make the situation even more deadly.
Among the seniors killed in Eton Fire were Dalyce “Dede” Curry, 95, and Ellien Kelly, 83, who was 83.
Dalyce Kelley with Dalyce Curry, a 95-year-old grandmother, who died at his home in Altadena during the Eton Fire.
(Dalyce Kelley)
Curry was home alone on fire night, but her granddaughter Delis Kelly was looking after a sick relative and checked in with her grandmother in text.
Kelly was falling asleep at her house. At 6:38am, she woke up and wrote a letter to the Altadena Neighborhood Group Chat. We went home around midnight. Is the evacuation order enacted? …If they evacuate all of you, I’ll come right away, just grab her. ”
“Everyone was evacuated at 3:30,” the neighbor replied.
“OMG,” replied Kelly. “I’m dressing now. Her phone is heading straight to voicemail.”
She rushed to her car and ran to her grandmother’s house, but was stopped by a police barricade. Kelly gives the officer her grandmother’s address and asks if he can check her. Officers later called Kelly and told her that Curry’s house was burnt out.
According to Kelly, a Los Angeles medical inspector declared that Curry had died on January 11th, notifying her family that her body had been found on her property.
One of Curry’s neighbors, Ana Morales, 34, is negligent by an official for not warning residents before. She said she and her husband decided not to wait for an official evacuation order and ran away from the house around 9pm.
“I don’t think everyone has enough notice,” Morales told The Times. “We were separated from our intuition and fear. When we left, they should have evacuated everyone and told us to leave, we needed them and leave. But there’s nothing. ”
Brianna Navarro agreed after losing her grandmother Ellien Kelly on the fire. She said her grandmother and others said she might have been saved from staff due to previous notices.
“Many of the lives lost were either elderly or disabled. It’s a shame because they are one of the vulnerable groups that need the most support from their families and their support systems,” she said. I did. “I think if we had the notice, some of us would have given us enough time to help our families.”
Times staff writer Reuben Vibbs contributed to this report.
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