Despite the extensive stress, smoke inhalation and other disruption caused by the January wildfire, the majority of Los Angeles County residents are happy with their lives here and are not planning to leave.
Less than one in four people in LA County are considering moving out of the area due to a fire, and fewer than one in ten residents place importance on that decision, according to a new poll from the UC Berkeley Government Institute co-hosted by the Times.
Polls found that 57% of residents are satisfied with the quality of life in the area, but more than seven in 10 people are satisfied with their neighborhood.
“This major tragedy has affected many people in the county, but even so, the overall measures regarding quality of life in Los Angeles are positive,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS poll. “It’s a California lifestyle. A lot of people like it.”
Fires in Altadena and Pallisard in the Pacific have destroyed more than 13,000 homes and businesses, combined with smaller flames in Hollywood, Studio City and Sylmer, have forced nearly 200,000 people to evacuate.
Polls found that the fire had a major impact on the physical and mental health of county residents, including those far from the disaster belt.
Four in 10 LA County residents said their health, or their family’s health, is harming wildfire smoke. About 6% said they or their family members had been treated by a doctor for illness or injury caused by the fire.
The mental sacrifice was still high, with three in ten residents saying they had experienced high levels of additional stress.
Anxiety was more pronounced in women than in men. Approximately 37% of women said they experienced higher stress during the fire, compared to 22% of men. Men also said they were more likely to say the fire was not stressed at all, compared to 22% of women, with four in 10 saying they were less worried.
“Women are often home caregivers for older people and children,” DiCamilo said. “It’s a huge burden for them.”
Parents in Los Angeles County reported feeling more uneasy than those without children, the findings showed. It was also likely that parents were seriously considering leaving the county in the aftermath of the fire.
After watching news reports from Palisade on January 7th, 37-year-old Anna Herrera packed suitcases for her and her two young daughters just in case. The Hearst fire then erupted in Schirmer.
Fearing that the fire would move south to the neighborhood, Herrera put her daughter in her car seat and took her to a family home in South Los Angeles at night. She felt like a surprise sleepover for her children as she wondered if they could go home again.
In addition to the usual worries about raising a family, she said, it was a lot to deal with.
“I’m just waiting, the wind,” she said. “It was very stressful.”
The level of confidence residents have in the area’s recovery was strongly correlated with whether they were considering moving, polls found.
Of residents who reported a bit more confident or less confident about their recovery in LA, 44% said they were considering the move.
Political ideology is another important factor in whether people plan to stay after a fire, like in Los Angeles County, DiCamilo said.
Residents who described themselves as highly conservative or registered Republicans reported much lower satisfaction with the county’s quality of life compared to their more liberal neighbors.
When asked whether they were happy with the quality of life in the county, 36% of strongly conservative respondents answered yes. When asked about their own neighborhoods, 60% of the strong, conservative residents said they were satisfied.
“It’s an interesting dichotomy,” DiCamilo said. “What you’re looking at is a lot of Republicans, conservatives, and Trump voters. I like where I live, but I don’t like the county.”
Polls found that several sectors considering moving from LA County are considering moving from LA County, due to the fires that include the transport sector (41%), the arts and entertainment industry (36%) and trade (32%). The sectors with the lowest equity were office work (17%), social services (18%) and warehouse (18%).
Arts and Entertainment workers also reported higher than average rates of stress due to fires. Thirty-eight percent of workers said they had experienced a high level of additional anxiety. Other industries that saw similar reported high stress rates included fire-affected workers, including domestic labor (38%), social services (37%) and health care (36%).
The Berkeley IGS poll was conducted online in English and Spanish from February 17th to 26th.
We surveyed 5,184 registered voters in Los Angeles County. The margin of error can be inaccurate. However, the estimated error in the Los Angeles County voter survey is 2% points, which is higher in the subgroup.
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