14.3 The Interconnected Social Problems of Wildfire Recovery
14.3 The Interconnected Social Problems of Wildfire Recovery
Bethany Grace Howe
In the two years I worked in fire recovery, I began to see the lived experiences of people like Betty, Carol, Francisco, Tommy, and Wendy as being trapped in a slow-moving landslide that was inevitably pulling them down. On any given day, the movement was almost invisible. But over time, the distance they had fallen was clear. The social problems that defined their lives were slowly destroying them all (Kristoff and WuDunn 2020). The fire changed that, for a while, anyway. Like extreme heat used to cauterize a wound to stop it from bleeding, the fire stopped the slide but didn’t end it entirely.
In this section, we look at sets of social problems. First, we look at the stories of Tommy, Wendy, and Carol to examine the impact of harmful drug use, compromised mental health, and being rural to understand disaster recovery. Then we look at Fernando’s story and the impact of racism on recovery. Finally, we connect climate change, COVID-19, and Christmas in a final way of discussing social problems and disaster recovery.
Harmful Drug Use, Mental Health, and Houselessness in the Country
Carol’s Story Continues
For many people in Otis, daily life was already a struggle. Sometimes not having a car prevented people from going to the doctor. Other times not having the internet prevented filling out paperwork requesting government support. The disaster made life even more complicated. Disaster survivors must interact with dozens of programs and people to get the services they need. Each of these programs has complex deadlines. Failing to meet them can result in losing both money and other recovery services. Recovery was difficult for every survivor, but even more difficult for Carol.
On one hand, Carol’s life improved immediately after the fire. At first, she found herself going where people told her to go moving from one evacuation site to another. When she heard about extra food being delivered to the Church of the Nazarene, she’d get there as quickly as she could. She couldn’t carry much, but not much would fit in her tiny hotel refrigerator, either. She lived in a fire survivor hotel, pictured in Figure 14.9, for over a year and a half. At that time she experienced stability, which was unusual for her. Her health improved, until it was time to make decisions.
The largest decision was about where she wanted to move. Her time in the hotel as post-fire housing as provided by the state of Oregon was running out. Carol needed to decide where she wanted to go. But she couldn’t decide. Like many people who experience harmful drug use and many people who experience disaster, her ability to make decisions was impaired (American Psychological Association 2013, Carpenter 2001). It was clear Carol needed help
Mental Health in a Rural Community
We know that disasters challenge the mental health of survivors (Turner 2021). These struggles range from dealing with the shock of losing everyth