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"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">As the caretaker and resident of an organic olive farm in Vacaville, Tom Walter is no stranger to fire season. But as flames approached the property off Pleasants Valley Road sometime after midnight Wednesday, he felt this time was different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“I’ve never seen a fire move so quickly and so aggressively towards everything in its path,” Walter said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1968797\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1968797 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The main ranch house at La Ferme Soleil was leveled when the LNU Lightning Complex fire tore through Pleasants Valley Road in Vacaville in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The Hennessey Fire, part of the 350,000-acre-plus \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/17/lnu-lightning-complex-includes-hennessey-gamble-15-10-spanish-markley-13-4-11-16/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">LNU Lightning Complex fire\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, was racing toward the north end of his ranch, while another blaze was approaching from the west.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“I got everybody off the property, tried to get as much livestock,” Walter said, “Then I hung in there as long as I could and evacuated by about 1:30 in the morning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">A day later, with scattered embers still burning, Walter returned to survey the damage. Somehow, he says, the olive trees, which the farm harvests to produce organic olive oil under the label \u003ca href=\"http://www.lafermesoleil.com/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">La Ferme Soleil\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, were unscathed. But the fire had destroyed much of the rest of the farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“The whole property, it looks like war, a war zone. That’s the only way to explain it,” Walter said, “I can’t put the words together. My heart is hurting. My mind is numb.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">The 48-foot travel trailer Walter lived in was reduced to a heap of twisted, blackened metal, or “junk,” as he described it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“Everything I had was in here. Everything,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">The main ranch house, which had just been sold to new owners, was also leveled. A thick film of black soot covered the backyard pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1968795\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1968795 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The animal pen at La Ferme Soleil in Vacaville, along with sheep and goat, was lost to the LNU Lightning Complex fire. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“The only thing standing was our guest house,” Walter said, “It’s a miracle because I have a place to stay, still.\u003ci>”\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">La Ferme Soleil also lost sheep and goat to the fire, and Walter is still searching for two lost horses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">He says many farmers in the area are now scrambling to get back to their land to see what’s left of their homes and to look out for any animals left behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">On Thursday, police had blocked off access to Pleasants Valley Road, but were letting some cars through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Walter spent Thursday morning driving around, with his labrador retriever in tow, to check on properties for neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“A lot of people still can’t come out here,” he said. “My biggest thing is trying to give good news to this devastation, and it’s hard right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“When they’re asking me about their property or their homes, I either have good news or bad news. And the majority of it’s bad news.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">As the caretaker and resident of an organic olive farm in Vacaville, Tom Walter is no stranger to fire season. But as flames approached the property off Pleasants Valley Road sometime after midnight Wednesday, he felt this time was different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“I’ve never seen a fire move so quickly and so aggressively towards everything in its path,” Walter said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1968797\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1968797 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The main ranch house at La Ferme Soleil was leveled when the LNU Lightning Complex fire tore through Pleasants Valley Road in Vacaville in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The Hennessey Fire, part of the 350,000-acre-plus \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/17/lnu-lightning-complex-includes-hennessey-gamble-15-10-spanish-markley-13-4-11-16/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">LNU Lightning Complex fire\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, was racing toward the north end of his ranch, while another blaze was approaching from the west.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“I got everybody off the property, tried to get as much livestock,” Walter said, “Then I hung in there as long as I could and evacuated by about 1:30 in the morning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">A day later, with scattered embers still burning, Walter returned to survey the damage. Somehow, he says, the olive trees, which the farm harvests to produce organic olive oil under the label \u003ca href=\"http://www.lafermesoleil.com/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">La Ferme Soleil\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, were unscathed. But the fire had destroyed much of the rest of the farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“The whole property, it looks like war, a war zone. That’s the only way to explain it,” Walter said, “I can’t put the words together. My heart is hurting. My mind is numb.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">The 48-foot travel trailer Walter lived in was reduced to a heap of twisted, blackened metal, or “junk,” as he described it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“Everything I had was in here. Everything,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">The main ranch house, which had just been sold to new owners, was also leveled. A thick film of black soot covered the backyard pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1968795\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1968795 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/Farm-4-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The animal pen at La Ferme Soleil in Vacaville, along with sheep and goat, was lost to the LNU Lightning Complex fire. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“The only thing standing was our guest house,” Walter said, “It’s a miracle because I have a place to stay, still.\u003ci>”\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">La Ferme Soleil also lost sheep and goat to the fire, and Walter is still searching for two lost horses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">He says many farmers in the area are now scrambling to get back to their land to see what’s left of their homes and to look out for any animals left behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">On Thursday, police had blocked off access to Pleasants Valley Road, but were letting some cars through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Walter spent Thursday morning driving around, with his labrador retriever in tow, to check on properties for neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“A lot of people still can’t come out here,” he said. “My biggest thing is trying to give good news to this devastation, and it’s hard right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“When they’re asking me about their property or their homes, I either have good news or bad news. And the majority of it’s bad news.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Shortage of Inmate Firefighters Hampers Response in Bay Area",
"headTitle": "Shortage of Inmate Firefighters Hampers Response in Bay Area | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>As wildfires continue to burn in every Bay Area county except San Francisco, the region is badly in need of firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One reason: far fewer prisoner crews. The shortage comes during a horrendous start to this year’s fire season, with tens of thousands of residents forced out of their homes after dry lightning strikes ignited three raging sets of fires, burning hundreds of thousands of acres since last Sunday. That’s a larger burn area than in all of California last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote citation=\"Cal Fire Chief Sean Kavanaugh\"]‘We are used to lots of resources. That is not where we are at today.’[/pullquote]While firefighters have mounted a heroic assault on fast-moving flames, risking their lives to protect numerous cities and towns, fire chiefs acknowledge that crews are severely understaffed, with only about 2,000 firefighters battling the North Bay and Santa Cruz fires combined going into last weekend. Last year, more than 5,000 firefighters fought to contain the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, which burned a far smaller area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a very large-scale incident here,” said Cal Fire Chief Sean Kavanaugh, the commander in charge of the LNU Complex fire in the North Bay. Normally, “we are used to lots of resources. That is not where we are at today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The response has been hampered, in particular, by a lack of prisoner hand crews, each typically made up of 12 to 16 trained inmates who perform grueling chainsaw work, sweating through oppressive heat as they hack through thick coyote brush, manzanita and other coastal shrub to create containment perimeters around a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The demand for hand crews far surpasses the need,” said Jeremy Rahn, a Cal Fire public information officer for the North Bay fires, at a press conference Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shortage stems mainly from the large number of fires burning across the state \u003cem>—\u003c/em> well over 500. But thinning ranks in California’s inmate firefighting camps, the result of the state’s attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the prison system, have exacerbated the need for replacements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just weeks ago, many incarcerated firefighters were isolated in lockdown after potential exposure to the coronavirus sidelined more than half of the inmate crews, depriving California of a key firefighting resource as it entered peak fire season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, officials with the California Department of Corrections and and Rehabilitation say all fire camp inmates at the fire camps have been released from quarantine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But since July 10, the state has sent home at least 700 inmates from the camps, including 331 firefighters and the rest in support roles, through an early-release order in the wake of COVID-19’s deadly spread through state prisons, including San Quentin in Marin County, resulting in thousands of infections and dozens of deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Releasing the inmates has left the state with far fewer incarcerated firefighters than it could deploy in recent years. As of Aug. 20, more than 1,300 inmates from California’s state prison system were battling 19 different fires across the state, including the big complex blazes in the Bay Area. But in 2018, California had 3,500 firefighter inmates on hand, down from 4,300 two years before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday minimized the effect of the early prisoner releases on the state’s firefighting capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Precisely to address that issue, precisely to address that concern,” he said, in July he authorized $72 million for the hire of 858 seasonal firefighters as replacements for the freed inmates. “We did it in anticipation. We didn’t react.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Thom Porter, director of Cal Fire, acknowledged during a July press conference that the agency doesn’t “expect this season to make it to full capacity with inmate crews.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Fathi, director of the ACLU National Prison Project, says he’s especially concerned inmates will have to work “harder, longer” because of the reduced number of incarcerated fire crews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are not people who are doing telemarketing or folding laundry,” he said. “This is dangerous work, working with very dangerous tools like chainsaws and axes, with longer hours and less rest. Fatigue obviously increases the risk of accidents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/mike_dewald/status/1296970811622842368\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite those risks and the backbreaking work, some prisoners have taken to the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, you can take Samantha Vetter out of prison fire camp early, but you can’t take the wildland firefighter out of Samantha Vetter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state paroled the inmate firefighter early, and now all she can think about is getting back to work. She arrived at the Puerta La Cruz Conservation Camp in Southern California in the spring, just as the coronavirus began to spread in prison facilities. She spent most of this fire season with an all-female inmate crew battling fires in Southern California. She was battling the Apple Fire, a 30,000 acre-plus blaze, when her release came through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At various points, Vetter worked every position in her hand crew, which operates in a hook-line formation and is divided into cutting and scraping sections using chainsaws, shovels, rakes and other hand tools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, she’s living at the Santa Cruz County Gemma Transitional House, a short drive from where she grew up in the San Lorenzo Valley, where fires are currently ripping through a dense forest that hasn’t burned in 50 years. Her mother and other family members have been evacuated from their homes in Ben Lomond and elsewhere. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My hometown is on fire right now,” she said. “It’s hard sitting here knowing that the ash that’s raining down on me now is the redwoods that I grew up around, burning up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Criminal justice advocates have long criticized California’s use of prison labor to fight fires. Besides a pay rate that tops out at a few dollars a day, inmates face an uphill battle getting hired as firefighters after they’re released, due to their felony records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Very few can get full-time firefighting jobs, says Sonja Tonnesen-Casalengo, deputy director of Root & Rebound, a prison reentry advocacy group, especially since county departments require hirees have their paramedic license.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There needs to be a pathway to sustainable long-term careers as firefighters,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, Vetter says, she was motivated to go to fire camp to knock time off her sentence. But she loved the work, wants to continue fighting fires as a civilian and has enrolled in wildfire safety classes at a community college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As fires ripped through the forests she frequented as a kid, Vetter called the Cal Fire stations in Santa Cruz to see if she could volunteer to help. Officials told her she could assist at an evacuation center, but they wouldn’t let her join the fire line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just going to give it my best,” Vetter said. “If they don’t hire me, they don’t hire me.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "As wildfires continue to burn in every Bay Area county except San Francisco, the region is badly in need of firefighters.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As wildfires continue to burn in every Bay Area county except San Francisco, the region is badly in need of firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One reason: far fewer prisoner crews. The shortage comes during a horrendous start to this year’s fire season, with tens of thousands of residents forced out of their homes after dry lightning strikes ignited three raging sets of fires, burning hundreds of thousands of acres since last Sunday. That’s a larger burn area than in all of California last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While firefighters have mounted a heroic assault on fast-moving flames, risking their lives to protect numerous cities and towns, fire chiefs acknowledge that crews are severely understaffed, with only about 2,000 firefighters battling the North Bay and Santa Cruz fires combined going into last weekend. Last year, more than 5,000 firefighters fought to contain the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, which burned a far smaller area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a very large-scale incident here,” said Cal Fire Chief Sean Kavanaugh, the commander in charge of the LNU Complex fire in the North Bay. Normally, “we are used to lots of resources. That is not where we are at today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The response has been hampered, in particular, by a lack of prisoner hand crews, each typically made up of 12 to 16 trained inmates who perform grueling chainsaw work, sweating through oppressive heat as they hack through thick coyote brush, manzanita and other coastal shrub to create containment perimeters around a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The demand for hand crews far surpasses the need,” said Jeremy Rahn, a Cal Fire public information officer for the North Bay fires, at a press conference Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shortage stems mainly from the large number of fires burning across the state \u003cem>—\u003c/em> well over 500. But thinning ranks in California’s inmate firefighting camps, the result of the state’s attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the prison system, have exacerbated the need for replacements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just weeks ago, many incarcerated firefighters were isolated in lockdown after potential exposure to the coronavirus sidelined more than half of the inmate crews, depriving California of a key firefighting resource as it entered peak fire season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, officials with the California Department of Corrections and and Rehabilitation say all fire camp inmates at the fire camps have been released from quarantine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But since July 10, the state has sent home at least 700 inmates from the camps, including 331 firefighters and the rest in support roles, through an early-release order in the wake of COVID-19’s deadly spread through state prisons, including San Quentin in Marin County, resulting in thousands of infections and dozens of deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Releasing the inmates has left the state with far fewer incarcerated firefighters than it could deploy in recent years. As of Aug. 20, more than 1,300 inmates from California’s state prison system were battling 19 different fires across the state, including the big complex blazes in the Bay Area. But in 2018, California had 3,500 firefighter inmates on hand, down from 4,300 two years before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday minimized the effect of the early prisoner releases on the state’s firefighting capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Precisely to address that issue, precisely to address that concern,” he said, in July he authorized $72 million for the hire of 858 seasonal firefighters as replacements for the freed inmates. “We did it in anticipation. We didn’t react.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Thom Porter, director of Cal Fire, acknowledged during a July press conference that the agency doesn’t “expect this season to make it to full capacity with inmate crews.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Fathi, director of the ACLU National Prison Project, says he’s especially concerned inmates will have to work “harder, longer” because of the reduced number of incarcerated fire crews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are not people who are doing telemarketing or folding laundry,” he said. “This is dangerous work, working with very dangerous tools like chainsaws and axes, with longer hours and less rest. Fatigue obviously increases the risk of accidents.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Despite those risks and the backbreaking work, some prisoners have taken to the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, you can take Samantha Vetter out of prison fire camp early, but you can’t take the wildland firefighter out of Samantha Vetter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state paroled the inmate firefighter early, and now all she can think about is getting back to work. She arrived at the Puerta La Cruz Conservation Camp in Southern California in the spring, just as the coronavirus began to spread in prison facilities. She spent most of this fire season with an all-female inmate crew battling fires in Southern California. She was battling the Apple Fire, a 30,000 acre-plus blaze, when her release came through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At various points, Vetter worked every position in her hand crew, which operates in a hook-line formation and is divided into cutting and scraping sections using chainsaws, shovels, rakes and other hand tools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, she’s living at the Santa Cruz County Gemma Transitional House, a short drive from where she grew up in the San Lorenzo Valley, where fires are currently ripping through a dense forest that hasn’t burned in 50 years. Her mother and other family members have been evacuated from their homes in Ben Lomond and elsewhere. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My hometown is on fire right now,” she said. “It’s hard sitting here knowing that the ash that’s raining down on me now is the redwoods that I grew up around, burning up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Criminal justice advocates have long criticized California’s use of prison labor to fight fires. Besides a pay rate that tops out at a few dollars a day, inmates face an uphill battle getting hired as firefighters after they’re released, due to their felony records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Very few can get full-time firefighting jobs, says Sonja Tonnesen-Casalengo, deputy director of Root & Rebound, a prison reentry advocacy group, especially since county departments require hirees have their paramedic license.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There needs to be a pathway to sustainable long-term careers as firefighters,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, Vetter says, she was motivated to go to fire camp to knock time off her sentence. But she loved the work, wants to continue fighting fires as a civilian and has enrolled in wildfire safety classes at a community college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As fires ripped through the forests she frequented as a kid, Vetter called the Cal Fire stations in Santa Cruz to see if she could volunteer to help. Officials told her she could assist at an evacuation center, but they wouldn’t let her join the fire line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1926793/protecting-your-health-from-toxic-wildfire-smoke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Read in English\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Las personas en el camino del humo de un incendio forestal deben de tomar ciertas medidas de precaución para proteger sus pulmones. Las personas de edad avanzada, niños e individuos con problemas del corazón o respiratorias son particularmente recomendadas que filtren su aire, limiten sus actividades al aire libre o dejar el área afectada temporalmente.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los niños son especialmente vulnerables a la contaminación de humo porque sus vías respiratorias siguen creciendo y respiran más aire por libra para su peso que los adultos, de acuerdo con información de los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aquí le presentamos los pasos que puede tomar para protegerse a usted y sus seres queridos de los peligros del humo de los incendios forestales:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Revise los reportes locales de la calidad de aire:\u003c/strong> Para actualización en tiempo real de la calidad del aire en su vecindario, entre su código postal en el \u003ca href=\"https://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.local_state&stateid=5&mapcenter=0&tabs=0\">sito web\u003c/a> de la Agencia de Protección Ambiental.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Mantenga limpio el aire interior:\u003c/strong> Mantenga cerradas las ventanas de su casa y de su carro. Puede tener el aire acondicionado, pero mantenga el flujo de aire exterior cerrado para prevenir exponerse a humo o residuos de humo. El California Air Resources Board recomienda limpiadores de aire mecánicos con eficiencia alta para aire particular, conocido como HEPA. El filtro de este recoleta particular pequeñas y no emite ozono u otras substancias dañinas. Estos limpiadores de aire pueden reducir drásticamente los niveles de partículas en sitios interiores, en algunos casos más de 9 porcino. Vea algunos limpiadores que están certificados y son legales en California en este \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/research/indoor/aircleaners/certified.htm\">enlace\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>En hogares sin aire acondicionado, mantenga puertas y ventanas cerradas.\u003c/strong> Esto puede reducir los \u003ca href=\"https://www3.epa.gov/airnow/wildfire_may2016.pdf\">niveles de contaminación\u003c/a> a hasta un 50 por ciento.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Evite actividades que incrementen la contaminación del aire en espacios interiores.\u003c/strong> Prender velas, cocinas en estufas de gas y usar aspiradoras puede aumentar la contaminación del aire.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Lávese su nariz y haga gárgaras con agua limpia.\u003c/strong> Haga esto cinco veces hasta que el humo baje.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Báñese y lave su ropa después de estar afuera de su casa.\u003c/strong>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Use un cubrebocas si lo hace sentir mejor, pero elija con detenimiento. \u003c/strong>Ferreterías y farmacias venden cubrebocas N95 que filtran pequeñas partículas, pero pueden ser difíciles de conseguir debido a la pandemia de coronavirus. Funcionarios de salud pública advierten que estos cubrebocas no funcionan bien para todos, y no funcionan tan bien como quedarse en su casa y cerrar las ventanas. Las opciones menos efectivas son los cubrebocas de papel para el polvo o los cubrebocas medicos que van alrededor de las orejas, estas no protegen de particular pequeñas.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Es importante mencionar que los cubrebocas de tela, como los que se usan para prevenir los contagios de covid-19, no le protegen de las partículas en el aire que se encuentran en el humo de los incendios. \u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch3>¿Qué se encuentra dentro del humo de los incendios forestales?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>El humo de los incendios forestales es una mezcla de gases y partículas, incluyendo al dióxido de carbono, vapor de agua, monóxido de carbon, hidrocarburos y otros químicos orgánicos, oxido de nitrógeno y minerales. Hay miles de compuestos individuales, muchos de ellos tóxicos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pero lo que más preocupa a los doctores es la materia particular en el humo, las pequeñas partes de polvo y hollín parecido al polvo. La mayoría de estos son invisibles a la vista. Los más preocupantes son las partículas con menos de 10 micrones de ancho, conocidos como PM 10. Como comparación, el cabello humano tiene un ancho de 60 micrones. Los doctores también le temen al subconjunto conocido como PM 2.5, que es materia particular que es menos de 2.5 micrones de ancho.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Estas partículas pequeñas viajan rápido por los pulmones, incluso, las más pequeñas pueden entrar al flujo sanguíneo. Las partículas más pequeñas son las más ligeras por lo que pueden viajar largas distancias en el viento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Las particles dañan al cuerpo primeramente al entrar al el, activando reacciones inflamatorias que pueden activar dificultades respiratorias, ataques al corazón e incluso infartos. 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Las personas de edad avanzada, niños e individuos con problemas del corazón o respiratorias son particularmente recomendadas que filtren su aire, limiten sus actividades al aire libre o dejar el área afectada temporalmente.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los niños son especialmente vulnerables a la contaminación de humo porque sus vías respiratorias siguen creciendo y respiran más aire por libra para su peso que los adultos, de acuerdo con información de los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aquí le presentamos los pasos que puede tomar para protegerse a usted y sus seres queridos de los peligros del humo de los incendios forestales:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Revise los reportes locales de la calidad de aire:\u003c/strong> Para actualización en tiempo real de la calidad del aire en su vecindario, entre su código postal en el \u003ca href=\"https://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.local_state&stateid=5&mapcenter=0&tabs=0\">sito web\u003c/a> de la Agencia de Protección Ambiental.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Mantenga limpio el aire interior:\u003c/strong> Mantenga cerradas las ventanas de su casa y de su carro. Puede tener el aire acondicionado, pero mantenga el flujo de aire exterior cerrado para prevenir exponerse a humo o residuos de humo. El California Air Resources Board recomienda limpiadores de aire mecánicos con eficiencia alta para aire particular, conocido como HEPA. El filtro de este recoleta particular pequeñas y no emite ozono u otras substancias dañinas. Estos limpiadores de aire pueden reducir drásticamente los niveles de partículas en sitios interiores, en algunos casos más de 9 porcino. Vea algunos limpiadores que están certificados y son legales en California en este \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/research/indoor/aircleaners/certified.htm\">enlace\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>En hogares sin aire acondicionado, mantenga puertas y ventanas cerradas.\u003c/strong> Esto puede reducir los \u003ca href=\"https://www3.epa.gov/airnow/wildfire_may2016.pdf\">niveles de contaminación\u003c/a> a hasta un 50 por ciento.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Evite actividades que incrementen la contaminación del aire en espacios interiores.\u003c/strong> Prender velas, cocinas en estufas de gas y usar aspiradoras puede aumentar la contaminación del aire.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Lávese su nariz y haga gárgaras con agua limpia.\u003c/strong> Haga esto cinco veces hasta que el humo baje.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Báñese y lave su ropa después de estar afuera de su casa.\u003c/strong>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Use un cubrebocas si lo hace sentir mejor, pero elija con detenimiento. \u003c/strong>Ferreterías y farmacias venden cubrebocas N95 que filtran pequeñas partículas, pero pueden ser difíciles de conseguir debido a la pandemia de coronavirus. 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"title": "Bay Area Experiences Worst Air Quality in the World Due to Wildfires",
"headTitle": "Bay Area Experiences Worst Air Quality in the World Due to Wildfires | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated Aug. 21\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months of following shelter-at-home orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bay Area residents now have another reason to stay inside: dangerously poor air quality from a series of wildfires, which continue to burn out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1930023/map-heres-your-daily-air-quality-report-for-the-bay-area\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Air Quality Index\u003c/a> in the region degenerated to \u003ca href=\"https://waqi.info/#/c/2.436/50.934/1.4z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">worst-in-the-world \u003c/a>status this week, with the unhealthiest conditions south, east and northeast of San Francisco, as smoke spread outward from the LNU, SCU and CZU Lightning Complex fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials are urging people in areas where the air is classified as “unhealthy” — displayed as red on color-coded maps — to stay indoors, particularly those with respiratory conditions such as asthma and COPD, as well as older adults, children and teens. For those who have to go out, the recommendation is to avoid strenuous outdoor activities or to shorten the amount of time outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The forecast calls for the air to stay unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as those with heart or lung disease, throughout the weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.lung.org/clean-air/emergencies-and-natural-disasters/wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">American Lung Association in California\u003c/a> offered the following advice for local residents struggling with the simultaneous health risks of smoke, extreme heat and COVID-19:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Stay inside as much as possible, with doors, windows and fireplace dampers shut — and clean air circulating through air conditioners and/or air cleaners. Residents should use the recirculation setting on their home air conditioners to avoid outdoor air contamination. Using whole house fans is not recommended because they can allow unfiltered outside air into the home.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Those with chronic lung disease are encouraged to gather all their medications, delivery devices, prescriptions and insurance cards in one spot so they can quickly be transported in the event of an evacuation.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>If evacuating, remember to continue to follow guidance around COVID-19 such as practicing social distancing, wearing a cloth face covering and using hand sanitizer.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Contact a physician immediately if lung disease symptoms worsen or are not relieved by the usual medicines. Seek medical attention if experiencing wheezing, shortness of breath, difficulty taking a full breath, chest heaviness, lightheadedness, and dizziness.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Avoid exercising outdoors, particularly if you smell smoke or experience eye or throat irritation.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For those returning to a fire-damaged home, limit exposure to ash by wearing protective clothing, gloves, goggles and a fitted N95 mask, if available. Note that a cloth mask, such as those often used to prevent the spread of COVID-19, will not adequately protect lungs from particles found in wildfire smoke.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Breathing particulate-heavy air could make people more susceptible to the novel coronavirus, says Dr. Madhavi Dandu, professor of medicine at UCSF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A\u003cspan data-pm-slice='1 1 [\"paragraph-wrapper\",null,\"paragraph\",null]'>ir pollution and all type of particulate matter, but especially the particulate 2.5 that we see in fires, can really impact both lung health as well as just general immune health,” Dandu said. “O\u003c/span>\u003cspan data-pm-slice='1 1 [\"paragraph-wrapper\",null,\"paragraph\",null]'>ne of the things that it does is destroy these little hairs that we call cilia that are in the lungs, which are ways to protect the lungs. They basically wipe off the germs, or spread off the germs, so that they don’t eventually get into the bloodstream.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dandu says given the health risks associated with breathing in smoke, “staying out of the polluted air if at all possible is the safest thing to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong> ‘A Very Complicated Situation’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp id=\"x_docs-internal-guid-f791b892-7fff-1715-bcab-9128ac424c34\" dir=\"ltr\">Considering the array of disasters the region is now facing, Solano County Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas says, the choices for staying safe are no longer cut and dried, and the confluence of heat and wildfire smoke amid the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic is making an already difficult situation worse, particularly for people with underlying health conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">For instance, for the many people in the region without air conditioning, cooled public spaces like movie theaters, malls and libraries are closed due to the pandemic. So some people now face the hard trade-off between opening the windows to get relief from the heat and breathing in the smoke that it allows in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">“This is a very complicated situation. There is no perfect solution here, because solutions for one exacerbate the other,” Matyas said. “And so the compromise of trying to protect against all of these multiple things happening at the same time is the best that we can do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">For people with a respiratory illness, breathing in wildfire smoke can be especially dangerous, he says. But those without underlying health concerns might consider opening the windows to cool their living space for a short time before closing them again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">For the most vulnerable, the county is operating three combined cooling-evacuation centers, Matyas says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">He called it “a little bit tricky, because as people are showing up, we need to screen them [for COVID-19]. But a lot of the symptoms that we screen for are actually created by the smoke. So a person shows up at an evacuation site coughing and short of breath, who’s just come from an evacuated zone within the fire. How do you know that it’s the smoke that did that as opposed to COVID?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">As for facial coverings, he distinguished between the less protective masks people are using to slow the spread of the coronavirus with the N95s that filter out harmful smoke particles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">“If you’re going to be going to a congregating environment like an evacuation center, by all means, bring your [anticoronavirus] mask so that when you’re indoors, you can maintain social distancing,” he said. “But I don’t think you can rely on masks as one of the elements of the strategy to protect against the smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">“N95 would be an appropriate type of mask to wear to protect yourself from dust and smoke. But those masks aren’t available” because of a shortage caused by the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">In San Francisco, which spent much of the day engulfed in air classified as “unhealthy,” either for sensitive groups or the general population, Mayor London Breed put the latest crises in the context of a warming globe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">“The effects of climate change are already being felt,” she said, “and sadly we know events like these are only going to become more common with drier weather and hotter temperatures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">\u003cem>Jon Brooks and Danielle Venton contributed to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated Aug. 21\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months of following shelter-at-home orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bay Area residents now have another reason to stay inside: dangerously poor air quality from a series of wildfires, which continue to burn out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1930023/map-heres-your-daily-air-quality-report-for-the-bay-area\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Air Quality Index\u003c/a> in the region degenerated to \u003ca href=\"https://waqi.info/#/c/2.436/50.934/1.4z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">worst-in-the-world \u003c/a>status this week, with the unhealthiest conditions south, east and northeast of San Francisco, as smoke spread outward from the LNU, SCU and CZU Lightning Complex fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials are urging people in areas where the air is classified as “unhealthy” — displayed as red on color-coded maps — to stay indoors, particularly those with respiratory conditions such as asthma and COPD, as well as older adults, children and teens. For those who have to go out, the recommendation is to avoid strenuous outdoor activities or to shorten the amount of time outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The forecast calls for the air to stay unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as those with heart or lung disease, throughout the weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.lung.org/clean-air/emergencies-and-natural-disasters/wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">American Lung Association in California\u003c/a> offered the following advice for local residents struggling with the simultaneous health risks of smoke, extreme heat and COVID-19:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Stay inside as much as possible, with doors, windows and fireplace dampers shut — and clean air circulating through air conditioners and/or air cleaners. Residents should use the recirculation setting on their home air conditioners to avoid outdoor air contamination. Using whole house fans is not recommended because they can allow unfiltered outside air into the home.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Those with chronic lung disease are encouraged to gather all their medications, delivery devices, prescriptions and insurance cards in one spot so they can quickly be transported in the event of an evacuation.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>If evacuating, remember to continue to follow guidance around COVID-19 such as practicing social distancing, wearing a cloth face covering and using hand sanitizer.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Contact a physician immediately if lung disease symptoms worsen or are not relieved by the usual medicines. Seek medical attention if experiencing wheezing, shortness of breath, difficulty taking a full breath, chest heaviness, lightheadedness, and dizziness.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Avoid exercising outdoors, particularly if you smell smoke or experience eye or throat irritation.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For those returning to a fire-damaged home, limit exposure to ash by wearing protective clothing, gloves, goggles and a fitted N95 mask, if available. Note that a cloth mask, such as those often used to prevent the spread of COVID-19, will not adequately protect lungs from particles found in wildfire smoke.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Breathing particulate-heavy air could make people more susceptible to the novel coronavirus, says Dr. Madhavi Dandu, professor of medicine at UCSF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A\u003cspan data-pm-slice='1 1 [\"paragraph-wrapper\",null,\"paragraph\",null]'>ir pollution and all type of particulate matter, but especially the particulate 2.5 that we see in fires, can really impact both lung health as well as just general immune health,” Dandu said. “O\u003c/span>\u003cspan data-pm-slice='1 1 [\"paragraph-wrapper\",null,\"paragraph\",null]'>ne of the things that it does is destroy these little hairs that we call cilia that are in the lungs, which are ways to protect the lungs. They basically wipe off the germs, or spread off the germs, so that they don’t eventually get into the bloodstream.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dandu says given the health risks associated with breathing in smoke, “staying out of the polluted air if at all possible is the safest thing to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong> ‘A Very Complicated Situation’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp id=\"x_docs-internal-guid-f791b892-7fff-1715-bcab-9128ac424c34\" dir=\"ltr\">Considering the array of disasters the region is now facing, Solano County Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas says, the choices for staying safe are no longer cut and dried, and the confluence of heat and wildfire smoke amid the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic is making an already difficult situation worse, particularly for people with underlying health conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">For instance, for the many people in the region without air conditioning, cooled public spaces like movie theaters, malls and libraries are closed due to the pandemic. So some people now face the hard trade-off between opening the windows to get relief from the heat and breathing in the smoke that it allows in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">“This is a very complicated situation. There is no perfect solution here, because solutions for one exacerbate the other,” Matyas said. “And so the compromise of trying to protect against all of these multiple things happening at the same time is the best that we can do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">For people with a respiratory illness, breathing in wildfire smoke can be especially dangerous, he says. But those without underlying health concerns might consider opening the windows to cool their living space for a short time before closing them again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">For the most vulnerable, the county is operating three combined cooling-evacuation centers, Matyas says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">He called it “a little bit tricky, because as people are showing up, we need to screen them [for COVID-19]. But a lot of the symptoms that we screen for are actually created by the smoke. So a person shows up at an evacuation site coughing and short of breath, who’s just come from an evacuated zone within the fire. How do you know that it’s the smoke that did that as opposed to COVID?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">As for facial coverings, he distinguished between the less protective masks people are using to slow the spread of the coronavirus with the N95s that filter out harmful smoke particles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">“If you’re going to be going to a congregating environment like an evacuation center, by all means, bring your [anticoronavirus] mask so that when you’re indoors, you can maintain social distancing,” he said. “But I don’t think you can rely on masks as one of the elements of the strategy to protect against the smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">“N95 would be an appropriate type of mask to wear to protect yourself from dust and smoke. But those masks aren’t available” because of a shortage caused by the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">In San Francisco, which spent much of the day engulfed in air classified as “unhealthy,” either for sensitive groups or the general population, Mayor London Breed put the latest crises in the context of a warming globe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">“The effects of climate change are already being felt,” she said, “and sadly we know events like these are only going to become more common with drier weather and hotter temperatures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\">\u003cem>Jon Brooks and Danielle Venton contributed to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "High Temperatures, Humidity to Bake Bay Area Through Next Week",
"headTitle": "High Temperatures, Humidity to Bake Bay Area Through Next Week | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>A long heat wave is settling in across most of California, threatening wildfires and raising public health risks that include the spread of COVID-19 over the next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not a dry heat, either. Temperatures will feel worse than usual, especially overnight, as a result of an unusual boost in atmospheric humidity caused by the remnants of a hurricane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Friday, high temperatures around the Bay Area included 109 in Fairfield, 103 in Petaluma and 103 in Santa Rosa, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/map/?obs=true&wfo=mtr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Weather Service\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climatologist Daniel Swain says some coastal areas will escape the most unbearable temperatures, but that heat will blanket 90% of California’s land mass, so most people should get ready.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I suspect this event will probably end up being one of the most significant widespread California extreme heat events in the past decade, if not longer,” \u003ca href=\"https://weatherwest.com/archives/7427\">writes \u003c/a>Swain on his Weather West blog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Weather_West/status/1294275589487067139\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning in effect through next Wednesday, noting that “drastic temperature differences will exist” between the coast and further inland, raising fears that Californians will flock to coastal areas despite the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/CAL_FIRE/status/1293649657222946816\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has issued a red flag warning for the Sierra foothills and parts of northeastern California through next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, that won’t necessarily prompt a public safety power shutdown. A spokeswoman for PG&E says the utility’s in-house meteorologists take other factors into consideration, and the utility does not forsee issuing a PSPS this weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County emergency and health officials are offering air conditioning at cooling centers for residents seeking a respite from the heat. Everyone will have to wear a mask and observe social distancing requirements, and capacity will be reduced to comply with health orders. People who believe they might have been exposed to COVID-19 should stay home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/SCC_OES/status/1294052556478377984\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://www.sccgov.org/sites/oes/residents/Pages/hot-weather-information.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1WV-S45wq6VB6xY4Q3ER7BEFLl3Wxq8tiPYEzRiKdvCWDYmwKFN7jpXzA\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>, the Office of Emergency Management has opened cooling centers, some of which will be available until 9 p.m. over the weekend. \u003ca href=\"https://www.contracosta.ca.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2295\">Contra Costa\u003c/a> has opened cooling centers at community centers where the coronavirus has curtailed the usual programs and services. Solano County cooling centers are usually in libraries; since they’re closed on weekends, few options remain, including at community centers in Fairfield. The county recommends calling first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/heatrisk/?&zoom=7.6000000000000005¢er=39.16,-121.49&basemap=OpenStreetMap%20WOC&boundaries=true,true,false,false&products=false,false,false&opacity=80\">You can use NOAA’s experimental tool\u003c/a> to see more about your heat risk over the next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health officials advise drinking water, keeping children and pets away from heat whenever possible, and checking on older neighbors, especially if they are alone.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A long heat wave is settling in across most of California, threatening wildfires and raising public health risks that include the spread of COVID-19 over the next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not a dry heat, either. Temperatures will feel worse than usual, especially overnight, as a result of an unusual boost in atmospheric humidity caused by the remnants of a hurricane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Friday, high temperatures around the Bay Area included 109 in Fairfield, 103 in Petaluma and 103 in Santa Rosa, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/map/?obs=true&wfo=mtr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Weather Service\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climatologist Daniel Swain says some coastal areas will escape the most unbearable temperatures, but that heat will blanket 90% of California’s land mass, so most people should get ready.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I suspect this event will probably end up being one of the most significant widespread California extreme heat events in the past decade, if not longer,” \u003ca href=\"https://weatherwest.com/archives/7427\">writes \u003c/a>Swain on his Weather West blog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has issued a red flag warning for the Sierra foothills and parts of northeastern California through next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, that won’t necessarily prompt a public safety power shutdown. A spokeswoman for PG&E says the utility’s in-house meteorologists take other factors into consideration, and the utility does not forsee issuing a PSPS this weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County emergency and health officials are offering air conditioning at cooling centers for residents seeking a respite from the heat. Everyone will have to wear a mask and observe social distancing requirements, and capacity will be reduced to comply with health orders. People who believe they might have been exposed to COVID-19 should stay home.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://www.sccgov.org/sites/oes/residents/Pages/hot-weather-information.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1WV-S45wq6VB6xY4Q3ER7BEFLl3Wxq8tiPYEzRiKdvCWDYmwKFN7jpXzA\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>, the Office of Emergency Management has opened cooling centers, some of which will be available until 9 p.m. over the weekend. \u003ca href=\"https://www.contracosta.ca.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2295\">Contra Costa\u003c/a> has opened cooling centers at community centers where the coronavirus has curtailed the usual programs and services. Solano County cooling centers are usually in libraries; since they’re closed on weekends, few options remain, including at community centers in Fairfield. The county recommends calling first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/heatrisk/?&zoom=7.6000000000000005¢er=39.16,-121.49&basemap=OpenStreetMap%20WOC&boundaries=true,true,false,false&products=false,false,false&opacity=80\">You can use NOAA’s experimental tool\u003c/a> to see more about your heat risk over the next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health officials advise drinking water, keeping children and pets away from heat whenever possible, and checking on older neighbors, especially if they are alone.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Millions of Older Californians Live Where Wildfire Threatens. Mostly, They're on Their Own",
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"headTitle": "Millions of Older Californians Live Where Wildfire Threatens. Mostly, They’re on Their Own | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The fire refugees kept calling, all of them elderly, all of them newly homeless after Paradise burned in 2018. Some 70 miles to the south in Grass Valley, Katrina Hardin answered those calls. Hardin managed a senior apartment complex — none were available, so she begged her friends to open up their spare rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The demographics of the victims haunted her: About three-quarters of those who died in the Camp Fire were over the age of 65. Same with the fires that ravaged Sonoma and Napa the year before. Hardin fears for people in her own Nevada County, known as a haven for retirees, where 96% of the land is at heightened risk for wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve got all these elderly people — their sons and daughters may be living in Southern California, in the Bay Area, in another state,” Hardin said. “The elderly are living by themselves here with just their neighbors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the state, about 2 million people age 65 and older live in areas where wildfire is a serious threat, according to a KQED and CalMatters investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But at the state and county level, no public agency has legal responsibility for ensuring that these older adults are able to evacuate in a disaster. The county response involves alerting residents of immediate danger and providing evacuation shelter, but not the evacuation in between.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch2>Areas Prone to Fire\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdtnfz8v0d2g19np5x4wcru3/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.6255em\">\u003cstrong>Credit:\u003c/strong> Lisa Pickoff-White/KQED and Lo Bénichou/CalMatters\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Source:\u003c/strong> Cal Fire’s \u003ca href=\"https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/789d5286736248f69c4515c04f58f414\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fire Hazard Severity Zones\u003c/a>, SILVIS lab at the University of Wisconsin \u003ca href=\"http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wildland Urban Interface\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.naturalearthdata.com/\">Natural Earth\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>“There is no regulatory mandate for us to check on individuals,” said Tamaran Cook, former head of adult services and in-home health services for Nevada County. “There’s nothing statutory that’s consistent across all the counties in the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county has generally relied on aggressive outreach to help people with fire preparation — hosting informational meetings, sending newsletters. The county even produced a movie trailer that plays at the beginning of films in theaters, featuring people packing go bags and cleaning gutters. The county asks people not to overburden 911. Across formats the message is consistent: get yourself ready, because if a fire comes, you’re on your own.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Warning the Elderly Only Goes So Far\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Last year, the state launched an effort focused on locating and warning people deemed especially vulnerable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re looking at seniors. You’re looking at people with disabilities. You’re looking at people in poverty. You’re looking at non-English-speakers,” said Karen Baker, the co-director of \u003ca href=\"https://www.listoscalifornia.org/\">Listos\u003c/a>, a program of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.\u003cbr>\n[aside label=\"Older and Overlooked\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44306_GettyImages-1059345394-qut.jpg\" heroURL=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968076\" link1=\"https://data.kqed.org/olderandoverlooked/index.html,See How Wildfires Endanger Older Californians -- and Find Out If Your Address Is in a Fire-Prone Area\" link2=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968076/even-after-care-homes-abandoned-residents-california-still-isnt-ready-for-wildfires,Even After Care Homes Abandoned Residents, California Still Isn't Ready for Wildfires\" link3=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968093,The Questions to Ask Your Loved One's Facility\" link4=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968174/how-we-analyzed-where-older-californians-are-at-increased-risk-for-wildfire,How We Analyzed Where Older Californians Are at Increased Risk for Wildfire\"]In 2019, Listos granted $50 million to dozens of nonprofit and community groups, and created vulnerability assessments for every county in the state. In Napa and Sonoma counties, Listos has worked with volunteer and religious groups to offer go bags, gift cards and free produce to encourage low-income seniors to come to emergency training sessions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Sonoma, emergency managers facing growing public expectations after multiple fires \u003ca href=\"https://socoemergency.org/prepare/get-ready/stay-informed/\">have promoted\u003c/a> new alert systems — including a NOAA weather radio that can shake the bed when someone’s sleeping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, advocates say, the elderly are overrepresented in death counts after wildfires and during the current coronavirus pandemic, where nursing homes have been particularly hard hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If these were children’s hospitals and children were dying like wildfire in them, there would be a very different community response than there is now,” said Debbie Toth, CEO of Choice in Aging, an advocacy group for seniors living independently. “Like, ‘These are just disposable people: They’re elderly, they’re at the end of their life anyway, there’s no value there.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Elderly People, in Particular, Suffer After Disasters\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Disasters destabilize older adults, geographically, physically, financially and emotionally. Every bit of that happened to Jerry Canaday, 68, when he lost his home in the 2017 Tubbs Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If rescuers came that night, Jerry Canaday slept through the knock at the door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The noise of the fire woke him. “Like a storm,” he said. He walked out his door to see chunks of debris, in flames, falling heavy through the sky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Canaday drove himself out of his Santa Rosa neighborhood, sleeping in his car that first night. Then he moved to an evacuation shelter set up at Finley Community Center. Weeks after the fire, some other men shook him awake in his cot when he almost stopped breathing. Doctors in the emergency room blamed the combined effects of smoke inhalation, pneumonia and heart failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1968441\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1968441 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"Jerry Canaday, 68, likes to say he's going on 31, even after the Tubbs Fire took his money and his health.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jerry Canaday, 68, likes to say he’s going on 31, even after the Tubbs Fire took his money and his health. \u003ccite>(Molly Peterson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Canaday’s house was uninsured. After it burned to the ground, he called a FEMA trailer home for almost two years. He stayed longer than FEMA intended, because it was so hard to find a room to rent that he could afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s another one of those, one step forward, 12 steps back,” he said.\u003cbr>\nCanaday’s new residence is in a risky area, by KQED’s analysis. He can no longer drive, his license suspended for medical reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel isolated,” Canaday said. “I don’t feel connected so much as I’d like to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, evacuation orders forced Canaday from his latest home when the Kincade Fire threatened Santa Rosa. Even his cat, Gigi, is a refugee from the Camp Fire in Butte County — a constant reminder of their shared survival, and risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just when you think you’re safe and nothing’s going to happen,” he said, “here it comes again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11785247/a-year-after-the-camp-fire-locals-are-rebuilding-paradise\">Californians\u003c/a> don’t like being told where to live, even after a disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why we have to \u003ca href=\"https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=41379\">learn to live with wildfire\u003c/a> and adapt to the increasing risks brought by climate change, says Max Moritz, a UC Cooperative Extension wildfire specialist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To finally come to a coexistence with wildfire: that is a whole different way of thinking and living with a given hazard,” he said. “It means that we have to be ready for them and we have to look out for the most vulnerable people when they do come.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Building a Community to Save One\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rosemarie Reeder and her neighbors have decided to develop a buddy system to look out for the most vulnerable among them. Nevada County has one of the highest rates of residents over 65 in the state: 24.4 compared to the statewide average of 16.5, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a lot of retirement up here,” she said. “Various people have walkers, some are in wheelchairs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1968442\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1968442\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"Rosemarie Reeder (left) and Katrina Hardin (right) in Grass Valley during December 2019.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosemarie Reeder (left) and Katrina Harden (right) in Grass Valley during December 2019. \u003ccite>(April Dembosky/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Their buddy system is mainly informal pairings at the moment, she says, verbal agreements between neighbors decided while out walking the dog or pushing the stroller. Reeder would like them to make a more formal list, and she wants them to practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the coronavirus pandemic, her \u003ca href=\"https://www.gvfireadapted.org/\">neighborhood fire coalition\u003c/a> had planned to do a full evacuation drill, where everyone would get in their cars and drive the roads they would follow to get out of town during a fire. Reeder wants them to also rehearse buddies checking on each other. And she wants other towns across the state to follow their lead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s vitally needed, especially in these days, with as much climate change as we have had, we really don’t know what’s coming next and we need to prepare for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The majority of California land is fire-prone, according to an analysis by KQED and CalMatters of state-designated fire zones and scientific maps showing where wildland meets cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 23 counties, more than 75% of people age 65 or older live in risky areas, according to a KQED and CalMatters analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch2>Counties Where Older People Largely Live in Fire-Prone Areas\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdus88pl1ghn19rvkvdkm7ry/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.6255em\">\u003cstrong>Credit:\u003c/strong> Lisa Pickoff-White/KQED and Lo Bénichou/CalMatters\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Source:\u003c/strong> Cal Fire’s \u003ca href=\"https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/789d5286736248f69c4515c04f58f414\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fire Hazard Severity Zones\u003c/a>, SILVIS lab at the University of Wisconsin \u003ca href=\"http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wildland Urban Interface\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.naturalearthdata.com/\">Natural Earth\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://ipums.org/\">5-year 2018 American Community Survey\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Katrina Hardin says the old-fashioned, in-person connection of the buddy system is key for older folks like her mom who don’t use social media outlets the county and community increasingly rely on to share wildfire information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is really the most important area to have a buddy because you’re dealing with people who are used to communicating face to face,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until recently, Hardin lived with her mom and would do all her Googling and social media surfing for her. She played the police scanner app on her phone constantly, while they did housework together and for hours before bed, to monitor for wildfire activity, because she knows the fires will keep coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can see what happened at the Camp Fire, but who is doing something different so it doesn’t happen to us?” Hardin said. “Apparently, it’s my responsibility. It’s my mom’s responsibility. It’s not the authorities’ responsibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CalMatters contributed data analysis, editing and graphic design to this project. \u003ca href=\"http://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters.org\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/\">Capital Public Radio\u003c/a> contributed photos to this series. As the NPR member station based in Sacramento, CapRadio serves California’s Capital region, Central Valley and Sierra Nevada.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The fire refugees kept calling, all of them elderly, all of them newly homeless after Paradise burned in 2018. Some 70 miles to the south in Grass Valley, Katrina Hardin answered those calls. Hardin managed a senior apartment complex — none were available, so she begged her friends to open up their spare rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The demographics of the victims haunted her: About three-quarters of those who died in the Camp Fire were over the age of 65. Same with the fires that ravaged Sonoma and Napa the year before. Hardin fears for people in her own Nevada County, known as a haven for retirees, where 96% of the land is at heightened risk for wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve got all these elderly people — their sons and daughters may be living in Southern California, in the Bay Area, in another state,” Hardin said. “The elderly are living by themselves here with just their neighbors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the state, about 2 million people age 65 and older live in areas where wildfire is a serious threat, according to a KQED and CalMatters investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But at the state and county level, no public agency has legal responsibility for ensuring that these older adults are able to evacuate in a disaster. The county response involves alerting residents of immediate danger and providing evacuation shelter, but not the evacuation in between.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch2>Areas Prone to Fire\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdtnfz8v0d2g19np5x4wcru3/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.6255em\">\u003cstrong>Credit:\u003c/strong> Lisa Pickoff-White/KQED and Lo Bénichou/CalMatters\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Source:\u003c/strong> Cal Fire’s \u003ca href=\"https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/789d5286736248f69c4515c04f58f414\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fire Hazard Severity Zones\u003c/a>, SILVIS lab at the University of Wisconsin \u003ca href=\"http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wildland Urban Interface\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.naturalearthdata.com/\">Natural Earth\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>“There is no regulatory mandate for us to check on individuals,” said Tamaran Cook, former head of adult services and in-home health services for Nevada County. “There’s nothing statutory that’s consistent across all the counties in the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county has generally relied on aggressive outreach to help people with fire preparation — hosting informational meetings, sending newsletters. The county even produced a movie trailer that plays at the beginning of films in theaters, featuring people packing go bags and cleaning gutters. The county asks people not to overburden 911. Across formats the message is consistent: get yourself ready, because if a fire comes, you’re on your own.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Warning the Elderly Only Goes So Far\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Last year, the state launched an effort focused on locating and warning people deemed especially vulnerable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re looking at seniors. You’re looking at people with disabilities. You’re looking at people in poverty. You’re looking at non-English-speakers,” said Karen Baker, the co-director of \u003ca href=\"https://www.listoscalifornia.org/\">Listos\u003c/a>, a program of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"link1": "https://data.kqed.org/olderandoverlooked/index.html,See How Wildfires Endanger Older Californians -- and Find Out If Your Address Is in a Fire-Prone Area",
"link2": "https://www.kqed.org/science/1968076/even-after-care-homes-abandoned-residents-california-still-isnt-ready-for-wildfires,Even After Care Homes Abandoned Residents, California Still Isn't Ready for Wildfires",
"link3": "https://www.kqed.org/science/1968093,The Questions to Ask Your Loved One's Facility",
"link4": "https://www.kqed.org/science/1968174/how-we-analyzed-where-older-californians-are-at-increased-risk-for-wildfire,How We Analyzed Where Older Californians Are at Increased Risk for Wildfire"
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In 2019, Listos granted $50 million to dozens of nonprofit and community groups, and created vulnerability assessments for every county in the state. In Napa and Sonoma counties, Listos has worked with volunteer and religious groups to offer go bags, gift cards and free produce to encourage low-income seniors to come to emergency training sessions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Sonoma, emergency managers facing growing public expectations after multiple fires \u003ca href=\"https://socoemergency.org/prepare/get-ready/stay-informed/\">have promoted\u003c/a> new alert systems — including a NOAA weather radio that can shake the bed when someone’s sleeping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, advocates say, the elderly are overrepresented in death counts after wildfires and during the current coronavirus pandemic, where nursing homes have been particularly hard hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If these were children’s hospitals and children were dying like wildfire in them, there would be a very different community response than there is now,” said Debbie Toth, CEO of Choice in Aging, an advocacy group for seniors living independently. “Like, ‘These are just disposable people: They’re elderly, they’re at the end of their life anyway, there’s no value there.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Elderly People, in Particular, Suffer After Disasters\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Disasters destabilize older adults, geographically, physically, financially and emotionally. Every bit of that happened to Jerry Canaday, 68, when he lost his home in the 2017 Tubbs Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If rescuers came that night, Jerry Canaday slept through the knock at the door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The noise of the fire woke him. “Like a storm,” he said. He walked out his door to see chunks of debris, in flames, falling heavy through the sky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Canaday drove himself out of his Santa Rosa neighborhood, sleeping in his car that first night. Then he moved to an evacuation shelter set up at Finley Community Center. Weeks after the fire, some other men shook him awake in his cot when he almost stopped breathing. Doctors in the emergency room blamed the combined effects of smoke inhalation, pneumonia and heart failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1968441\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1968441 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"Jerry Canaday, 68, likes to say he's going on 31, even after the Tubbs Fire took his money and his health.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44371_IMG_8332-qut.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jerry Canaday, 68, likes to say he’s going on 31, even after the Tubbs Fire took his money and his health. \u003ccite>(Molly Peterson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Canaday’s house was uninsured. After it burned to the ground, he called a FEMA trailer home for almost two years. He stayed longer than FEMA intended, because it was so hard to find a room to rent that he could afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s another one of those, one step forward, 12 steps back,” he said.\u003cbr>\nCanaday’s new residence is in a risky area, by KQED’s analysis. He can no longer drive, his license suspended for medical reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel isolated,” Canaday said. “I don’t feel connected so much as I’d like to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, evacuation orders forced Canaday from his latest home when the Kincade Fire threatened Santa Rosa. Even his cat, Gigi, is a refugee from the Camp Fire in Butte County — a constant reminder of their shared survival, and risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just when you think you’re safe and nothing’s going to happen,” he said, “here it comes again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11785247/a-year-after-the-camp-fire-locals-are-rebuilding-paradise\">Californians\u003c/a> don’t like being told where to live, even after a disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why we have to \u003ca href=\"https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=41379\">learn to live with wildfire\u003c/a> and adapt to the increasing risks brought by climate change, says Max Moritz, a UC Cooperative Extension wildfire specialist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To finally come to a coexistence with wildfire: that is a whole different way of thinking and living with a given hazard,” he said. “It means that we have to be ready for them and we have to look out for the most vulnerable people when they do come.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Building a Community to Save One\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rosemarie Reeder and her neighbors have decided to develop a buddy system to look out for the most vulnerable among them. Nevada County has one of the highest rates of residents over 65 in the state: 24.4 compared to the statewide average of 16.5, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a lot of retirement up here,” she said. “Various people have walkers, some are in wheelchairs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1968442\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1968442\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"Rosemarie Reeder (left) and Katrina Hardin (right) in Grass Valley during December 2019.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS41369_IMG_4708-qut.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosemarie Reeder (left) and Katrina Harden (right) in Grass Valley during December 2019. \u003ccite>(April Dembosky/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Their buddy system is mainly informal pairings at the moment, she says, verbal agreements between neighbors decided while out walking the dog or pushing the stroller. Reeder would like them to make a more formal list, and she wants them to practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the coronavirus pandemic, her \u003ca href=\"https://www.gvfireadapted.org/\">neighborhood fire coalition\u003c/a> had planned to do a full evacuation drill, where everyone would get in their cars and drive the roads they would follow to get out of town during a fire. Reeder wants them to also rehearse buddies checking on each other. And she wants other towns across the state to follow their lead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s vitally needed, especially in these days, with as much climate change as we have had, we really don’t know what’s coming next and we need to prepare for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The majority of California land is fire-prone, according to an analysis by KQED and CalMatters of state-designated fire zones and scientific maps showing where wildland meets cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 23 counties, more than 75% of people age 65 or older live in risky areas, according to a KQED and CalMatters analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch2>Counties Where Older People Largely Live in Fire-Prone Areas\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdus88pl1ghn19rvkvdkm7ry/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.6255em\">\u003cstrong>Credit:\u003c/strong> Lisa Pickoff-White/KQED and Lo Bénichou/CalMatters\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Source:\u003c/strong> Cal Fire’s \u003ca href=\"https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/789d5286736248f69c4515c04f58f414\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fire Hazard Severity Zones\u003c/a>, SILVIS lab at the University of Wisconsin \u003ca href=\"http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wildland Urban Interface\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.naturalearthdata.com/\">Natural Earth\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://ipums.org/\">5-year 2018 American Community Survey\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Katrina Hardin says the old-fashioned, in-person connection of the buddy system is key for older folks like her mom who don’t use social media outlets the county and community increasingly rely on to share wildfire information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is really the most important area to have a buddy because you’re dealing with people who are used to communicating face to face,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until recently, Hardin lived with her mom and would do all her Googling and social media surfing for her. She played the police scanner app on her phone constantly, while they did housework together and for hours before bed, to monitor for wildfire activity, because she knows the fires will keep coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can see what happened at the Camp Fire, but who is doing something different so it doesn’t happen to us?” Hardin said. “Apparently, it’s my responsibility. It’s my mom’s responsibility. It’s not the authorities’ responsibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CalMatters contributed data analysis, editing and graphic design to this project. \u003ca href=\"http://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters.org\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/\">Capital Public Radio\u003c/a> contributed photos to this series. As the NPR member station based in Sacramento, CapRadio serves California’s Capital region, Central Valley and Sierra Nevada.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Even After Care Homes Abandoned Residents, California Still Isn’t Ready for Wildfires",
"headTitle": "Even After Care Homes Abandoned Residents, California Still Isn’t Ready for Wildfires | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>California is getting older faster than the rest of the country and demand for care facilities is rising. Meanwhile, critics say the laws governing emergency preparedness are weak and enforcement is lax. A KQED investigation has found thousands of these facilities are at risk for wildfire. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em; float: left; line-height: 0.733em; padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0; font-family: times, serif, georgia;\">W\u003c/span>hen the ominous beep of an emergency alert roused Mark and Kathy Allen out of bed in Sebastopol on Oct. 9, 2017, the Tubbs Fire was heading toward Santa Rosa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So the Allens did too. They knew the assisted living facility where Mark’s mother lived was in the path of fast-moving flames. They sped toward the facility, called Villa Capri, the air smoky, the care home dark at two in the morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1968080\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1968080\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kathy and Mark Allen at their home in Sebastopol on July 29, 2020. During the Tubbs Fire, the Allens helped save residents at a senior care facility after staff abandoned them. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The building had no power. Almost all of the 62 elderly residents were still in their rooms. The Allens found the few overnight staff still left in the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We asked them if they had an evacuation plan, and they said, ‘No,’” Kathy remembers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple hunted for residents, using cellphones as flashlights. Without power for the elevator, they bumped people in wheelchairs down stairs, through thickening smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many had dementia. “They just kept asking, ‘What’s happening? Are you a first responder?’” Kathy said. “I’d say no, and then they’d ask again in five minutes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Allens began carrying people in wheelchairs and walkers down the stairs at Villa Capri, working long into the night. Police arrived in the early hours to help move the last residents out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One hour later, Villa Capri burned to the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Allen’s mother died a few months later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Older and Overlooked\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44306_GettyImages-1059345394-qut.jpg\" heroURL=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968076\" link1=\"https://data.kqed.org/olderandoverlooked/index.html,See How Wildfires Endanger Older Californians -- and Find Out If Your Address Is in a Fire-Prone Area\" link2=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968417/millions-of-older-californians-live-where-wildfire-threatens-mostly-theyre-on-their-own,Millions of Older Californians Live Where Wildfire Threatens. Mostly, They're on Their Own\" link3=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968093,The Questions to Ask Your Loved One's Facility\" link4=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968174/how-we-analyzed-where-older-californians-are-at-increased-risk-for-wildfire,How We Analyzed Where Older Californians Are at Increased Risk for Wildfire\"]“She died because of the fire,” he said. “She wasn’t killed by the fire, but because of the fire and the trauma that happened afterwards; it took all the will to live from her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Tubbs Fire ate up swaths of Sonoma County where grass and oak woodlands meet urban sprawl. In recent decades, this sort of wildland-urban interface has attracted new development around the state even as fire risk has grown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Built on a grassy hillside near rugged open areas, Villa Capri was always vulnerable. It remains so, along with Varenna, and thousands of facilities like it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California regulates around 10,000 long-term care facilities, from small assisted living homes to large skilled-nursing centers. A KQED investigation has found that wildfire is a significant hazard at 35% of these facilities, in the wildland-urban interface, in state-designated fire hazard severity zones, or both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A gray wave is crashing on California. The Golden State is aging faster than the rest of the country. In 10 years, the state projects the number of people 65 or older will be 8.6 million. And while demand for care facilities is curving up, critics say the laws governing emergency preparedness are weak and enforcement is lax. In addition, the pandemic is disrupting watchdog efforts and complicating urgent disaster planning even further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the coronavirus pandemic grinds on, this disaster planning is taking place against a backdrop of global heating, a dominant force shaping the fates of elderly people in long-term care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is absolutely a colliding of the events of both population aging and climate change,” said Kathryn Hyer, a professor in the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida. “COVID-19 makes the already difficult situation of climate change and aging population worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Like You’ve Really Been Abandoned’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alice Eurotas, 87, is still haunted by the Tubbs Fire. She’s one of the people the Allens helped to escape three years ago. Rescuers took Eurotas to a Red Cross shelter, then a church. She has moved five times since that night. After a stroke, she’s now paralyzed on her left side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Leaving all of these elderly people, many of whom cannot walk, to fight the flames?” she said. “It felt terrible. Like you’ve really been abandoned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and federal laws demand that long-term care facilities plan and train to keep residents safe in a disaster. At a Sequoia Living facility in Portola Valley, director of facilities and former fireman Ray Boudewyn has plans for fire, earthquakes, bombs and mountain lions, to name a few.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[emailsignup newslettername='science' align='right']He also prepares for the days when wildfire smoke thickens the air indoors, he says. The body’s defenses against smoke pollution decline with age, and Sequoia plans to bring in HEPA air filters or run HVAC systems if it needs to combat the effects of a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The residents may have compromised immune systems,” Boudewyn said. “They may have respiratory issues, cardiac issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those same problems make evacuations difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve got to get them in a safe zone,” Boudewyn said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of smoke, safety could be a hundred miles away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet evacuations themselves may be riskier than sheltering in place, especially when older people move multiple times. Nationwide, at least half of nursing home patients have dementia, a condition that gerontologist Lisa Brown has found raises the risk of death in the months just after a disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This underscores the critical need for planning, says Brown, who directs the Risk and Resilience Research Lab at Palo Alto University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown says residents like Alice Eurotas may experience psychological trauma from losing relationships and networks they depend on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eurotas now lives at a nursing home in Petaluma. She is depressed and angry, says her daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beth Eurotas-Steffy is angry, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t even really put into words how angry I was and how disappointed in the state agency whose job it is to get up every morning and protect people like my mom living in a facility like that,” she said. “And they failed them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Consultants, Not Disciplinarians\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assisted living and nursing homes both have basic responsibilities for residents’ safety and well being. But they serve different purposes and follow different rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 2,300 intermediate-level and skilled nursing homes in the state employ medical professionals to provide health care. These facilities are licensed by the California Department of Public Health. Because they accept Medicare patients, they’re subject to more demanding federal regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A different state agency, the California Department of Social Services, oversees about 7,600 residential communities for the elderly; unlike nursing homes, they aren’t health care facilities. Instead, care workers simply assist with daily living activities like bathing and using the toilet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mobile-hide\">\n\u003cdiv style=\"grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;\">\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch2 style=\"height: 60px; margin-right: 20px;\">Fire Risk for All California Long-term Care Facilities\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdjdbb2802d21iquyqeoupq1/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch2 style=\"height: 60px;\">Only Facilities in Risky Areas\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdhzhzkl03ie1inxenw5hou3/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"desktop-hide\">\n\u003ch2>Fire Risk for All California Long-term Care Facilities\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdjdbb2802d21iquyqeoupq1/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 style=\"height: 60px;\">Only Facilities in Risky Areas\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdhzhzkl03ie1inxenw5hou3/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.6255em;\">\u003cstrong>Credit:\u003c/strong> Lisa Pickoff-White/KQED and Lo Bénichou/CalMatters\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Source:\u003c/strong> Cal Fire’s \u003ca href=\"https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/789d5286736248f69c4515c04f58f414\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fire Hazard Severity Zones\u003c/a>, SILVIS lab at the University of Wisconsin \u003ca href=\"http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wildland Urban Interface\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://data.ca.gov/dataset/community-care-licensing-residential-elder-care-facility-locations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Department of Social Services\u003c/a> regulated facilities, \u003ca href=\"https://data.ca.gov/dataset/licensed-and-certified-healthcare-facility-listing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Department of Public Health\u003c/a> regulated long-term-care facilities, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.naturalearthdata.com/\">Natural Earth\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By law, both types of care homes must do emergency planning, training and fire drills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villa Capri had an emergency plan. But one worker didn’t know about it. Three workers had never participated in a fire drill. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7016766-CDSS-Accusation-Oakmont.html\">the state’s accusation\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ccld.dss.ca.gov/transparencyapi/api/FacilityReports?facNum=496802026&inx=8\">a complaint investigation\u003c/a>, the workers couldn’t locate keys for buses that could have been used for evacuation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a proceeding against Oakmont Senior Living, the company responsible for Villa Capri and Varenna, the state accused administrators at both facilities of abandoning around 100 people that night almost three years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was a real eye-opener for us, that staff weren’t trained,” said Pam Dickfoss, who oversees licensing of assisted living facilities at the California Department of Social Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time of the Tubbs Fire, state law required facilities to have evacuation procedures, transportation for residents and a plan for self-reliance for 72 hours in case of disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Dickfoss said facilities weren’t thinking about wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They typically had plans for a fire within their facility, a fire in the kitchen,” she said. “But not plans to actually evacuate everyone out of the area. And so they weren’t prepared to make sure they had transportation. It’s a large facility. How are they going to get, you know, 200 residents out of a facility?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of what happened during the Tubbs Fire, the Department of Social Services issued multiple citations to the care homes. Regulators moved to revoke their licenses and those of their administrators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after an appeal, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7016765-CDSS-Settlement-Oakmont.html\">state settled\u003c/a> and put the facilities on probation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakmont has paid no fines; together, its two facilities have paid “monitoring fees” totaling $10,068. One month’s rent for one person at either of the homes can run up to that amount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakmont Senior Living did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a direct response to the abandonments, lawmakers passed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB3098\">AB 3098\u003c/a>, establishing stronger emergency planning rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That new law requires facilities to train and drill staff more often; make keys available; install evacuation chairs at stairwells; and designate two potential evacuation destinations, including one out of the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But regulators have rarely penalized homes over inadequate planning.\u003cbr>\n[aside label=\"Listen to the Radio Stories\" link1=\"https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/e9f46083-dca5-401f-bfc0-ac1301267592/audio.mp3,Part 1\" link2=\"https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/ffdd2660-a91e-422e-82a1-ac1401250101/audio.mp3,Part 2\" link3=\"https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/691a7f2b-278e-4030-b1ea-ac15012ca6f4/audio.mp3,Part 3\" link4=\"https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/bbebebe0-20ee-4e20-b5ab-ac160131db50/audio.mp3,Part 4\" link5=\"https://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/RDnews/2021/04/OlderandOverlookedPart5.mp3,Part 5\"]\u003cbr>\nIn 2018, state inspectors cited just 62 facilities for having an insufficient disaster plan or training. Last year, when the law took effect, they cited 239. A KQED analysis found that’s 3% of facilities statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department acknowledges regulators prefer to offer guidance and technical support rather than issue citations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dickfoss says inspectors see themselves more as consultants than disciplinarians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really a collaborative effort across the state between the providers, between the advocates and the department,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Few beds are available for low-income seniors, Dickfoss says, leaving those residents “one step away from being homeless” if a facility closes. A 2017 \u003ca href=\"http://A%202017%20California%20Health%20Care%20Foundation%20report\">California Health Care Foundation report\u003c/a> projects that the demand for beds at assisted living facilities will double over the next 20 years, while supply will run out in about 10.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dickfoss defended the ultimate decision not to close Villa Capri and Varenna by citing the delicate balancing act her department conducts between protecting residents from rising fire risk and ensuring enough beds to accommodate the growth of the state’s aging population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics like advocate Chris Murphy argue the department’s approach to enforcement is wrong, absurd and dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Social Services “will rarely come down on the side of the consumer,” said Murphy, who directs the watchdog group Consumer Advocates for RCFE Reform. The department is functioning as “a provider protection agency, not a consumer protection agency,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Little Followup for Rule Violations\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A generator chugs outside a beat-up brown-and-beige RV parked on a wide boulevard deep in the San Fernando Valley. Randy Odette lives here with a cat and a dog. The pavement shimmers with heat. Behind her, the hillside grass is brown, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The mountain is pretty dry up there,” said Odette. “But that’s California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last 12 years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-10-12/sylmar-saddleridge-creek-sayre-fires\">three wildfires have threatened\u003c/a> this Sylmar neighborhood. Odette’s mother lives nearby at the Astoria Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public records show the California Department of Public Health caught 78% of nursing homes violating fire safety and emergency planning standards over a two-year period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Regulators Fine Majority of Skilled Nursing Homes Deficient\" aria-label=\"Stacked Bars\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-lUYjb\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/lUYjb/3/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"185\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among them is Astoria, where Odette’s mother contracted COVID-19. Betty Odette is a tiny, 96-year-old woman in the late stages of Alzheimer’s. She is now recovering from her bout with the coronavirus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>COVID-19 outbreaks have struck California nursing homes with fatal frequency. Los Angeles County \u003ca href=\"http://www.ph.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/locations.htm\">counts 25 coronavirus deaths\u003c/a> at Astoria. Since March, the facility has \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/SNFsCOVID_19.aspx\">reported more than 140 cases\u003c/a>, sickening residents and health care workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emergency preparedness regulations are meant to safeguard residents of nursing homes against pandemics as well as disasters like wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal auditors spot-checked 20 nursing homes in late 2018 to monitor the state’s enforcement of emergency preparedness standards. (One of these homes burned to the ground in the Camp Fire after the visit: \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7016931-Deficiency-Report-for-Cypress-Meadows-from-2018.html\">Cypress Meadows\u003c/a>, in Paradise.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eighteen of the homes failed to meet some standards. When state surveyors followed up afterward, more than half of the facilities had similar problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal audit \u003ca href=\"https://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region9/91802009.asp\">recommended\u003c/a> the state make more in-person inspections and offer training on life-safety codes to facilities. CDPH rejected those findings, saying it lacked staff and resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Examining the same rules federal auditors did, KQED found that in a two-year period, state health surveyors considered few emergency preparedness or fire safety deficiencies severe enough to require a follow-up visit: just 6%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those federal nursing home regulations were a long time coming. Four hurricanes crossed Florida’s panhandle in 2004, threatening hundreds of care homes. Then, after Hurricane Katrina, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6119325\">flooding swallowed\u003c/a> St. Rita’s nursing home south of New Orleans. Thirty-five people died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1968085\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1968085\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP-800x1422.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: Betty Odette, 96, seen through a window at Astoria Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the San Fernando Valley.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1422\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP-800x1422.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP-160x284.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP-768x1365.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP-864x1536.jpg 864w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Betty Odette, 96, at Astoria Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the San Fernando Valley. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Randy Odette)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After that tragedy, federal watchdogs recommended better emergency preparedness. For a dozen years, industry lobbying groups fought to weaken and delay proposals even as natural disasters became more common. “New” emergency requirements only took effect late in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Facility managers say it’s rare to get through an inspection without a violation. They also say some failures are worse than others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that’s pretty serious, if you don’t have an emergency plan,” said Sequoia Living’s Boudewyn, who oversees nursing homes in Marin, Mendocino and San Mateo counties. “I don’t really understand how you could even get licensed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Astoria nursing home in Los Angeles County, Odette asked the administrator to see the facility’s emergency plan. He would tell her only that regulators had approved it. Then he pointed her to a map on the wall, showing where the emergency exits are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Odette says she’s scared. And angry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state has got to be responsible for these homes,” she said. “I mean, they can’t help themselves, the patients. And it’s really not up to the staff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inadequate emergency preparedness should be considered an immediate harm, argues Pat McGinnis, executive director of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. That would result in more fines. She thinks regulators should prevent unsafe facilities from accepting new patients — and pocketing monthly fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You need to be able to hit them where it hurts,” she said. “That’s not going to be in their hearts. That’s going to be in their wallets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Mike Wasserman of the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine says nursing home operators limit their financial liability with webs of corporations — different companies for property, for operations, for management. That makes fines just a small cost of doing business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wasserman calls nursing home real estate owners “slumlords” who absorb the cost of fines easily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can just ask yourself where that’s going to end up from a quality perspective,” said Wasserman. “Where that will end up in a fire. Where that will end up in a pandemic.”\u003cbr>\n“We’re seeing the results.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pandemic Compounds the Risk\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a fire threatened San Luis Obispo in late June, half a dozen assisted living homes moved most residents to hotels under an evacuation order. Some family members came and took their loved ones home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when fire officials gave the all-clear, area ombudswoman Karen Jones says neither the state nor the county required facilities to separate residents who stayed with family from those who remained quarantined in hotels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s only one example of how evacuations are more difficult in the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, federal and state authorities offer only general advice about disaster response in a pandemic, like recommending more shelters that can accommodate social distancing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to have it in our minds that grouping people together and shoving them off in a hurry to one location might present an equal if not greater life-threatening risk,” said Vance Taylor, part of the executive team at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.\u003cbr>\nAt Cascades of Grass Valley, an assisted living center, director Pepsi Pittman has wildfire evacuation agreements with sister facilities out of the area, but when she tried to set up similar agreements with hotels in Sacramento, where residents could isolate in individual rooms, she struck out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hotel staff told her the rooms are filled with nurses “who aren’t going home because they’re treating COVID-19 patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pittman isn’t the only facility director in Grass Valley in need of robust evacuation plans. In Nevada County, much of which sits in Tahoe National Forest, every long-term care home faces a heightened risk of wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mobile-hide\">\n\u003cdiv style=\"grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;\">\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch2>Fire Risk for Skilled Nursing Homes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdjdhekq02hj1iru170umsf1/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch2>Skilled Nursing Homes With COVID-19 Outbreaks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdjdvnhs02ui1imrptsys37k/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"desktop-hide\">\n\u003ch2>Fire Risk for Skilled Nursing Homes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdjdhekq02hj1iru170umsf1/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Skilled Nursing Homes With COVID-19 Outbreaks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdjdvnhs02ui1imrptsys37k/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.6255em;\">\u003cstrong>Credit:\u003c/strong> Lisa Pickoff-White/KQED and Lo Bénichou/CalMatters\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Source:\u003c/strong> Cal Fire’s \u003ca href=\"https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/789d5286736248f69c4515c04f58f414\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fire Hazard Severity Zones\u003c/a>, SILVIS lab at the University of Wisconsin \u003ca href=\"http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wildland Urban Interface\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.naturalearthdata.com/\">Natural Earth\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://data.ca.gov/dataset/licensed-and-certified-healthcare-facility-listing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Department of Public Health\u003c/a> regulated long-term-care facilities, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/SNFsCOVID_19.aspx\">nursing home outbreak data\u003c/a> accessed on August 2, 2020.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Sequoia Living, Ray Boudewyn is managing the overlapping risks of coronavirus and wildfire prep using the same emergency command structure police and firefighters do – one commander, with clear responsibilities for everyone below. None of his three facilities have reported any cases of COVID-19 among residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can see the body language from the staff,” he said. “They’re worn out. I mean, this has been an active situation since late February … it’s kind of like a war. “It doesn’t go away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s the Backup Plan? Call 911\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to protect older and disabled people in care homes is to demand more scrutiny for their emergency plans. Kathryn Hyer, the gerontologist from the University of South Florida, says climate-driven storms have forced Florida to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a real effort to make sure that that communication occurs so that people can talk to each other during a local emergency,” Hyer said, “ask for help, ask for supplies, tell them that they need to evacuate or whatever needs to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hyer says Florida law requires long-term care homes get approval for disaster plans from emergency officials and requires regulators to check up on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And if they don’t find it, they fine either the assisted living or the nursing home for not having that plan,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But California doesn’t do that. No law requires CalOES or county emergency managers to look at the plans that care homes make for wildfires or any other threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Sonoma County, KQED’s analysis found three-quarters of long-term care facilities are in fire-prone areas. Long-Term Care Ombudswoman Crista Barnett Nelson said she is “100% confident” that not all of the residences know how they will execute a plan in case of disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county regularly holds “table top” exercises to practice for disasters, says Director of Emergency Management Chris Godley, but they’re optional for long-term care homes.\u003cbr>\nGodley says he is “encouraging these facilities” to “develop realistic emergency plans, not just hypotheticals that sit in a binder on the nurse’s station.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma has increased outreach and added more early-warning systems, but Godley worries that the backup plan for underprepared facilities is still just a 911 call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Technology is great, but it does not wheel a bed out of a home into an appropriate ambulance,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s needed long term, he believes, is a change of mindset: planning for disasters as a way of life, not a last-minute scramble.\u003cbr>\nIn California, public officials talk about “vulnerable populations” for whom the coronavirus is a greater threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climatologist Katharine Mach questions the use of the word “vulnerable” to describe older people and residents of long-term care homes. She says it’s often used to suggest weakness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Systems like health care, transportation and planning are essential, and like the people they serve, they’re vulnerable too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mach points out that people who have lived a long time have developed resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those are individuals who have … overcome so many challenges and have persisted and helped shape the fabric of our society,” she said. “There’s a whole lot of resilience there that needs to be tapped as we all find solutions together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Older and Overlooked is an investigation by reporters in KQED Science and KQED News. KQED is the NPR and PBS member station for Northern California, serving audiences across the state on air and online with compelling stories that inform, inspire and involve.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CalMatters contributed data analysis, editing and graphic design to this project. CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Chaotic evacuations at long-term care facilities have brought into stark relief just how unprepared nursing homes and assisted living centers are for wildfires. Now, a KQED investigation has found thousands of these care homes are still at risk. ",
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"description": "Chaotic evacuations at long-term care facilities have brought into stark relief just how unprepared nursing homes and assisted living centers are for wildfires. Now, a KQED investigation has found thousands of these care homes are still at risk. ",
"title": "Even After Care Homes Abandoned Residents, California Still Isn’t Ready for Wildfires | KQED",
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"headline": "Even After Care Homes Abandoned Residents, California Still Isn’t Ready for Wildfires",
"datePublished": "2020-08-10T03:50:54-07:00",
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"sourceUrl": "https://www.kqed.org/wildfires",
"nprByline": "Molly Peterson, Lisa Pickoff-White, April Dembosky and Danielle Venton",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>California is getting older faster than the rest of the country and demand for care facilities is rising. Meanwhile, critics say the laws governing emergency preparedness are weak and enforcement is lax. A KQED investigation has found thousands of these facilities are at risk for wildfire. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em; float: left; line-height: 0.733em; padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0; font-family: times, serif, georgia;\">W\u003c/span>hen the ominous beep of an emergency alert roused Mark and Kathy Allen out of bed in Sebastopol on Oct. 9, 2017, the Tubbs Fire was heading toward Santa Rosa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So the Allens did too. They knew the assisted living facility where Mark’s mother lived was in the path of fast-moving flames. They sped toward the facility, called Villa Capri, the air smoky, the care home dark at two in the morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1968080\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1968080\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedkathymark2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kathy and Mark Allen at their home in Sebastopol on July 29, 2020. During the Tubbs Fire, the Allens helped save residents at a senior care facility after staff abandoned them. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The building had no power. Almost all of the 62 elderly residents were still in their rooms. The Allens found the few overnight staff still left in the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We asked them if they had an evacuation plan, and they said, ‘No,’” Kathy remembers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple hunted for residents, using cellphones as flashlights. Without power for the elevator, they bumped people in wheelchairs down stairs, through thickening smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many had dementia. “They just kept asking, ‘What’s happening? Are you a first responder?’” Kathy said. “I’d say no, and then they’d ask again in five minutes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Allens began carrying people in wheelchairs and walkers down the stairs at Villa Capri, working long into the night. Police arrived in the early hours to help move the last residents out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One hour later, Villa Capri burned to the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Allen’s mother died a few months later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"link1": "https://data.kqed.org/olderandoverlooked/index.html,See How Wildfires Endanger Older Californians -- and Find Out If Your Address Is in a Fire-Prone Area",
"link2": "https://www.kqed.org/science/1968417/millions-of-older-californians-live-where-wildfire-threatens-mostly-theyre-on-their-own,Millions of Older Californians Live Where Wildfire Threatens. Mostly, They're on Their Own",
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"link4": "https://www.kqed.org/science/1968174/how-we-analyzed-where-older-californians-are-at-increased-risk-for-wildfire,How We Analyzed Where Older Californians Are at Increased Risk for Wildfire"
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“She died because of the fire,” he said. “She wasn’t killed by the fire, but because of the fire and the trauma that happened afterwards; it took all the will to live from her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Tubbs Fire ate up swaths of Sonoma County where grass and oak woodlands meet urban sprawl. In recent decades, this sort of wildland-urban interface has attracted new development around the state even as fire risk has grown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Built on a grassy hillside near rugged open areas, Villa Capri was always vulnerable. It remains so, along with Varenna, and thousands of facilities like it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California regulates around 10,000 long-term care facilities, from small assisted living homes to large skilled-nursing centers. A KQED investigation has found that wildfire is a significant hazard at 35% of these facilities, in the wildland-urban interface, in state-designated fire hazard severity zones, or both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A gray wave is crashing on California. The Golden State is aging faster than the rest of the country. In 10 years, the state projects the number of people 65 or older will be 8.6 million. And while demand for care facilities is curving up, critics say the laws governing emergency preparedness are weak and enforcement is lax. In addition, the pandemic is disrupting watchdog efforts and complicating urgent disaster planning even further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the coronavirus pandemic grinds on, this disaster planning is taking place against a backdrop of global heating, a dominant force shaping the fates of elderly people in long-term care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is absolutely a colliding of the events of both population aging and climate change,” said Kathryn Hyer, a professor in the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida. “COVID-19 makes the already difficult situation of climate change and aging population worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Like You’ve Really Been Abandoned’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alice Eurotas, 87, is still haunted by the Tubbs Fire. She’s one of the people the Allens helped to escape three years ago. Rescuers took Eurotas to a Red Cross shelter, then a church. She has moved five times since that night. After a stroke, she’s now paralyzed on her left side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Leaving all of these elderly people, many of whom cannot walk, to fight the flames?” she said. “It felt terrible. Like you’ve really been abandoned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and federal laws demand that long-term care facilities plan and train to keep residents safe in a disaster. At a Sequoia Living facility in Portola Valley, director of facilities and former fireman Ray Boudewyn has plans for fire, earthquakes, bombs and mountain lions, to name a few.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>He also prepares for the days when wildfire smoke thickens the air indoors, he says. The body’s defenses against smoke pollution decline with age, and Sequoia plans to bring in HEPA air filters or run HVAC systems if it needs to combat the effects of a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The residents may have compromised immune systems,” Boudewyn said. “They may have respiratory issues, cardiac issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those same problems make evacuations difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve got to get them in a safe zone,” Boudewyn said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of smoke, safety could be a hundred miles away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet evacuations themselves may be riskier than sheltering in place, especially when older people move multiple times. Nationwide, at least half of nursing home patients have dementia, a condition that gerontologist Lisa Brown has found raises the risk of death in the months just after a disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This underscores the critical need for planning, says Brown, who directs the Risk and Resilience Research Lab at Palo Alto University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown says residents like Alice Eurotas may experience psychological trauma from losing relationships and networks they depend on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eurotas now lives at a nursing home in Petaluma. She is depressed and angry, says her daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beth Eurotas-Steffy is angry, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t even really put into words how angry I was and how disappointed in the state agency whose job it is to get up every morning and protect people like my mom living in a facility like that,” she said. “And they failed them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Consultants, Not Disciplinarians\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assisted living and nursing homes both have basic responsibilities for residents’ safety and well being. But they serve different purposes and follow different rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 2,300 intermediate-level and skilled nursing homes in the state employ medical professionals to provide health care. These facilities are licensed by the California Department of Public Health. Because they accept Medicare patients, they’re subject to more demanding federal regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A different state agency, the California Department of Social Services, oversees about 7,600 residential communities for the elderly; unlike nursing homes, they aren’t health care facilities. Instead, care workers simply assist with daily living activities like bathing and using the toilet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mobile-hide\">\n\u003cdiv style=\"grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;\">\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch2 style=\"height: 60px; margin-right: 20px;\">Fire Risk for All California Long-term Care Facilities\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdjdbb2802d21iquyqeoupq1/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch2 style=\"height: 60px;\">Only Facilities in Risky Areas\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdhzhzkl03ie1inxenw5hou3/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"desktop-hide\">\n\u003ch2>Fire Risk for All California Long-term Care Facilities\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdjdbb2802d21iquyqeoupq1/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 style=\"height: 60px;\">Only Facilities in Risky Areas\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdhzhzkl03ie1inxenw5hou3/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.6255em;\">\u003cstrong>Credit:\u003c/strong> Lisa Pickoff-White/KQED and Lo Bénichou/CalMatters\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Source:\u003c/strong> Cal Fire’s \u003ca href=\"https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/789d5286736248f69c4515c04f58f414\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fire Hazard Severity Zones\u003c/a>, SILVIS lab at the University of Wisconsin \u003ca href=\"http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wildland Urban Interface\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://data.ca.gov/dataset/community-care-licensing-residential-elder-care-facility-locations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Department of Social Services\u003c/a> regulated facilities, \u003ca href=\"https://data.ca.gov/dataset/licensed-and-certified-healthcare-facility-listing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Department of Public Health\u003c/a> regulated long-term-care facilities, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.naturalearthdata.com/\">Natural Earth\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By law, both types of care homes must do emergency planning, training and fire drills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villa Capri had an emergency plan. But one worker didn’t know about it. Three workers had never participated in a fire drill. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7016766-CDSS-Accusation-Oakmont.html\">the state’s accusation\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ccld.dss.ca.gov/transparencyapi/api/FacilityReports?facNum=496802026&inx=8\">a complaint investigation\u003c/a>, the workers couldn’t locate keys for buses that could have been used for evacuation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a proceeding against Oakmont Senior Living, the company responsible for Villa Capri and Varenna, the state accused administrators at both facilities of abandoning around 100 people that night almost three years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was a real eye-opener for us, that staff weren’t trained,” said Pam Dickfoss, who oversees licensing of assisted living facilities at the California Department of Social Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time of the Tubbs Fire, state law required facilities to have evacuation procedures, transportation for residents and a plan for self-reliance for 72 hours in case of disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Dickfoss said facilities weren’t thinking about wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They typically had plans for a fire within their facility, a fire in the kitchen,” she said. “But not plans to actually evacuate everyone out of the area. And so they weren’t prepared to make sure they had transportation. It’s a large facility. How are they going to get, you know, 200 residents out of a facility?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of what happened during the Tubbs Fire, the Department of Social Services issued multiple citations to the care homes. Regulators moved to revoke their licenses and those of their administrators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after an appeal, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7016765-CDSS-Settlement-Oakmont.html\">state settled\u003c/a> and put the facilities on probation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakmont has paid no fines; together, its two facilities have paid “monitoring fees” totaling $10,068. One month’s rent for one person at either of the homes can run up to that amount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakmont Senior Living did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a direct response to the abandonments, lawmakers passed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB3098\">AB 3098\u003c/a>, establishing stronger emergency planning rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That new law requires facilities to train and drill staff more often; make keys available; install evacuation chairs at stairwells; and designate two potential evacuation destinations, including one out of the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But regulators have rarely penalized homes over inadequate planning.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\nIn 2018, state inspectors cited just 62 facilities for having an insufficient disaster plan or training. Last year, when the law took effect, they cited 239. A KQED analysis found that’s 3% of facilities statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department acknowledges regulators prefer to offer guidance and technical support rather than issue citations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dickfoss says inspectors see themselves more as consultants than disciplinarians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really a collaborative effort across the state between the providers, between the advocates and the department,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Few beds are available for low-income seniors, Dickfoss says, leaving those residents “one step away from being homeless” if a facility closes. A 2017 \u003ca href=\"http://A%202017%20California%20Health%20Care%20Foundation%20report\">California Health Care Foundation report\u003c/a> projects that the demand for beds at assisted living facilities will double over the next 20 years, while supply will run out in about 10.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dickfoss defended the ultimate decision not to close Villa Capri and Varenna by citing the delicate balancing act her department conducts between protecting residents from rising fire risk and ensuring enough beds to accommodate the growth of the state’s aging population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics like advocate Chris Murphy argue the department’s approach to enforcement is wrong, absurd and dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Social Services “will rarely come down on the side of the consumer,” said Murphy, who directs the watchdog group Consumer Advocates for RCFE Reform. The department is functioning as “a provider protection agency, not a consumer protection agency,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Little Followup for Rule Violations\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A generator chugs outside a beat-up brown-and-beige RV parked on a wide boulevard deep in the San Fernando Valley. Randy Odette lives here with a cat and a dog. The pavement shimmers with heat. Behind her, the hillside grass is brown, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The mountain is pretty dry up there,” said Odette. “But that’s California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last 12 years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-10-12/sylmar-saddleridge-creek-sayre-fires\">three wildfires have threatened\u003c/a> this Sylmar neighborhood. Odette’s mother lives nearby at the Astoria Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public records show the California Department of Public Health caught 78% of nursing homes violating fire safety and emergency planning standards over a two-year period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Regulators Fine Majority of Skilled Nursing Homes Deficient\" aria-label=\"Stacked Bars\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-lUYjb\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/lUYjb/3/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"185\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among them is Astoria, where Odette’s mother contracted COVID-19. Betty Odette is a tiny, 96-year-old woman in the late stages of Alzheimer’s. She is now recovering from her bout with the coronavirus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>COVID-19 outbreaks have struck California nursing homes with fatal frequency. Los Angeles County \u003ca href=\"http://www.ph.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/locations.htm\">counts 25 coronavirus deaths\u003c/a> at Astoria. Since March, the facility has \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/SNFsCOVID_19.aspx\">reported more than 140 cases\u003c/a>, sickening residents and health care workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emergency preparedness regulations are meant to safeguard residents of nursing homes against pandemics as well as disasters like wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal auditors spot-checked 20 nursing homes in late 2018 to monitor the state’s enforcement of emergency preparedness standards. (One of these homes burned to the ground in the Camp Fire after the visit: \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7016931-Deficiency-Report-for-Cypress-Meadows-from-2018.html\">Cypress Meadows\u003c/a>, in Paradise.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eighteen of the homes failed to meet some standards. When state surveyors followed up afterward, more than half of the facilities had similar problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal audit \u003ca href=\"https://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region9/91802009.asp\">recommended\u003c/a> the state make more in-person inspections and offer training on life-safety codes to facilities. CDPH rejected those findings, saying it lacked staff and resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Examining the same rules federal auditors did, KQED found that in a two-year period, state health surveyors considered few emergency preparedness or fire safety deficiencies severe enough to require a follow-up visit: just 6%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those federal nursing home regulations were a long time coming. Four hurricanes crossed Florida’s panhandle in 2004, threatening hundreds of care homes. Then, after Hurricane Katrina, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6119325\">flooding swallowed\u003c/a> St. Rita’s nursing home south of New Orleans. Thirty-five people died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1968085\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1968085\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP-800x1422.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: Betty Odette, 96, seen through a window at Astoria Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the San Fernando Valley.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1422\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP-800x1422.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP-160x284.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP-768x1365.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP-864x1536.jpg 864w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/overlookedMollyP.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Betty Odette, 96, at Astoria Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the San Fernando Valley. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Randy Odette)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After that tragedy, federal watchdogs recommended better emergency preparedness. For a dozen years, industry lobbying groups fought to weaken and delay proposals even as natural disasters became more common. “New” emergency requirements only took effect late in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Facility managers say it’s rare to get through an inspection without a violation. They also say some failures are worse than others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that’s pretty serious, if you don’t have an emergency plan,” said Sequoia Living’s Boudewyn, who oversees nursing homes in Marin, Mendocino and San Mateo counties. “I don’t really understand how you could even get licensed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Astoria nursing home in Los Angeles County, Odette asked the administrator to see the facility’s emergency plan. He would tell her only that regulators had approved it. Then he pointed her to a map on the wall, showing where the emergency exits are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Odette says she’s scared. And angry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state has got to be responsible for these homes,” she said. “I mean, they can’t help themselves, the patients. And it’s really not up to the staff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inadequate emergency preparedness should be considered an immediate harm, argues Pat McGinnis, executive director of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. That would result in more fines. She thinks regulators should prevent unsafe facilities from accepting new patients — and pocketing monthly fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You need to be able to hit them where it hurts,” she said. “That’s not going to be in their hearts. That’s going to be in their wallets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Mike Wasserman of the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine says nursing home operators limit their financial liability with webs of corporations — different companies for property, for operations, for management. That makes fines just a small cost of doing business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wasserman calls nursing home real estate owners “slumlords” who absorb the cost of fines easily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can just ask yourself where that’s going to end up from a quality perspective,” said Wasserman. “Where that will end up in a fire. Where that will end up in a pandemic.”\u003cbr>\n“We’re seeing the results.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pandemic Compounds the Risk\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a fire threatened San Luis Obispo in late June, half a dozen assisted living homes moved most residents to hotels under an evacuation order. Some family members came and took their loved ones home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when fire officials gave the all-clear, area ombudswoman Karen Jones says neither the state nor the county required facilities to separate residents who stayed with family from those who remained quarantined in hotels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s only one example of how evacuations are more difficult in the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, federal and state authorities offer only general advice about disaster response in a pandemic, like recommending more shelters that can accommodate social distancing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to have it in our minds that grouping people together and shoving them off in a hurry to one location might present an equal if not greater life-threatening risk,” said Vance Taylor, part of the executive team at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.\u003cbr>\nAt Cascades of Grass Valley, an assisted living center, director Pepsi Pittman has wildfire evacuation agreements with sister facilities out of the area, but when she tried to set up similar agreements with hotels in Sacramento, where residents could isolate in individual rooms, she struck out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hotel staff told her the rooms are filled with nurses “who aren’t going home because they’re treating COVID-19 patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pittman isn’t the only facility director in Grass Valley in need of robust evacuation plans. In Nevada County, much of which sits in Tahoe National Forest, every long-term care home faces a heightened risk of wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mobile-hide\">\n\u003cdiv style=\"grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;\">\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch2>Fire Risk for Skilled Nursing Homes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdjdhekq02hj1iru170umsf1/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch2>Skilled Nursing Homes With COVID-19 Outbreaks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdjdvnhs02ui1imrptsys37k/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"desktop-hide\">\n\u003ch2>Fire Risk for Skilled Nursing Homes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdjdhekq02hj1iru170umsf1/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Skilled Nursing Homes With COVID-19 Outbreaks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/kqedmaps/ckdjdvnhs02ui1imrptsys37k/static/-119.9473,37.1318,4.68,0/500x500@2x?access_token=pk.eyJ1Ijoia3FlZG1hcHMiLCJhIjoiY2s1cG04dmR1MXhqdDNkcDR3dnEwM3RzaSJ9.QasvWSAxsfqDZ6r2A_rdMQ\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.6255em;\">\u003cstrong>Credit:\u003c/strong> Lisa Pickoff-White/KQED and Lo Bénichou/CalMatters\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Source:\u003c/strong> Cal Fire’s \u003ca href=\"https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/789d5286736248f69c4515c04f58f414\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fire Hazard Severity Zones\u003c/a>, SILVIS lab at the University of Wisconsin \u003ca href=\"http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wildland Urban Interface\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.naturalearthdata.com/\">Natural Earth\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://data.ca.gov/dataset/licensed-and-certified-healthcare-facility-listing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Department of Public Health\u003c/a> regulated long-term-care facilities, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/SNFsCOVID_19.aspx\">nursing home outbreak data\u003c/a> accessed on August 2, 2020.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Sequoia Living, Ray Boudewyn is managing the overlapping risks of coronavirus and wildfire prep using the same emergency command structure police and firefighters do – one commander, with clear responsibilities for everyone below. None of his three facilities have reported any cases of COVID-19 among residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can see the body language from the staff,” he said. “They’re worn out. I mean, this has been an active situation since late February … it’s kind of like a war. “It doesn’t go away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s the Backup Plan? Call 911\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to protect older and disabled people in care homes is to demand more scrutiny for their emergency plans. Kathryn Hyer, the gerontologist from the University of South Florida, says climate-driven storms have forced Florida to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a real effort to make sure that that communication occurs so that people can talk to each other during a local emergency,” Hyer said, “ask for help, ask for supplies, tell them that they need to evacuate or whatever needs to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hyer says Florida law requires long-term care homes get approval for disaster plans from emergency officials and requires regulators to check up on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And if they don’t find it, they fine either the assisted living or the nursing home for not having that plan,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But California doesn’t do that. No law requires CalOES or county emergency managers to look at the plans that care homes make for wildfires or any other threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Sonoma County, KQED’s analysis found three-quarters of long-term care facilities are in fire-prone areas. Long-Term Care Ombudswoman Crista Barnett Nelson said she is “100% confident” that not all of the residences know how they will execute a plan in case of disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county regularly holds “table top” exercises to practice for disasters, says Director of Emergency Management Chris Godley, but they’re optional for long-term care homes.\u003cbr>\nGodley says he is “encouraging these facilities” to “develop realistic emergency plans, not just hypotheticals that sit in a binder on the nurse’s station.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma has increased outreach and added more early-warning systems, but Godley worries that the backup plan for underprepared facilities is still just a 911 call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Technology is great, but it does not wheel a bed out of a home into an appropriate ambulance,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s needed long term, he believes, is a change of mindset: planning for disasters as a way of life, not a last-minute scramble.\u003cbr>\nIn California, public officials talk about “vulnerable populations” for whom the coronavirus is a greater threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climatologist Katharine Mach questions the use of the word “vulnerable” to describe older people and residents of long-term care homes. She says it’s often used to suggest weakness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Systems like health care, transportation and planning are essential, and like the people they serve, they’re vulnerable too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mach points out that people who have lived a long time have developed resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those are individuals who have … overcome so many challenges and have persisted and helped shape the fabric of our society,” she said. “There’s a whole lot of resilience there that needs to be tapped as we all find solutions together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Older and Overlooked is an investigation by reporters in KQED Science and KQED News. KQED is the NPR and PBS member station for Northern California, serving audiences across the state on air and online with compelling stories that inform, inspire and involve.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CalMatters contributed data analysis, editing and graphic design to this project. CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "How We Analyzed Where Older Californians Are at Increased Risk for Wildfire",
"headTitle": "How We Analyzed Where Older Californians Are at Increased Risk for Wildfire | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The average age of those who died in the 2018 Camp Fire was 72. The average age of those who died in the fires that burned across Sonoma and Napa a year before: 73.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As wildfires grow more devastating in California, some of the most vulnerable are older people who live independently and who live in long-term care homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We wanted to examine the risk fire posed to older people because we know that California projects its population to grow grayer faster than the rest of the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s no comprehensive map of fire risk in California. Working with experts we created one for this analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Risk analysis takes into account three qualities: a hazard, exposure to a hazard and a vulnerability to a hazard. To identify these qualities, we chose to analyze the geographic hazard of fire using two sets of shapefiles:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The \u003ca href=\"https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/789d5286736248f69c4515c04f58f414\">Fire Hazard Severity Zones\u003c/a> show the physical conditions, like steepness or vegetation, that make it more likely for an area to burn. These are created by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\">Wildland Urban Interface\u003c/a> areas include where development, geography and natural land mix to create fire risks. These areas were created by a team of scientists at the SILVIS lab at the University of Wisconsin.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>We used three data sets to map the exposure of older and disabled people to wildfire hazard in certain regulated facilities:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://data.ca.gov/dataset/community-care-licensing-residential-elder-care-facility-locations\">California Department of Social Services (CDSS) regulated facilities\u003c/a> that house older people, specifically residential care facilities.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://data.ca.gov/dataset/licensed-and-certi%20%5Dfied-healthcare-facility-listing\">California Department of Public Health (CDPH) regulated long-term-care facilities\u003c/a>, specifically skilled nursing homes, intermediate care facilities and congregate living health facilities.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://ipums.org/\">Census tract level data\u003c/a> from the 5-year 2018 American Community Survey showing how many people 65 and older live in each area.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>To calculate the percentage of “risky” zones in each county, we used the “union” method to split the “risky” zones by county shapes and establish the percentage for each zone using the new shape’s area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also wanted to estimate how many people lived in those zones. To obtain the percentage of people 65 and older living in what we had established as “risky” zones, we filtered down both the \u003ca href=\"https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/789d5286736248f69c4515c04f58f414\">Fire Hazard Severity Zones\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\">Wildland Urban Interface\u003c/a> to the categories experts associated with heightened risk and then combined the two shapes into one polygon, covering most of California. We then used the “union” method on Census tracts containing the ACS 5-year estimates and the counties’ shapes, essentially breaking down the tracts per county. We then used the resulting shapefile and again used “union” to get the parts of the tracts that fall into the “risky” zone. We then used the area of each shape to weight the population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We used these same “risk zones” to calculate when long-term care facilities are situated in fire-prone areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To analyze how care facilities are prepared to handle fires or other disasters we requested data for fire and emergency violations over a two-year period from CDPH and CDSS, as well as other public records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Older and Overlooked\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/08/RS44306_GettyImages-1059345394-qut.jpg\" heroURL=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968076\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/olderandoverlooked/,See How Wildfires Endanger Older Californians -- and it's Getting Worse\" link4=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968093,The Questions to Ask Your Loved One's Facility\" link2=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968076,Even After Care Homes Abandoned Residents, California Still Isn't Ready for Wildfires\" link3=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968417/millions-of-older-californians-live-where-wildfire-threatens-mostly-theyre-on-their-own,Millions of Older Californians Live Where Wildfire Threatens. Mostly, They're on Their Own\" ]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We picked the time period of November 15, 2017 through December 31, 2019 to account for federal regulations and a state law that expanded emergency preparedness requirements for long-term care facilities regulated by both agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November 2019, federal auditors from the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services concluded that California should improve its oversight of skilled nursing facilities for wildfire emergency preparedness by looking at certain life safety code and emergency preparedness deficiencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using the same “k-tags” and “e-tags” that federal auditors did for 20 facilities (including one that burned down in Paradise), we asked CDPH for deficiency records for more than 2,339 intermediate care and skilled nursing facilities. We made other public records requests for records related to that audit and for records related to individual facilities that have closed because they were destroyed or in areas that burned catastrophically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For assisted living facilities, we requested records from CDSS related to \u003ca href=\"https://caassistedliving.org/pdf/implementationplans/18implementationplans.pdf\">new requirements \u003c/a>for planning, training, and preparedness for disasters — including wildfire — as well as existing disaster and mass casualty, and training requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because we wanted to examine future risk in California, we analyzed data only for long-term care facilities that are currently open. That excludes several facilities that have burned down, some of which were found deficient, including in Paradise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the novel coronavirus is tearing through long-term care facilities throughout California. CDPH erratically \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/SNFsCOVID_19.aspx\">provides data publicly\u003c/a> on confirmed COVID-19 cases among staff and patients in skilled nursing homes. We included this data in our analysis so we could see how many facilities are already affected. Because CDSS masks data for assisted living outbreaks, we were unable to include them in this analysis, though their \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/community-care-licensing\">daily updated total deaths\u003c/a>, available as a document, informs analysis about the percentage of COVID-related deaths in long-term care homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Older and Overlooked is an investigation by reporters in \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science\">\u003ci>KQED Science\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> and \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/\">\u003ci>KQED News\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. KQED is the NPR and PBS member station for Northern California, serving audiences across the state on air and online with compelling stories that inform, inspire and involve. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>CalMatters’ Lo Bénichou contributed data analysis, editing and graphic design to this project. \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">\u003ci>CalMatters.org\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/\">\u003ci>Capital Public Radio\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> contributed photos to this series. As the NPR member station based in Sacrament, CapRadio serves California’s Capital region, Central Valley and Sierra Nevada.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The average age of those who died in the 2018 Camp Fire was 72. The average age of those who died in the fires that burned across Sonoma and Napa a year before: 73.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As wildfires grow more devastating in California, some of the most vulnerable are older people who live independently and who live in long-term care homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We wanted to examine the risk fire posed to older people because we know that California projects its population to grow grayer faster than the rest of the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s no comprehensive map of fire risk in California. Working with experts we created one for this analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Risk analysis takes into account three qualities: a hazard, exposure to a hazard and a vulnerability to a hazard. To identify these qualities, we chose to analyze the geographic hazard of fire using two sets of shapefiles:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The \u003ca href=\"https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/789d5286736248f69c4515c04f58f414\">Fire Hazard Severity Zones\u003c/a> show the physical conditions, like steepness or vegetation, that make it more likely for an area to burn. These are created by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\">Wildland Urban Interface\u003c/a> areas include where development, geography and natural land mix to create fire risks. These areas were created by a team of scientists at the SILVIS lab at the University of Wisconsin.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>We used three data sets to map the exposure of older and disabled people to wildfire hazard in certain regulated facilities:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://data.ca.gov/dataset/community-care-licensing-residential-elder-care-facility-locations\">California Department of Social Services (CDSS) regulated facilities\u003c/a> that house older people, specifically residential care facilities.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://data.ca.gov/dataset/licensed-and-certi%20%5Dfied-healthcare-facility-listing\">California Department of Public Health (CDPH) regulated long-term-care facilities\u003c/a>, specifically skilled nursing homes, intermediate care facilities and congregate living health facilities.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://ipums.org/\">Census tract level data\u003c/a> from the 5-year 2018 American Community Survey showing how many people 65 and older live in each area.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>To calculate the percentage of “risky” zones in each county, we used the “union” method to split the “risky” zones by county shapes and establish the percentage for each zone using the new shape’s area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also wanted to estimate how many people lived in those zones. To obtain the percentage of people 65 and older living in what we had established as “risky” zones, we filtered down both the \u003ca href=\"https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/789d5286736248f69c4515c04f58f414\">Fire Hazard Severity Zones\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\">Wildland Urban Interface\u003c/a> to the categories experts associated with heightened risk and then combined the two shapes into one polygon, covering most of California. We then used the “union” method on Census tracts containing the ACS 5-year estimates and the counties’ shapes, essentially breaking down the tracts per county. We then used the resulting shapefile and again used “union” to get the parts of the tracts that fall into the “risky” zone. We then used the area of each shape to weight the population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We used these same “risk zones” to calculate when long-term care facilities are situated in fire-prone areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To analyze how care facilities are prepared to handle fires or other disasters we requested data for fire and emergency violations over a two-year period from CDPH and CDSS, as well as other public records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"link1": "https://www.kqed.org/olderandoverlooked/,See How Wildfires Endanger Older Californians -- and it's Getting Worse",
"link4": "https://www.kqed.org/science/1968093,The Questions to Ask Your Loved One's Facility",
"link2": "https://www.kqed.org/science/1968076,Even After Care Homes Abandoned Residents, California Still Isn't Ready for Wildfires",
"link3": "https://www.kqed.org/science/1968417/millions-of-older-californians-live-where-wildfire-threatens-mostly-theyre-on-their-own,Millions of Older Californians Live Where Wildfire Threatens. Mostly, They're on Their Own"
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We picked the time period of November 15, 2017 through December 31, 2019 to account for federal regulations and a state law that expanded emergency preparedness requirements for long-term care facilities regulated by both agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November 2019, federal auditors from the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services concluded that California should improve its oversight of skilled nursing facilities for wildfire emergency preparedness by looking at certain life safety code and emergency preparedness deficiencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using the same “k-tags” and “e-tags” that federal auditors did for 20 facilities (including one that burned down in Paradise), we asked CDPH for deficiency records for more than 2,339 intermediate care and skilled nursing facilities. We made other public records requests for records related to that audit and for records related to individual facilities that have closed because they were destroyed or in areas that burned catastrophically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For assisted living facilities, we requested records from CDSS related to \u003ca href=\"https://caassistedliving.org/pdf/implementationplans/18implementationplans.pdf\">new requirements \u003c/a>for planning, training, and preparedness for disasters — including wildfire — as well as existing disaster and mass casualty, and training requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because we wanted to examine future risk in California, we analyzed data only for long-term care facilities that are currently open. That excludes several facilities that have burned down, some of which were found deficient, including in Paradise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the novel coronavirus is tearing through long-term care facilities throughout California. CDPH erratically \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/SNFsCOVID_19.aspx\">provides data publicly\u003c/a> on confirmed COVID-19 cases among staff and patients in skilled nursing homes. We included this data in our analysis so we could see how many facilities are already affected. Because CDSS masks data for assisted living outbreaks, we were unable to include them in this analysis, though their \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/community-care-licensing\">daily updated total deaths\u003c/a>, available as a document, informs analysis about the percentage of COVID-related deaths in long-term care homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Older and Overlooked is an investigation by reporters in \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science\">\u003ci>KQED Science\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> and \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/\">\u003ci>KQED News\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. KQED is the NPR and PBS member station for Northern California, serving audiences across the state on air and online with compelling stories that inform, inspire and involve. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>CalMatters’ Lo Bénichou contributed data analysis, editing and graphic design to this project. \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">\u003ci>CalMatters.org\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/\">\u003ci>Capital Public Radio\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> contributed photos to this series. As the NPR member station based in Sacrament, CapRadio serves California’s Capital region, Central Valley and Sierra Nevada.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Prison Fire Camps Remain Quarantined After Nurse Team Exposes Inmates",
"headTitle": "Prison Fire Camps Remain Quarantined After Nurse Team Exposes Inmates | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Four of 12 Northern California prison fire camps under a coronavirus quarantine will have that quarantine extended because the hundreds of inmates housed there were potentially exposed to the coronavirus a second time. That possible contact with the virus came from one or more nurses brought in to test the inmates and who later became sick with COVID-19, according to a camp commander and two people incarcerated at one of the camps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote citation='Lt. Ben Ingwerson, Valley View fire camp commander']‘It’s like being a football player who is starting quarterback and now you’re sitting on the sidelines.’[/pullquote]The firefighters at the four camps make up as many as 16 of the state’s 77 Northern California prison crews, each of which typically contains 12 to 16 inmates. That means for several more weeks, about 250 of the state’s firefighters could be unavailable in case of a big fire. Currently, hundreds of more inmates at the other quarantined fire camps are also inactive, though many will be returned to duty soon, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The out-of-commission inmates make up a small but significant chunk of Cal Fire’s 11,450 full-time and seasonal firefighters and other employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the hiring of 858 more fire personnel to replace some of the prison crews sidelined by lockdowns or thinned by the early release of 10,000 prisoners, which decreased the population of the crowded penitentiary system in order to slow the spread of the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That hiring is “underway right now,”said Christine McMorrow\u003cem>, \u003c/em>a Cal Fire spokesperson\u003cem>. “\u003c/em>The hires are going to help us to cover the number of crews that we’ve lost from the camps program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she acknowledged it will take some time to hire the seasonal workers, and that the fire camps play an important role in helping the state fight wildfires. “The folks that are on quarantine, we’re hoping they’re going to get off of that and be available again this fire season,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The setback highlights the challenges that California and other Western states are facing heading into the most dangerous part of fire season amid the worst global pandemic in 100 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the northern part of California received a moderate amount of winter rain, and the region faces a worse-than-average \u003ca href=\"https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/outlooks/monthly_seasonal_outlook.pdf\">outlook\u003c/a> for wildfires. The recent coronavirus surge across California, just as the state enters its hottest, driest and most fire-prone months, could make this current fire season especially \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1962364/how-can-california-fight-wildfires-in-the-middle-of-a-pandemic-in-a-few-months-well-likely-find-out\">complicated \u003c/a>and perilous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lt. Ben Ingwerson, the CDCR officer in charge of Valley View, one of the four camps under the prolonged quarantine, expressed frustration that his crews remain under lockdown at such a critical time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s like being a football player who is starting quarterback and now you’re sitting on the sidelines,” he said. “We risk our lives to save houses, property and people. That’s what we do. That’s the mission we signed up for. So it sucks sitting on the sideline. Nobody is going to like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Multiple Exposures at CDCR\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The possible exposure of more prisoners to the coronavirus also comes on the heels of widespread \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11826469/shocking-heartbreaking-san-quentin-coronavirus-outbreak-alarms-health-officials\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11826469/shocking-heartbreaking-san-quentin-coronavirus-outbreak-alarms-health-officials\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-5805\">criticism\u003c/a> of CDCR by lawmakers, advocates and public health officials for the way the department has handled outbreaks at penitentiaries. In the most high-profile incident, the transfer of inmates at the virus-riddled California Institution for Men in Chino to San Quentin State Prison in Marin County resulted in an explosion of some 2,000 \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/covid19/population-status-tracking/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">infections\u003c/a> at San Quentin, including 12 deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The inmates at the 12 quarantined fire camps were initially exposed to the coronavirus during a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article243822702.html\">large\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article243822702.html\">outbreak\u003c/a> at the California Correctional Center in Susanville. They were put under quarantine after CDCR officials learned from contact tracing that the inmates had stopped at that prison, a hub for prisoner firefighter training, before they headed to the rural fire camps, where the state can quickly dispatch them to fight wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR did not find any confirmed infections at the 12 camps that were connected to the Susanville outbreak. One person thought to have the coronavirus was “a false positive,” according to CDCR spokesperson Aaron Francis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The quarantine was placed out of an abundance of caution and CDCR expects that many of the conservation camps will return to active service by next week,” he said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The extended quarantine is occurring at Intermountain, Sugar Pine and Salt Creek conservation camps, in addition to Valley View, according to Ingwerson, the CDCR lieutenant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ingwerson said at least one of the four nurses who conducted coronavirus tests on inmates at the four camps is now sick with COVID-19 herself, necessitating the extended lockdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two inmates also told KQED that prison officials informed them they were exposed to the virus through nurses who had come down with COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond confirming the extended quarantine, the CDCR’s Francis wouldn’t discuss details of the camps affected or the nurse or nurses believed to be the source of the infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the crews housed at the four camps are still not experiencing any symptoms, according to Ingwerson. CDCR plans to test the inmates again this week, but in a best-case scenario, the lockdown at the four facilities won’t be lifted for at least two weeks, and only if no cases are found, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the tests both come back negative, then we’ll be up and running with the rest of the crews.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jason Dixon, who is incarcerated at Valley View, located in rural Glenn County, said, \u003cem>“\u003c/em>We got a lot of motivated, hardworking firefighters here. We’re trying hard to get out there on the fires.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compared to a prison like San Quentin, Dixon says, it is easier to keep physically distanced at the camp. Inmates sleep on single beds instead of bunk beds, and they have an hour or two each day in an exercise yard, where they can keep distant from other people. Each night they can use the telephone, which is sanitized in-between calls, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>We have guys that are daily cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning the dorms, disinfecting everything.” While the crews are “trying to stay positive,” he said they’re “getting thrown speed bumps left and right.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the lockdown, most people incarcerated in the camps are required to spend the bulk of the day at their bunks, and they do pushups and other exercises to stay in firefighting shape, Dixon says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>All of us here worked very hard to come to fire camp,” said Tony Simoneau, another inmate at Valley View. “And it’s been a nightmare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there may be more space in a fire camp, said Charles Pattillo, former executive director of the California Prison Industry Authority\u003cstrong>,\u003c/strong> which manages businesses that hire CDCR prisoners, “You’re basically just running a prison in the woods. You have lower security issues. But you don’t have access to medical there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The use of inmate firefighters in dangerous wildfires has been criticized by criminal justice advocates, who point out the inmates are paid a small wage of a few dollars a day, plus an additional $1 per hour when they are fighting fires.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Four of 12 Northern California prison fire camps under a coronavirus quarantine will have that quarantine extended because the hundreds of inmates housed there were potentially exposed to the coronavirus a second time. That possible contact with the virus came from one or more nurses brought in to test the inmates and who later became sick with COVID-19, according to a camp commander and two people incarcerated at one of the camps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The firefighters at the four camps make up as many as 16 of the state’s 77 Northern California prison crews, each of which typically contains 12 to 16 inmates. That means for several more weeks, about 250 of the state’s firefighters could be unavailable in case of a big fire. Currently, hundreds of more inmates at the other quarantined fire camps are also inactive, though many will be returned to duty soon, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The out-of-commission inmates make up a small but significant chunk of Cal Fire’s 11,450 full-time and seasonal firefighters and other employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the hiring of 858 more fire personnel to replace some of the prison crews sidelined by lockdowns or thinned by the early release of 10,000 prisoners, which decreased the population of the crowded penitentiary system in order to slow the spread of the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That hiring is “underway right now,”said Christine McMorrow\u003cem>, \u003c/em>a Cal Fire spokesperson\u003cem>. “\u003c/em>The hires are going to help us to cover the number of crews that we’ve lost from the camps program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she acknowledged it will take some time to hire the seasonal workers, and that the fire camps play an important role in helping the state fight wildfires. “The folks that are on quarantine, we’re hoping they’re going to get off of that and be available again this fire season,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The setback highlights the challenges that California and other Western states are facing heading into the most dangerous part of fire season amid the worst global pandemic in 100 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the northern part of California received a moderate amount of winter rain, and the region faces a worse-than-average \u003ca href=\"https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/outlooks/monthly_seasonal_outlook.pdf\">outlook\u003c/a> for wildfires. The recent coronavirus surge across California, just as the state enters its hottest, driest and most fire-prone months, could make this current fire season especially \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1962364/how-can-california-fight-wildfires-in-the-middle-of-a-pandemic-in-a-few-months-well-likely-find-out\">complicated \u003c/a>and perilous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lt. Ben Ingwerson, the CDCR officer in charge of Valley View, one of the four camps under the prolonged quarantine, expressed frustration that his crews remain under lockdown at such a critical time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s like being a football player who is starting quarterback and now you’re sitting on the sidelines,” he said. “We risk our lives to save houses, property and people. That’s what we do. That’s the mission we signed up for. So it sucks sitting on the sideline. Nobody is going to like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Multiple Exposures at CDCR\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The possible exposure of more prisoners to the coronavirus also comes on the heels of widespread \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11826469/shocking-heartbreaking-san-quentin-coronavirus-outbreak-alarms-health-officials\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11826469/shocking-heartbreaking-san-quentin-coronavirus-outbreak-alarms-health-officials\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-5805\">criticism\u003c/a> of CDCR by lawmakers, advocates and public health officials for the way the department has handled outbreaks at penitentiaries. In the most high-profile incident, the transfer of inmates at the virus-riddled California Institution for Men in Chino to San Quentin State Prison in Marin County resulted in an explosion of some 2,000 \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/covid19/population-status-tracking/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">infections\u003c/a> at San Quentin, including 12 deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The inmates at the 12 quarantined fire camps were initially exposed to the coronavirus during a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article243822702.html\">large\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article243822702.html\">outbreak\u003c/a> at the California Correctional Center in Susanville. They were put under quarantine after CDCR officials learned from contact tracing that the inmates had stopped at that prison, a hub for prisoner firefighter training, before they headed to the rural fire camps, where the state can quickly dispatch them to fight wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR did not find any confirmed infections at the 12 camps that were connected to the Susanville outbreak. One person thought to have the coronavirus was “a false positive,” according to CDCR spokesperson Aaron Francis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The quarantine was placed out of an abundance of caution and CDCR expects that many of the conservation camps will return to active service by next week,” he said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The extended quarantine is occurring at Intermountain, Sugar Pine and Salt Creek conservation camps, in addition to Valley View, according to Ingwerson, the CDCR lieutenant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ingwerson said at least one of the four nurses who conducted coronavirus tests on inmates at the four camps is now sick with COVID-19 herself, necessitating the extended lockdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two inmates also told KQED that prison officials informed them they were exposed to the virus through nurses who had come down with COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond confirming the extended quarantine, the CDCR’s Francis wouldn’t discuss details of the camps affected or the nurse or nurses believed to be the source of the infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the crews housed at the four camps are still not experiencing any symptoms, according to Ingwerson. CDCR plans to test the inmates again this week, but in a best-case scenario, the lockdown at the four facilities won’t be lifted for at least two weeks, and only if no cases are found, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the tests both come back negative, then we’ll be up and running with the rest of the crews.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jason Dixon, who is incarcerated at Valley View, located in rural Glenn County, said, \u003cem>“\u003c/em>We got a lot of motivated, hardworking firefighters here. We’re trying hard to get out there on the fires.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compared to a prison like San Quentin, Dixon says, it is easier to keep physically distanced at the camp. Inmates sleep on single beds instead of bunk beds, and they have an hour or two each day in an exercise yard, where they can keep distant from other people. Each night they can use the telephone, which is sanitized in-between calls, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>We have guys that are daily cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning the dorms, disinfecting everything.” While the crews are “trying to stay positive,” he said they’re “getting thrown speed bumps left and right.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the lockdown, most people incarcerated in the camps are required to spend the bulk of the day at their bunks, and they do pushups and other exercises to stay in firefighting shape, Dixon says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>All of us here worked very hard to come to fire camp,” said Tony Simoneau, another inmate at Valley View. “And it’s been a nightmare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there may be more space in a fire camp, said Charles Pattillo, former executive director of the California Prison Industry Authority\u003cstrong>,\u003c/strong> which manages businesses that hire CDCR prisoners, “You’re basically just running a prison in the woods. You have lower security issues. But you don’t have access to medical there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The use of inmate firefighters in dangerous wildfires has been criticized by criminal justice advocates, who point out the inmates are paid a small wage of a few dollars a day, plus an additional $1 per hour when they are fighting fires.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Tear Gas, Pollution, Wildfire Smoke: A Triple Threat to Your Lungs",
"headTitle": "Tear Gas, Pollution, Wildfire Smoke: A Triple Threat to Your Lungs | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>eron McGrew stayed home during the past two weeks while others in her hometown of Oakland were protesting systemic racism and police killings of black people. Like many of her neighbors, McGrew has asthma and, because of her breathing difficulties, she feared being exposed to COVID-19 and to tear gas used by police. She also feared police brutality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new coronavirus is taking a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11813696/latinos-around-the-bay-area-are-disproportionately-affected-by-covid-19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">particularly cruel toll\u003c/a> in minority communities, with black Americans \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/black-americans-death-rate-covid-19-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">far more likely to die\u003c/a> from COVID-19 than white Americans. One of the inequities driving the high numbers of deaths is damage and disease to lungs caused by years spent breathing polluted air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote citation='Teron McGrew, Oakland']I’m an African American and I need to be in the protests against systemic racism, but I made a choice for my life.’[/pullquote]Lung health is a critical weapon in the fight to reduce deaths during the pandemic. Yet police have been firing chemicals at protesters that can damage lung cells. American soldiers exposed to tear gas in sealed chambers during annual combat training were shown in a \u003ca href=\"https://academic.oup.com/milmed/article/179/7/793/4259353\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2014 study\u003c/a> to be substantially more likely to contract acute respiratory infections afterward, prompting the Army to issue new rules that \u003ca href=\"https://benthamopen.com/ABSTRACT/TOEPIJ-7-37\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">limit their exposure\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The respiratory onslaught precedes a wildfire season that further threatens to weaken immune protections against respiratory diseases such as COVID-19 and influenza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m an African American and I need to be in the protests against systemic racism, but I made a choice for my life,” said McGrew, a resident of North Oakland who works on issues of community and housing development. “I made a choice but people who are dying from COVID-19 and asthma and pollution, they don’t have a choice. They’re dying because of the inequalities and the systemic racism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pollution from fossil fuels is also warming the planet and the region, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941376/we-can-make-california-wildfires-less-horrific-will-we\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">leading to larger wildfires\u003c/a> and more of their harmful smoke. As the coronavirus infects new victims, California is heading into a hot, dry wildfire season. Wildfire smoke can blanket forest and foothill communities and choke far-away cities with particles that penetrate lungs and weaken immune responses to infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1965803\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 548px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1965803\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with coffee skin and black hair, wearing a white sweater, sits at a desk in front of two laptops. This is Teron McGrew at her home office in North Oakland. Rows of books, with books stacked on top of them, fill her bookshelf.\" width=\"548\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 548px) 100vw, 548px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teron McGrew works in her home office in North Oakland. \u003ccite>(Candase Chambers/Climate Central)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The one-two punch of tear gas and wildfire smoke, coupled with ever-present air pollution from fossil fuels, is set to worsen suffering related to the coronavirus this year, with people of color living in polluted areas continuing to feel the worst effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Epidemiologists, geographers and other researchers have been learning in recent years that wildfire smoke poses a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1929784/breathing-fire-californias-central-valley-bears-the-brunt-of-harmful-wildfire-smoke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">greater public health risk\u003c/a> than previously realized. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019326935\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new study\u003c/a> from Montana shows exposure to “smoke waves” — multiple-day bouts of heavy smoke — led to a substantial increase in influenza cases the following winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The literature shows that people who are exposed to air pollution during wildfires are more likely to get respiratory infections, and I would classify COVID-19 as a respiratory infection,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.colorado.edu/geography/colleen-reid-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Colleen Reid\u003c/a>, a geographer at the University of Colorado, Boulder, whose research interests include health impacts from wildfire smoke. “It could lead to more severe cases or even more cases that are noticed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>First Wildfire Smoke, Then Flu\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To test the relationship between wildfire smoke and influenza, \u003ca href=\"https://health.umt.edu/publichealth/faculty/core-faculty.php?s=Landguth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Erin Landguth\u003c/a>, an associate professor at the University of Montana, led a study that \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019326935\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">examined health and smoke wave data\u003c/a> over a decade from Montana. The study was published this month in the scientific journal \u003ca href=\"https://www.journals.elsevier.com/environment-international\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Environment International\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Landguth’s team looked for impacts on flu cases within one to four weeks of a smoke wave, and they didn’t find a significant effect during that period. What has stunned experts were impacts on influenza cases detected months later, during the following winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1965730\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"394\" height=\"222\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 394px) 100vw, 394px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We thought there would be no way we’d see this long of a delay,” Landguth said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on their analysis, the researchers concluded the epic 2017 wildfire season in Big Sky Country caused influenza cases that winter to at least double and possibly rise as much as fivefold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Influenza kills tens of thousands of Americans every year, and the findings also have worrying implications for COVID-19 and other respiratory infections. Landguth is now gathering data from all Western states to expand the influenza research, and is also starting to investigate relationships between smoke waves and COVID-19 infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ph.ucla.edu/faculty/jerrett\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Jerrett\u003c/a>, a professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, is among the scientists racing to understand relationships between various types of air pollution and COVID-19 as the disease continues to spread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have to be cautious in interpreting what we’re finding, but I think what we’re seeing in a series of very rapidly developing studies is evidence that air pollution does make people more susceptible to COVID,” Jerret said. “The wildfires are likely to exacerbate the existing symptoms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>More Smoke in California’s Future\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The hazards are intensifying as warming temperatures, worsening droughts, overgrown forest understories, urban development and other changes intensify wildfire seasons, putting more smoke into the air and more smoke particles into lungs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Led by scientists at Yale and Harvard, researchers several years ago used models of fire and winds to \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28642628/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">project smokier futures\u003c/a> for Western counties as temperatures rise. Across the Bay Area, the density of smoke particles suspended in the air during an average smoke wave is projected to nearly double by 2050, compared with levels during the late aughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1965720\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity-1020x574.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/outlooks/monthly_seasonal_outlook.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wildfire outlook\u003c/a> published by federal agencies on June 1 shows above normal potential for blazes across most of Northern California through September. Snowpacks are melting early in the warm spring temperatures, and hot and dry conditions are expected to persist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ingredient of greatest concern in smoke is PM2.5, the name given to the finest of particulate matter — particles so small they can lodge deep in lungs, and are sometimes so small they can enter the bloodstream. Smoke also affects levels of ozone pollution and it can contain toxic byproducts from incinerated plastics and paint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once inhaled, PM2.5 particles operate at a microscopic level to inflame and injure lung cells, providing the coronavirus and other pathogens with a boost as they work to overcome their victim’s immune system. The smoke also adds to risks of heart attack and a long list of other common and sometimes deadly maladies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tiny particulate matter isn’t just produced during wildfires — it’s present in pollution released by vehicle exhausts, power plants, refineries, farms and wood stoves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research is \u003ca href=\"https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/air-pollution-linked-with-higher-covid-19-death-rates/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">underway at Harvard\u003c/a> and elsewhere examining whether exposure to tiny particulate matter from fossil fuel pollution increases the risk of death from COVID-19. If so, this would raise the already elevated coronavirus threats faced by communities of color, which are frequently located in less costly areas that are heavily polluted, including those along highways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Poor black and brown communities, especially, are at higher risk of dying from COVID, and they’re at higher risk because of a lot of things — one related to chronic inflammation from having faced chronic trauma and exposure, chronic air pollution, et cetera,” said \u003ca href=\"https://profiles.ucsf.edu/madhavi.dandu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Madhavi Dandu\u003c/a>, a professor of medicine at UCSF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many people in that setting are essential workers who don’t really have as much choice about whether they get to go to work,” Dandu said. “And a lot of people might live in closer housing settings or multigenerational households.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Solutions, but Not Easy Ones\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When smoke waves blot the skies, local governments and agencies often cancel classes and sporting and community events and recommend sheltering in place. For some in aging and inexpensively maintained housing, including rentals, however, the air in the home also becomes unsafe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Oakland fills with smoke from wildfires burning in the region, McGrew, the resident of North Oakland who suffers from asthma, says she’s forced indoors. “When the smoke was really heavy, that’s when I had to get my inhaler.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the 2016 and 2017 wildfire seasons, \u003ca href=\"https://www.colorado.edu/even/people/shelly-miller\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shelly Miller\u003c/a>, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder, led research that monitored indoor air quality in 28 homes of low-income residents in Denver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were responding to an announcement we kept hearing on the news, which is, ‘It’s wildfire season, shelter in your home,'” Miller said. “And we kept thinking, ‘I don’t know if that’s always such a good idea,’ because many homes are not well protected from the outdoor environment, meaning lots of air can come inside from outside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the occupants in the homes studied kept their windows open for cooling, and Miller’s team found PM2.5 levels could be much higher inside those homes during smoke waves than outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Running an air cleaner, also called an air purifier, has been found to be highly effective in reducing indoor pollution from wildfire smoke — particularly when it’s operated with windows closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The factors preventing many residents from buying air cleaners are the same as those forcing them to live in drafty homes in polluted areas — the impoverishing consequences of skyrocketing economic disparity and underinvestments in health and some urban areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In West Oakland, where air pollution from ships, trains and trucks at the port mixes with pollution from freeways and other sources, leading to high rates of asthma and other diseases, health care can be unaffordable, and the housing stock provides limited protection from pollution or smoke waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obamacare has helped, but people need to understand that most of our folks that don’t have resources don’t have health coverage,” said Ken Chambers, the pastor of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.westsidelove.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">West Side Missionary Baptist Church\u003c/a> in West Oakland, just a few blocks from the port’s fence line. “People who are poor and broke don’t have the availability to eat high quality foods, they’re eating fast foods. They don’t go to the doctor for regular routine checkups.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McGrew, of North Oakland, has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.climaterealityproject.org/training\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">trained to discuss climate change\u003c/a> by the \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2020/06/09/california-oks-movie-theaters-to-reopen-with-limited-seats/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Climate Reality Project\u003c/a>, a global nonprofit founded by Al Gore. She is also involved in Bay Area committees and efforts to tackle climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She sees strong connections between racism, racial disparities and climate change, and she wants African Americans participating in decision-making that affects everything from how communities are policed to how to grow green jobs and slow warming by reducing fossil fuel use. Shifting from fossil fuels to cleaner economies also boosts air quality, improving lung health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For 400 years, African Americans have been left out of the equation,” she said. “We’ve got to be at the tables when policies are being drafted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s Note: KQED Science reporter Danielle Venton contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced through a partnership between KQED and \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatecentral.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Climate Central\u003c/a>, a non-advocacy science and news group.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>eron McGrew stayed home during the past two weeks while others in her hometown of Oakland were protesting systemic racism and police killings of black people. Like many of her neighbors, McGrew has asthma and, because of her breathing difficulties, she feared being exposed to COVID-19 and to tear gas used by police. She also feared police brutality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new coronavirus is taking a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11813696/latinos-around-the-bay-area-are-disproportionately-affected-by-covid-19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">particularly cruel toll\u003c/a> in minority communities, with black Americans \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/black-americans-death-rate-covid-19-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">far more likely to die\u003c/a> from COVID-19 than white Americans. One of the inequities driving the high numbers of deaths is damage and disease to lungs caused by years spent breathing polluted air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Lung health is a critical weapon in the fight to reduce deaths during the pandemic. Yet police have been firing chemicals at protesters that can damage lung cells. American soldiers exposed to tear gas in sealed chambers during annual combat training were shown in a \u003ca href=\"https://academic.oup.com/milmed/article/179/7/793/4259353\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2014 study\u003c/a> to be substantially more likely to contract acute respiratory infections afterward, prompting the Army to issue new rules that \u003ca href=\"https://benthamopen.com/ABSTRACT/TOEPIJ-7-37\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">limit their exposure\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The respiratory onslaught precedes a wildfire season that further threatens to weaken immune protections against respiratory diseases such as COVID-19 and influenza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m an African American and I need to be in the protests against systemic racism, but I made a choice for my life,” said McGrew, a resident of North Oakland who works on issues of community and housing development. “I made a choice but people who are dying from COVID-19 and asthma and pollution, they don’t have a choice. They’re dying because of the inequalities and the systemic racism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pollution from fossil fuels is also warming the planet and the region, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941376/we-can-make-california-wildfires-less-horrific-will-we\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">leading to larger wildfires\u003c/a> and more of their harmful smoke. As the coronavirus infects new victims, California is heading into a hot, dry wildfire season. Wildfire smoke can blanket forest and foothill communities and choke far-away cities with particles that penetrate lungs and weaken immune responses to infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1965803\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 548px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1965803\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with coffee skin and black hair, wearing a white sweater, sits at a desk in front of two laptops. This is Teron McGrew at her home office in North Oakland. Rows of books, with books stacked on top of them, fill her bookshelf.\" width=\"548\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Teron-McGrew.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 548px) 100vw, 548px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teron McGrew works in her home office in North Oakland. \u003ccite>(Candase Chambers/Climate Central)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The one-two punch of tear gas and wildfire smoke, coupled with ever-present air pollution from fossil fuels, is set to worsen suffering related to the coronavirus this year, with people of color living in polluted areas continuing to feel the worst effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Epidemiologists, geographers and other researchers have been learning in recent years that wildfire smoke poses a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1929784/breathing-fire-californias-central-valley-bears-the-brunt-of-harmful-wildfire-smoke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">greater public health risk\u003c/a> than previously realized. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019326935\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new study\u003c/a> from Montana shows exposure to “smoke waves” — multiple-day bouts of heavy smoke — led to a substantial increase in influenza cases the following winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The literature shows that people who are exposed to air pollution during wildfires are more likely to get respiratory infections, and I would classify COVID-19 as a respiratory infection,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.colorado.edu/geography/colleen-reid-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Colleen Reid\u003c/a>, a geographer at the University of Colorado, Boulder, whose research interests include health impacts from wildfire smoke. “It could lead to more severe cases or even more cases that are noticed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>First Wildfire Smoke, Then Flu\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To test the relationship between wildfire smoke and influenza, \u003ca href=\"https://health.umt.edu/publichealth/faculty/core-faculty.php?s=Landguth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Erin Landguth\u003c/a>, an associate professor at the University of Montana, led a study that \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019326935\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">examined health and smoke wave data\u003c/a> over a decade from Montana. The study was published this month in the scientific journal \u003ca href=\"https://www.journals.elsevier.com/environment-international\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Environment International\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Landguth’s team looked for impacts on flu cases within one to four weeks of a smoke wave, and they didn’t find a significant effect during that period. What has stunned experts were impacts on influenza cases detected months later, during the following winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1965730\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"394\" height=\"222\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/2017WildfireAirQuality_en_title_lg.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 394px) 100vw, 394px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We thought there would be no way we’d see this long of a delay,” Landguth said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on their analysis, the researchers concluded the epic 2017 wildfire season in Big Sky Country caused influenza cases that winter to at least double and possibly rise as much as fivefold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Influenza kills tens of thousands of Americans every year, and the findings also have worrying implications for COVID-19 and other respiratory infections. Landguth is now gathering data from all Western states to expand the influenza research, and is also starting to investigate relationships between smoke waves and COVID-19 infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ph.ucla.edu/faculty/jerrett\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Jerrett\u003c/a>, a professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, is among the scientists racing to understand relationships between various types of air pollution and COVID-19 as the disease continues to spread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have to be cautious in interpreting what we’re finding, but I think what we’re seeing in a series of very rapidly developing studies is evidence that air pollution does make people more susceptible to COVID,” Jerret said. “The wildfires are likely to exacerbate the existing symptoms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>More Smoke in California’s Future\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The hazards are intensifying as warming temperatures, worsening droughts, overgrown forest understories, urban development and other changes intensify wildfire seasons, putting more smoke into the air and more smoke particles into lungs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Led by scientists at Yale and Harvard, researchers several years ago used models of fire and winds to \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28642628/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">project smokier futures\u003c/a> for Western counties as temperatures rise. Across the Bay Area, the density of smoke particles suspended in the air during an average smoke wave is projected to nearly double by 2050, compared with levels during the late aughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1965720\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/smoke-wave-intensity-1020x574.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/outlooks/monthly_seasonal_outlook.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wildfire outlook\u003c/a> published by federal agencies on June 1 shows above normal potential for blazes across most of Northern California through September. Snowpacks are melting early in the warm spring temperatures, and hot and dry conditions are expected to persist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ingredient of greatest concern in smoke is PM2.5, the name given to the finest of particulate matter — particles so small they can lodge deep in lungs, and are sometimes so small they can enter the bloodstream. Smoke also affects levels of ozone pollution and it can contain toxic byproducts from incinerated plastics and paint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once inhaled, PM2.5 particles operate at a microscopic level to inflame and injure lung cells, providing the coronavirus and other pathogens with a boost as they work to overcome their victim’s immune system. The smoke also adds to risks of heart attack and a long list of other common and sometimes deadly maladies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tiny particulate matter isn’t just produced during wildfires — it’s present in pollution released by vehicle exhausts, power plants, refineries, farms and wood stoves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research is \u003ca href=\"https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/air-pollution-linked-with-higher-covid-19-death-rates/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">underway at Harvard\u003c/a> and elsewhere examining whether exposure to tiny particulate matter from fossil fuel pollution increases the risk of death from COVID-19. If so, this would raise the already elevated coronavirus threats faced by communities of color, which are frequently located in less costly areas that are heavily polluted, including those along highways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Poor black and brown communities, especially, are at higher risk of dying from COVID, and they’re at higher risk because of a lot of things — one related to chronic inflammation from having faced chronic trauma and exposure, chronic air pollution, et cetera,” said \u003ca href=\"https://profiles.ucsf.edu/madhavi.dandu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Madhavi Dandu\u003c/a>, a professor of medicine at UCSF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many people in that setting are essential workers who don’t really have as much choice about whether they get to go to work,” Dandu said. “And a lot of people might live in closer housing settings or multigenerational households.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Solutions, but Not Easy Ones\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When smoke waves blot the skies, local governments and agencies often cancel classes and sporting and community events and recommend sheltering in place. For some in aging and inexpensively maintained housing, including rentals, however, the air in the home also becomes unsafe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Oakland fills with smoke from wildfires burning in the region, McGrew, the resident of North Oakland who suffers from asthma, says she’s forced indoors. “When the smoke was really heavy, that’s when I had to get my inhaler.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the 2016 and 2017 wildfire seasons, \u003ca href=\"https://www.colorado.edu/even/people/shelly-miller\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shelly Miller\u003c/a>, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder, led research that monitored indoor air quality in 28 homes of low-income residents in Denver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were responding to an announcement we kept hearing on the news, which is, ‘It’s wildfire season, shelter in your home,'” Miller said. “And we kept thinking, ‘I don’t know if that’s always such a good idea,’ because many homes are not well protected from the outdoor environment, meaning lots of air can come inside from outside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the occupants in the homes studied kept their windows open for cooling, and Miller’s team found PM2.5 levels could be much higher inside those homes during smoke waves than outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Running an air cleaner, also called an air purifier, has been found to be highly effective in reducing indoor pollution from wildfire smoke — particularly when it’s operated with windows closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The factors preventing many residents from buying air cleaners are the same as those forcing them to live in drafty homes in polluted areas — the impoverishing consequences of skyrocketing economic disparity and underinvestments in health and some urban areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In West Oakland, where air pollution from ships, trains and trucks at the port mixes with pollution from freeways and other sources, leading to high rates of asthma and other diseases, health care can be unaffordable, and the housing stock provides limited protection from pollution or smoke waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obamacare has helped, but people need to understand that most of our folks that don’t have resources don’t have health coverage,” said Ken Chambers, the pastor of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.westsidelove.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">West Side Missionary Baptist Church\u003c/a> in West Oakland, just a few blocks from the port’s fence line. “People who are poor and broke don’t have the availability to eat high quality foods, they’re eating fast foods. They don’t go to the doctor for regular routine checkups.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McGrew, of North Oakland, has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.climaterealityproject.org/training\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">trained to discuss climate change\u003c/a> by the \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2020/06/09/california-oks-movie-theaters-to-reopen-with-limited-seats/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Climate Reality Project\u003c/a>, a global nonprofit founded by Al Gore. She is also involved in Bay Area committees and efforts to tackle climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She sees strong connections between racism, racial disparities and climate change, and she wants African Americans participating in decision-making that affects everything from how communities are policed to how to grow green jobs and slow warming by reducing fossil fuel use. Shifting from fossil fuels to cleaner economies also boosts air quality, improving lung health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For 400 years, African Americans have been left out of the equation,” she said. “We’ve got to be at the tables when policies are being drafted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s Note: KQED Science reporter Danielle Venton contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced through a partnership between KQED and \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatecentral.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Climate Central\u003c/a>, a non-advocacy science and news group.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "how-can-california-fight-wildfires-in-the-middle-of-a-pandemic-in-a-few-months-well-likely-find-out",
"title": "How Can California Fight Wildfires in the Middle of a Pandemic? In a Few Months, We'll Likely Find Out",
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"headTitle": "How Can California Fight Wildfires in the Middle of a Pandemic? In a Few Months, We’ll Likely Find Out | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>No one knows exactly how this coming fire season will shake out, but experts and fire officials agree the COVID-19 pandemic will make an already hard job much tougher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]‘We’ve never fought a fire in a pandemic.’[/pullquote]Fire agencies and emergency managers are now planning how they’ll fight wildfires, issue evacuation orders, set up shelters and handle power shutoffs in the face of the massive challenge of simultaneously coping with a highly infectious disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve never fought fire in a pandemic,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.incident-services.com/jim.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Jim Whittington\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, an expert in wildland fire response. “We don’t have any sort of lessons from [the flu pandemic of] 1918. So this is going to be a learning experience, and we’re going to have to err on the side of firefighter and public safety. And we recognize that there’s probably going to be some Catch-22s in our future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">One of the biggest impacts could be a strain on the mutual aid system. In normal times, agencies provide support to each other during disasters. But when the crisis is so widespread, that system could become strained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">If first responders or their families become sick, or if they are tied up in emergency medical services, then agencies will struggle to maintain peak staffing, and they will be less able to share resources. If a paramedic assigned to a fire engine has to help with the COVID-19 response, for example, “Well, then the engine can’t go to the fire,” said Christopher Godley, director of emergency management for Sonoma County. “Jurisdictions simply may not have the resources to share with each other like they have in years past. And that was the great success story of our Kincade fire response last year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The Kincade Fire ignited in a remote region of Sonoma County on Oct. 23, 2019, threatened the town of Windsor, and prompted the largest evacuation orders in the history of the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“There was an army of firefighters and law enforcement that came into the county to address that fire,” Godley said. “That may be a real challenge this season.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cb>Forecast for an Uncertain Year\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The most recent predictive \u003ca href=\"https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/outlooks/monthly_seasonal_outlook.pdf\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">report\u003c/span>\u003c/a> for wildfire conditions, issued April 1 by the National Interagency Fire Center, forecasts normal Northern California wildfire potential in May and June, but above normal in July. The northern part of the state has seen only about half its average \u003ca href=\"https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/cnrfc/rsa_getprod.php?prod=RNORR4RSA&wfo=cnrfc&version=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rainfall\u003c/a>, and the \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Sierra Nevada snowpack\u003c/span>\u003c/a> sits at about 60 percent of normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[emailsignup newslettername='science' align='right'](Southern California has gotten 100 percent of normal rainfall and has a forecast of below average fire potential.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">But historically, California’s most destructive fires have come in the late summer and fall, too far out to forecast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">What the response to the inevitable conflagrations to come will look like depends on what \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11812296/newsoms-roadmap-to-guide-california-out-of-isolation\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">phase of the pandemic\u003c/span>\u003c/a> California is experiencing. That depends upon a host of factors that are currently unknown. Transmissions may die down in the summer, as seasonal colds do. Perhaps more testing and therapies will be available. Or, coronavirus cases could surge. In that case, emergency managers would have to decide how best to balance the health and safety of the public and fire responders amid competing disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">What’s already known is that the business of firefighting creates a lot of opportunities for sickness to spread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“The thing about fire suppression is it’s an activity where you’re frankly just right on top of people,” said \u003ca href=\"https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/faculty/scott-l-stephens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scott Stephens\u003c/a>, a fire science researcher at UC Berkeley. “You know, you work as a crew. The crew trains together. The crew actually lives together, generally in a bunkhouse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Groups within the National Interagency Fire Center are drafting plans for how federal agencies, like the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, will fight fires. The \u003ca href=\"https://gacc.nifc.gov/eacc/eacg/documents/Eastern_Area_WFRP.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">plan\u003c/a> for the Eastern region of the U.S.,which has an earlier fire season than the West, has already been released.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/JimWhittington/status/1248671869957320705\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Key points include treating different crews, or “modules,” as units that would not eat, sleep or mix with their counterparts. Firefighters might stay in their own tents, rather than in a bunkhouse, and eat military-style M.R.E.s with their own group, rather than mixing with other crews. The planners also expect to rely more heavily this year on aircraft and local resources, and less on interstate assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">These plans should be considered “living documents” that will be updated “as we collectively learn more about our new operating environment with COVID-19,” states an April 9 \u003ca href=\"https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/administrative/nmac/NMAC2020-09.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">memo\u003c/a> from the group coordinating wildfire-fighting strategy among Interior Department agencies, “We are entering into uncharted territory.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The plan for the Western region is due to be released by the end of April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The U.S. Forest Service says it will seek to minimize travel to other geographic areas, and that it will emphasize social distancing by unit. Large fire camps, with hundreds or thousands of firefighters living together, “will not be the norm any longer,” said a spokesperson in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/CALFIRE_PIO/status/1250478099138932737\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cb>How to Keep Firefighters Safe? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The state fire agency, CalFire, is in the process of bringing on its seasonal workforce of about 2,600. Trainings and recertifications are continuing, with some added distance between participants. Some trainings have moved online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“We used to bring them into large classrooms and do it that way. Of course, we cannot do that anymore,” said Scott McLean, CalFire’s deputy communications chief. Firefighters are learning in smaller groups, in larger spaces outdoors, or online, he said. “So you’ll see more classes, less people in them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">How will fire season be different this year for the agency? Will CalFire use large base camps when incidents erupt?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“We’re not naive to the situation by any means,” said McClean. “Every incident is going to be different on how and what the needs are going to be, especially for the logistical support of the firefighters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Safety officers, McLean says, will ensure that CDC guidelines for distancing and disinfection will be met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“A common phrase in our department, or in departments working on a wildland fire, is ‘Keep your dime.’ That means stay 10 feet apart,” said McLean. “That refers to the safety aspect of using tools” like chainsaws, he said. Those practices “are already ingrained into our way of doing business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Still, fire camps are notoriously locations where firefighters get sick. “\u003ca href=\"https://www.wildfirelessons.net/orphans/viewincident?DocumentKey=12cd8ac6-4285-44cb-8b9e-a8e917c39eb8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Camp crud\u003c/a>” is the insider name for a respiratory illness with cough, usually attributed to a combination of infectious agents and lung irritation from smoke and dust. The worry that smoke exposure will put firefighters at extra risk if they contract the coronavirus may lead incident commanders to request fewer crews on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">While an increased focus on initial attack and using air resources may help slow a fire or reduce its intensity, says Stephens, “they all have to be put out by ground crews. You just don’t dump water on something and say you’re done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Even if the number of firefighters assigned to a fire can be reduced, “there’s very few, I would say, great options, because of just the nature of firefighting. […] I’m afraid the virus will have an impact on firefighting people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cb>Evacuation and Power Shutoffs in the Time of COVID-19\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Firefighting is most effective when neighborhoods are evacuated early. But what would evacuations look like during a pandemic?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">It’s not clear how evacuation orders will intersect with requirements to isolate at home, should those directives still be in effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“We’ve not fleshed it out fully,” said Sonoma County’s Godley “but the thought is…you should not be going to stay with your [extended] family or friends because you may be putting them at risk. or they may be putting you at risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Already the Red Cross is planning to make more shelters available so that evacuees have a greater amount of space. Upon entering, people would be screened for the virus, ideally with a rapid test instead of a simple assessment of possible symptoms. Separate areas will be set up for those requiring isolation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Last fire season, PG&E shut off power multiple times to millions of Californians during periods of high wildfire-risk. Last week, a large group of counties, cities and other organizations filed a motion before the state public utilities commission asking it to direct utilities to be more deliberate in the frequency and scope of the shutoffs, and to analyze their effect on hospitals with COVID-19 patients. Godley said the utilities should “make sure they’re doing everything they can” to keep the power running at medical facilities and to provide alternate power sources, if possible, for places caring for vulnerable populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cb>Managing Expectations \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Jim Whittington, the wildland fire response expert, is concerned that some fire agencies aren’t preparing people for the complexity of fighting fires during this pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“I think one of the big things that is going to be tough for the agencies to do is to go out and have conversations with stakeholders, elected officials and the public,” he said, “and start changing some expectations about what fire season is going to look like.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Whatever it looks like, it’s a safe bet it won’t be what Californians have come to expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Whittington envisions tensions arising if fire managers do not deploy as many ground resources as they normally would or allow forested land to burn that in other years might have been saved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“I think one of the issues might be that we get into a tough fire situation and people, say their expectations are one thing, but the fire incident commander and the hierarchy is going to react in a different way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“I think there’s some folks that are working on that. But I’m not sure that these things have been pushed out to the public yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.iawfonline.org/article/2020-04-wildfires-pandemic-whats-ahead-wfca/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">statement\u003c/a> issued April 1 from the Western Fire Chiefs Association counsels fire managers to begin communicating that we face a difficult season ahead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, it will be lonely at the top, because we may be going way from the standard firefighting performance norms,” it said. “The first step in addressing response is to prepare the policy makers, public and our troops. All parties need to be made aware that their historical response performance expectations may not occur during the near future and the sooner they hear this, the better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "How Can California Fight Wildfires in the Middle of a Pandemic? In a Few Months, We'll Likely Find Out | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>No one knows exactly how this coming fire season will shake out, but experts and fire officials agree the COVID-19 pandemic will make an already hard job much tougher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We’ve never fought a fire in a pandemic.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Fire agencies and emergency managers are now planning how they’ll fight wildfires, issue evacuation orders, set up shelters and handle power shutoffs in the face of the massive challenge of simultaneously coping with a highly infectious disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve never fought fire in a pandemic,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.incident-services.com/jim.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Jim Whittington\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, an expert in wildland fire response. “We don’t have any sort of lessons from [the flu pandemic of] 1918. So this is going to be a learning experience, and we’re going to have to err on the side of firefighter and public safety. And we recognize that there’s probably going to be some Catch-22s in our future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">One of the biggest impacts could be a strain on the mutual aid system. In normal times, agencies provide support to each other during disasters. But when the crisis is so widespread, that system could become strained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">If first responders or their families become sick, or if they are tied up in emergency medical services, then agencies will struggle to maintain peak staffing, and they will be less able to share resources. If a paramedic assigned to a fire engine has to help with the COVID-19 response, for example, “Well, then the engine can’t go to the fire,” said Christopher Godley, director of emergency management for Sonoma County. “Jurisdictions simply may not have the resources to share with each other like they have in years past. And that was the great success story of our Kincade fire response last year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The Kincade Fire ignited in a remote region of Sonoma County on Oct. 23, 2019, threatened the town of Windsor, and prompted the largest evacuation orders in the history of the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“There was an army of firefighters and law enforcement that came into the county to address that fire,” Godley said. “That may be a real challenge this season.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cb>Forecast for an Uncertain Year\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The most recent predictive \u003ca href=\"https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/outlooks/monthly_seasonal_outlook.pdf\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">report\u003c/span>\u003c/a> for wildfire conditions, issued April 1 by the National Interagency Fire Center, forecasts normal Northern California wildfire potential in May and June, but above normal in July. The northern part of the state has seen only about half its average \u003ca href=\"https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/cnrfc/rsa_getprod.php?prod=RNORR4RSA&wfo=cnrfc&version=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rainfall\u003c/a>, and the \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Sierra Nevada snowpack\u003c/span>\u003c/a> sits at about 60 percent of normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>(Southern California has gotten 100 percent of normal rainfall and has a forecast of below average fire potential.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">But historically, California’s most destructive fires have come in the late summer and fall, too far out to forecast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">What the response to the inevitable conflagrations to come will look like depends on what \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11812296/newsoms-roadmap-to-guide-california-out-of-isolation\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">phase of the pandemic\u003c/span>\u003c/a> California is experiencing. That depends upon a host of factors that are currently unknown. Transmissions may die down in the summer, as seasonal colds do. Perhaps more testing and therapies will be available. Or, coronavirus cases could surge. In that case, emergency managers would have to decide how best to balance the health and safety of the public and fire responders amid competing disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">What’s already known is that the business of firefighting creates a lot of opportunities for sickness to spread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“The thing about fire suppression is it’s an activity where you’re frankly just right on top of people,” said \u003ca href=\"https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/faculty/scott-l-stephens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scott Stephens\u003c/a>, a fire science researcher at UC Berkeley. “You know, you work as a crew. The crew trains together. The crew actually lives together, generally in a bunkhouse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Groups within the National Interagency Fire Center are drafting plans for how federal agencies, like the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, will fight fires. The \u003ca href=\"https://gacc.nifc.gov/eacc/eacg/documents/Eastern_Area_WFRP.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">plan\u003c/a> for the Eastern region of the U.S.,which has an earlier fire season than the West, has already been released.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Key points include treating different crews, or “modules,” as units that would not eat, sleep or mix with their counterparts. Firefighters might stay in their own tents, rather than in a bunkhouse, and eat military-style M.R.E.s with their own group, rather than mixing with other crews. The planners also expect to rely more heavily this year on aircraft and local resources, and less on interstate assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">These plans should be considered “living documents” that will be updated “as we collectively learn more about our new operating environment with COVID-19,” states an April 9 \u003ca href=\"https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/administrative/nmac/NMAC2020-09.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">memo\u003c/a> from the group coordinating wildfire-fighting strategy among Interior Department agencies, “We are entering into uncharted territory.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The plan for the Western region is due to be released by the end of April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The U.S. Forest Service says it will seek to minimize travel to other geographic areas, and that it will emphasize social distancing by unit. Large fire camps, with hundreds or thousands of firefighters living together, “will not be the norm any longer,” said a spokesperson in an email.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cb>How to Keep Firefighters Safe? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The state fire agency, CalFire, is in the process of bringing on its seasonal workforce of about 2,600. Trainings and recertifications are continuing, with some added distance between participants. Some trainings have moved online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“We used to bring them into large classrooms and do it that way. Of course, we cannot do that anymore,” said Scott McLean, CalFire’s deputy communications chief. Firefighters are learning in smaller groups, in larger spaces outdoors, or online, he said. “So you’ll see more classes, less people in them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">How will fire season be different this year for the agency? Will CalFire use large base camps when incidents erupt?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“We’re not naive to the situation by any means,” said McClean. “Every incident is going to be different on how and what the needs are going to be, especially for the logistical support of the firefighters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Safety officers, McLean says, will ensure that CDC guidelines for distancing and disinfection will be met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“A common phrase in our department, or in departments working on a wildland fire, is ‘Keep your dime.’ That means stay 10 feet apart,” said McLean. “That refers to the safety aspect of using tools” like chainsaws, he said. Those practices “are already ingrained into our way of doing business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Still, fire camps are notoriously locations where firefighters get sick. “\u003ca href=\"https://www.wildfirelessons.net/orphans/viewincident?DocumentKey=12cd8ac6-4285-44cb-8b9e-a8e917c39eb8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Camp crud\u003c/a>” is the insider name for a respiratory illness with cough, usually attributed to a combination of infectious agents and lung irritation from smoke and dust. The worry that smoke exposure will put firefighters at extra risk if they contract the coronavirus may lead incident commanders to request fewer crews on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">While an increased focus on initial attack and using air resources may help slow a fire or reduce its intensity, says Stephens, “they all have to be put out by ground crews. You just don’t dump water on something and say you’re done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Even if the number of firefighters assigned to a fire can be reduced, “there’s very few, I would say, great options, because of just the nature of firefighting. […] I’m afraid the virus will have an impact on firefighting people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cb>Evacuation and Power Shutoffs in the Time of COVID-19\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Firefighting is most effective when neighborhoods are evacuated early. But what would evacuations look like during a pandemic?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">It’s not clear how evacuation orders will intersect with requirements to isolate at home, should those directives still be in effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“We’ve not fleshed it out fully,” said Sonoma County’s Godley “but the thought is…you should not be going to stay with your [extended] family or friends because you may be putting them at risk. or they may be putting you at risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Already the Red Cross is planning to make more shelters available so that evacuees have a greater amount of space. Upon entering, people would be screened for the virus, ideally with a rapid test instead of a simple assessment of possible symptoms. Separate areas will be set up for those requiring isolation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Last fire season, PG&E shut off power multiple times to millions of Californians during periods of high wildfire-risk. Last week, a large group of counties, cities and other organizations filed a motion before the state public utilities commission asking it to direct utilities to be more deliberate in the frequency and scope of the shutoffs, and to analyze their effect on hospitals with COVID-19 patients. Godley said the utilities should “make sure they’re doing everything they can” to keep the power running at medical facilities and to provide alternate power sources, if possible, for places caring for vulnerable populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cb>Managing Expectations \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Jim Whittington, the wildland fire response expert, is concerned that some fire agencies aren’t preparing people for the complexity of fighting fires during this pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“I think one of the big things that is going to be tough for the agencies to do is to go out and have conversations with stakeholders, elected officials and the public,” he said, “and start changing some expectations about what fire season is going to look like.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Whatever it looks like, it’s a safe bet it won’t be what Californians have come to expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Whittington envisions tensions arising if fire managers do not deploy as many ground resources as they normally would or allow forested land to burn that in other years might have been saved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“I think one of the issues might be that we get into a tough fire situation and people, say their expectations are one thing, but the fire incident commander and the hierarchy is going to react in a different way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“I think there’s some folks that are working on that. But I’m not sure that these things have been pushed out to the public yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.iawfonline.org/article/2020-04-wildfires-pandemic-whats-ahead-wfca/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">statement\u003c/a> issued April 1 from the Western Fire Chiefs Association counsels fire managers to begin communicating that we face a difficult season ahead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, it will be lonely at the top, because we may be going way from the standard firefighting performance norms,” it said. “The first step in addressing response is to prepare the policy makers, public and our troops. All parties need to be made aware that their historical response performance expectations may not occur during the near future and the sooner they hear this, the better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">After two dry months in a row, state water officials say California’s snowpack is at \u003ca href=\"http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">46% of normal\u003c/a> for this time of year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">As usual, the\u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2020/January-2020-Snow-Survey\"> \u003cspan class=\"s1\">California Department of Water Resources\u003c/span>\u003c/a> on Thursday conducted the third monthly snow survey of 2020 at the Phillips Station snow course in the Sierra Nevada, south of Lake Tahoe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The snow course is one of 260 stations that measure snowpack statewide. The data \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1936797/why-we-cant-stop-talking-about-californias-sierra-snowpack\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">help scientists\u003c/span>\u003c/a> determine how much water will run off during the spring and summer months to replenish California’s reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Sierra snowpack accounts for about one-third of California’s annual\u003ca href=\"https://sierranevada.ca.gov/ca-primary-watershed/\"> \u003cspan class=\"s1\">water supply\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">DWR’s Jan. 2 snow survey tracked the Sierra snowpack at close to average for the start of the year. By the end of January, the statewide percentage was down to 72%. At the end of one of the driest Februarys in state history, the snowpack is now below half of the historical average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 23.3% of the state is now in “moderate drought,” up from 9.5% last week. That’s according to the \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Drought Monitor\u003c/a>, a weekly report issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">DWR spokesman Chris Orrock says the dry winter is in stark contrast to last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“In February of 2019, it was probably one of the wettest Februarys we’ve ever had. Some areas of the Sierra accumulated up to 50 feet of snow,” Orrock said. “This year in the majority of the Central Valley and Northern California we had little to no measurable precipitation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">But thanks in part to a snowy and cold 2019 in California’s mountains, Orrock says the state’s reservoirs still have plenty of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“They’re all at or near those averages that they would be at this time of year anyhow because of that good snowpack we had last year,” Orrock said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">California typically receives about half of its annual precipitation in the months of December, January and February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Snowpack is an important insurance policy to protect against wildfire, says John Abatzoglou, a climatologist at University of California, Merced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Snow melt provides a sustained, gradual source of moisture and keeps those forested areas wet later into the spring and early summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A subpar snowpack year sets the stage for an early start to fire season, Abatzoglou says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“California certainly has seen longer fire seasons, lasting both later in the fall and starting early in the spring,” he said. “And unfortunately, the lack of precipitation across the state — we’ve basically struck out during the two wettest months of the year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Cal Fire, the state agency responsible for fire prevention in California, says that the current dry and windy conditions have already contributed to wildfires, which is usual for wintertime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Orrock says water officials are now hoping for a repeat of the 2018 wet season, when a series of March storms replenished the snowpack in time for the spring runoff.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Thursday’s manual snowpack readings say California's snowpack is 46% of normal for this time of year. ",
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"title": "Clear Skies Mean California’s Snowpack Is Now Below Half of Normal | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">After two dry months in a row, state water officials say California’s snowpack is at \u003ca href=\"http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">46% of normal\u003c/a> for this time of year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">As usual, the\u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2020/January-2020-Snow-Survey\"> \u003cspan class=\"s1\">California Department of Water Resources\u003c/span>\u003c/a> on Thursday conducted the third monthly snow survey of 2020 at the Phillips Station snow course in the Sierra Nevada, south of Lake Tahoe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The snow course is one of 260 stations that measure snowpack statewide. The data \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1936797/why-we-cant-stop-talking-about-californias-sierra-snowpack\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">help scientists\u003c/span>\u003c/a> determine how much water will run off during the spring and summer months to replenish California’s reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Sierra snowpack accounts for about one-third of California’s annual\u003ca href=\"https://sierranevada.ca.gov/ca-primary-watershed/\"> \u003cspan class=\"s1\">water supply\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">DWR’s Jan. 2 snow survey tracked the Sierra snowpack at close to average for the start of the year. By the end of January, the statewide percentage was down to 72%. At the end of one of the driest Februarys in state history, the snowpack is now below half of the historical average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 23.3% of the state is now in “moderate drought,” up from 9.5% last week. That’s according to the \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Drought Monitor\u003c/a>, a weekly report issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">DWR spokesman Chris Orrock says the dry winter is in stark contrast to last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“In February of 2019, it was probably one of the wettest Februarys we’ve ever had. Some areas of the Sierra accumulated up to 50 feet of snow,” Orrock said. “This year in the majority of the Central Valley and Northern California we had little to no measurable precipitation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">But thanks in part to a snowy and cold 2019 in California’s mountains, Orrock says the state’s reservoirs still have plenty of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“They’re all at or near those averages that they would be at this time of year anyhow because of that good snowpack we had last year,” Orrock said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">California typically receives about half of its annual precipitation in the months of December, January and February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Snowpack is an important insurance policy to protect against wildfire, says John Abatzoglou, a climatologist at University of California, Merced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Snow melt provides a sustained, gradual source of moisture and keeps those forested areas wet later into the spring and early summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A subpar snowpack year sets the stage for an early start to fire season, Abatzoglou says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“California certainly has seen longer fire seasons, lasting both later in the fall and starting early in the spring,” he said. “And unfortunately, the lack of precipitation across the state — we’ve basically struck out during the two wettest months of the year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Cal Fire, the state agency responsible for fire prevention in California, says that the current dry and windy conditions have already contributed to wildfires, which is usual for wintertime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Orrock says water officials are now hoping for a repeat of the 2018 wet season, when a series of March storms replenished the snowpack in time for the spring runoff.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
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