DAFN Observations from the LA Wildfires
Insights from a Disability Disaster Access and Resources Coordinator working on the Palisades, Sunset and Kenneth Fires
Background
As the Disability Disaster Access and Resources (DDAR) Coordinator with the Disability Community Resource Center (DCRC) in Los Angeles – a non-profit supporting people with disabilities in Coastal and Western LA County – the last month has seen us working around the clock to ensure that people with disabilities were not left behind at any stage; including evacuation, response, and recovery of the Palisades, Sunset, and Kenneth Fires.
Being that people with disabilities have historically looked to CBOs like DCRC for guidance, advice, and support through a wide array of emergencies and crises, I recognize that we are in a unique position to provide insight into some of the challenges that went on behind the scenes so that the greater EM community can continue to improve our preparedness, response, and recovery efforts to better serve the whole community.
Evacuations
Early Evacuation: It is common practice for many emergency managers to tell people who may need extra time to evacuate – to do so early. This makes perfect sense. But it also requires that systems be in place to facilitate it when people may not have access to a vehicle.
For example, on numerous occasions, we received calls from people who were in an evacuation warning zone (or near one) who wanted to begin evacuating due to various disabilities or medical needs but did not have access to an appropriate accessible vehicle. Unless they were located in mandatory evacuation zones we were unable to get them evacuated through official channels. At the end of the day, how can we tell people to evacuate early (who need to do so) and then not provide the tools or services to meet that need?
Bus-Stop Transit: Along that same note, we received calls from people who wanted to get to a shelter but were unable to get to the bus stops that were set up to transport people to them. Many of them did not have access to vehicles that could be utilized for on-demand paratransit to get them to the stops to begin with; thereby leaving them unable to get to the shelters.
Understanding Partner Legal Limitations: Upon learning of some of these evacuation coordination issues – especially for people without access to vehicles, we reached out to partner organizations to see if they would be willing to assist in driving people to the appropriate shelters. This is where we learned that some organizations were unable to drive members of the public in the volunteer’s personal vehicles due to liability concerns. Had we known (and documented) these limitations prior to needing their help, much wasted time could have been avoided.
Thus, perhaps the creation of a matrix that delineates the legal/liability limitations of partners would be a helpful tool to have.
Basic example:
EOC Contact Information Dissemination: It may be helpful for the emails of the appropriate EOC Liaison/Evac Unit/Mass Care Unit to be disseminated to partner organizations before a disaster occurs so that information from external partners can flow more freely and in a timelier manner.
Evacuation Training: As was evident in both the Palisades and Sunset Fires, the public may not know the best practices during an evacuation. This could include issues like carpooling, leaving keys in abandoned vehicles, selecting safe routes, and understanding what to expect.
Support Care Entry Denial: On a couple of occasions we heard that caregivers trying to get to patients/clients in evacuation zones, were denied entry by first responders on the ground.
Resource Information Hub
An issue that we faced (and continue to face) is that different services and program information are coming through a multitude of channels and are not as organized as it could be. Often, we did not come across the information until days later – such as the free Uber rides to shelters program. Perhaps there could be a single clearinghouse for information that partners can add to so that critical time-sensitive resources, services, and programs do not fall through the cracks.
Media Accessibility
While the City and County of Los Angeles did a good job at ensuring that the ASL interpreters were kept in-frame during press conferences, the same could not be said for traditional media – the avenue through which most people watched. Public education is drastically needed on why information accessibility is so important.
Repopulation DME Decontamination
Durable Medical Equipment (DME) may need to be decontaminated during the repopulation phase when people are bringing in ash and potentially toxic materials into their residences without recognizing it (such as on the bottom of a cane or walker/wheelchair wheels). From what we can gather thus far, this is seemingly an unaddressed issue.
One option would be to provide a DME cleaning kit during resident check-in for people with such equipment. Such a kit could include things like a long-handed brush, disinfectant, instruction sheet, gloves, mask, a disposable tarp to clean the equipment off on, etc.
With continuous improvement being the name of the game, hopefully some of these observations can lead to improvements at every phase so that the needs of the whole community will continue to be addressed through whatever chaos the next disaster brings.