Pandemic throws up additional challenges for US firefighters
LOS ANGELES: The wildfire season in the western United States is shaping up to be even more challenging this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced firefighters to rethink how they respond to disaster while also protecting themselves. "We're focused on COVID-19, we're focused on coronavirus mitigation, trying to do our best to suppress the spread while at the same time we've got to mitigate and suppress these fires as we move into wildfire season," California's Governor Gavin Newsom said last week as he promised increased funding for firefighting.
Newsom said California has had a 60 percent increase so far this year in wildfires compared to the same period last year because of drier weather. "We are mindful of the unavoidable anxiety that this time of year presents to people," said Newsom, referring to the wildfire season in the state and across the West that is starting earlier and ending later each year. "We have been prepping for this upcoming wildfire season-and we are not stepping back our efforts."
The November 2018 Camp Fire in northern California was the deadliest and most destructive in the state's history, leaving 86 people dead and all but wiping off the map the small town of Paradise.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has added to the anxiety this year and forced the state to update evacuation plans and study how to set up base camps during wildfires.
"The camps are the size of a small village or a small community," Kerry Greene, an emergency management specialist and spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center, told AFP.
"They can have up to and over 1,000 firefighters and support personnel in one camp and all the things that you need to support them-cafeteria, showers, sleeping areas, supply areas," she said. "There's a lot of people moving in and out of the camp including trash pick-up crews."
And today, such camps would provide ideal conditions for the spread of the virus.
So firefighters across the United States have been studying how best to address the fire season while taking into account the new health concerns.