As the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires began last week, Jo-Marie Lawrence was watching a movie in Burbank with her friend when the mall lost power.
That meant Lawrence, 32, a quadriplegic actor and wheelchair user, and her friend, who also uses a wheelchair, could not use the elevators. They were atop a flight of about 70 steps and the manager didn’t have a plan to get them to safety.
“People were offering to carry us, but it was pretty steep. And we were like, ‘We don’t really know who you are or trust you,’ ” Lawrence said. The manager and other employees waited with Lawrence and her friend until firefighters arrived to carry them down.
It was one moment that highlights the challenges people with disabilities face in a fast-moving emergency that may limit their choices or even keep them from evacuating to safety. They might have trouble navigating their homes, especially in multi-level buildings, or workplaces and public spaces. Some people require medications, specialized medical equipment that needs power to charge and specially prepared foods that require refrigeration.
It can also be difficult to find safe and accessible spaces to evacuate to; not every shelter can meet a person’s specific accessibility needs. Some people with disabilities might also have trouble navigating difficult landscapes, struggle with air quality and need help caring for their service animals.
Lawrence has been disabled for six years, and she said this was her first emergency of this magnitude. She and her friend made it home safely that night, but she said it was unsettling that the only help movie employees could provide was to wait with them until first responders arrived.
Her experience shows how important it is for people with disabilities to have individual emergency plans for a variety of potential difficult situations.
When wildfires are encroaching on homes and public spaces, waiting for help to arrive may not suffice.
The next morning, Lawrence, who lives alone, said the aide who helps her start her day arrived in a panic, and insisted that she pack an emergency bag in case she had to evacuate. After helping Lawrence pack essential supplies like medication and catheters, the aide left because her own house was in danger.
Lawrence said she spent the rest of the day feeling anxious. That night, when her apartment was on the edge of an evacuation zone, she called her boyfriend in Culver City to help her leave.
“I can’t just get up and run. I can’t just grab my favorite items. I need to get my medical supplies that are very necessary for me to function throughout the night,” Lawrence said. She said she’s fortunate; some of the other people with disabilities in her building live alone and rely on part-time caregivers, but don’t have partners to call to help them evacuate.
Facing greater risk during a disaster
According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the mortality rate for disabled people during a natural disaster is two to four times higher than the general population.
Among 27 people confirmed dead in the wildfires so far, several were known to have disabilities or mobility issues.
Anthony Mitchell, 67, was an amputee and wheelchair user who lived with his son Justin in Altadena. Justin had cerebral palsy. Anthony’s daughter, Hajime White, who lives in Arkansas, told The Washington Post that authorities told her that her father’s body was found by Justin’s bed.
Rory Callum Sykes, 32, a former child star from Australia, died January 8 on the family’s Mount Malibu TV Studios estate, his mother Shelley Sykes wrote on X January 9. Rory was born blind and with cerebral palsy and had difficulty walking.
In her post, Shelly Sykes said she was trying to put out the cinders on the roof of the cottage that he lived in, but the water had been switched off. She told Australia’s 10 News First that she couldn’t get through to 911 when she tried to call for help and had a broken arm so she couldn’t lift Rory or physically help him evacuate.
Altadena resident Carolyn Burns, 56, died in her home from smoke inhalation and “thermal injuries,” according to a medical examiner’s report. In an earlier missing person’s notice, Burns’ family said she was bedridden.
Another Altadena resident who died at his residence, Zhi Feng Zhao, 84, had mobility and vision issues. He was identified by the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner.
“There is an ongoing failure (in the US) to center the need for not leaving people with disabilities behind,” said Roth, who established the US Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Office of Disability Integration and Coordination and served as the director until 2017.
There’s work underway to harness technology and artificial intelligence, or AI, to help share information with people with disabilities, she said. But there’s also a need to draw on the expertise of people in the community.
Roth is disabled and said that the reality of living with a disability makes her and many other people in the community natural problem solvers in a crisis.
“And yet there is an assumption that people with disabilities are a liability in disasters,” she said. “We need to build the leadership of disabled people to shift that equation from being a liability to being an asset.”
The idea that “the government is going to come, the first responders are going to come, well, that’s fine for a house fire but not a catastrophic event,” said Kailes, who is disabled. A disabled person without loved ones living with them might have to rely on a neighbor or friend to help them evacuate and in a life-or-death emergency, may need to leave medical equipment behind.
Kailes said one way the response gap could be shortened and lives potentially saved is if first responders and government officials gave callers a potential estimated time to evacuate or direct orders to evacuate with just the clothes on their backs if they don’t think they’ll be alive by the time help can arrive.
“We as a disability (community) can blame the government, can blame the plan, can blame everybody, but what about ourselves?” she said, noting that in a crisis, factors like gridlock are impossible for emergency responders to predict.
She’s working on a checklist for people with disabilities who need help with long-term planning in case of a catastrophe — it starts with asking a trusted neighbor to help you evacuate if needed.
Kristen Lopez, an author with a disability, lives in North Hollywood with her mother, who is also her caretaker. They decided last week that if the Sunset Fire reached a certain point on the wildfire-tracking Watch Duty app, they were leaving, even if they weren’t in an evacuation zone.
Lopez knows she’s fortunate to have her apartment and her mother to help her flee if necessary.
If she lived alone, she said, “No one’s coming to save me. I’m well aware of that.”
Resources to help people with disabilities
There are some resources already in place to help people with disabilities.
Disabled survivors of the California wildfires or any other national emergency can call the disabled-led Disability and Disaster Hotline at 1-800-626-4959 for help.
While it’s recommended that people call 911 for medical emergencies, disabled people at the hotline, run by The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, known as PIDS, a national nonprofit dedicated to serving and maintaining the rights of disabled people during crisis, help their peers access information and make actionable plans based on their needs.
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The hotline can also help connect disabled people to emergency management if their access needs prevent them from directly calling or they’re having trouble getting through.
PIDS also coordinates its efforts with various California Independent Living Centers and other organizations to help disabled people get non-emergent needs met within one to two days.
For legal help, contact Disability Rights California.
To find a nearby shelter, visit the American Red Cross shelter locator or the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.
For more information on disaster preparedness visit Disability Disaster Access and Resources.
Donate to or pick up disability specific medical supplies to the Moss Donation Center, 1285 Electric Avenue, Venice, CA 90291.
Esme Mazzeo is a New York-based freelance entertainment and disability culture journalist.