The Wildfires in Southern California
Oct 26th, 2007 by roberta
Our thoughts are with all of those whose lives were devastated by the wildfires this past week in California. Some lost their lives, thousands lost their homes, and hundreds of thousands had their lives threatened and interrupted. It is a catastrophe of major proportion.
In my posting on critical incidents and grief, I concentrated on grief related to loss of life. Grief is also experienced related to other types of losses, such as the loss of the security of home and community, and of the possessions that represent our hard work, our passions and our memories of special moments in our lives.
The mourning and healing of Southern Californians will go on for some time to come. Some will experience post traumatic syndromes as well, including fears of future fire catastrophes. Some will stay and rebuild in their communities; others will leave.
As those effected resume their lives, there will be lessons learned, about arson (which is suspected in some of the fires), fire prevention and community emergency support efforts. I will attempt to share that information as it becomes available.
If you have not already done so, please visit The National Fire Protection Association website, referenced in my last post. It contains information related to many types of fire hazards, including wildfire management. The more informed we all are of such dangers, the safer we all are.