Introduction
The California wildfires of 2017 are rated as the most disastrous wildfires ever recorded in American history of natural disasters after the 2018 fires. The fires were preceded by heavy rainfall during the beginning of 2017, which led to massive flooding throughout the state. However, special agencies within the state such as the National Interagency Fire Center still expected wildfires despite the rains. Also, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, California would later experience the third warmest weather in U.S and the second hottest in the state's history, which made the prediction of wildfires reliable. Based on these predictions, the Department of Homeland Security through FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), S&T (Science and Technology Directorate), and U.S Fire Administration (USFA) responded in various ways to suppress the fire and save victims.
California Wildfires Overview
The first series of fires began in October, which hit the Northern part of California. The wildfires emerged from the winds blowing across Lake, Mendocino, Butte, Napa, and Sonoma (Mass & Ovens, 2019). These fires had set an alert to other parts of Northern California, which were also in danger as the fire weather conditions worsened. Shortly, the fires had grown rapidly into conflagrations consuming between 1000 and 20,000 acres of land per day (Nauslar et al., 2018). These fires destroyed approximately 9,000 structures, killed more than 40 people, left more than 20,000 people displaced and destroyed more than 250,000 acres of land.
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The second season of fires hit Southern California barely two months later, in December. Strong Ana winds aided in the spread of wildfires such as the Thomas fire in counties within Southern California such as Ventura. Over 230,000 people were displaced by the fire which was bigger than that witnessed in October. Also, more than 1,000 structures and 300,000 acres of land were destroyed.
In total, the 2017 wildfire had 20 most destructive fires in the state's history. However, out of the 20, 5 of them namely Tubbs, Nuns, Atlas, Thomas, and Redwood Valley Complex, caused the largest impact. Collectively, the five wildfires caused approximately $20 billion in losses through property damage, $13 billion through insurance losses, $3 billion in economic losses through interruption of business activities and government revenue in taxes, and $2 billion in fire suppression expenses (Nauslar et al., 2018). Major businesses destroyed were wineries in Sonoma and Napa, which lost wines grapes damaged by fire smoke. The U.S government has spent more than $180 billion in the rebuilding process of affected areas by the wildfires since following years of 2018, 2019, and 2020 have still had immense wildfires.
Department of Homeland Security Response
The Department of Homeland Security was set up in 2001 after the September 11 terror attacks, to take care of the safety of the American people within the nation's boundaries. Among key players of the department established for emergency response to fire disasters are the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), S&T (Science and Technology Directorate), and U.S Fire Administration (USFA). USFA provides fire suppression support, S&T deals with intelligence and training of officers for emergency responses while FEMA plays the biggest role in such disasters, that is, evacuation, and rebuilding.
During the 2017 California wildfires, FEMA played a secondary response role as the state and federal governments played a primary role. FEMA coordinated disaster relief through use of 27 federal departments and agencies, which also included the American Red Cross. These agencies and the role played are as outlined.
The U.S Forest Service was actively involved in sending their personnel to the places with fires, and allocate their resources from regional management units to suppress forest fires in Ventura, Butte, Lake, Sonoma, and Napa (Wong & Shaheen, 2020). Fire fighters from the Forest Service were mobilized via the Southern California Geographic Coordination Center, to suppress fires in Southern California while the Northern California Geographic Coordination Center was used for Northern California fires. These firefighters cooperated with deployed officers from the U.S Fire Management Agency to suppress the forest fires and the wildfires in grassland too.
In coordination with the Norton Air Force Base, and the Department of Defense, FEMA provided a staging platform for logistics during evacuation (Wong & Shaheen, 2020). The base provided transport for officers evacuating people from the fire, as well as air support for fire suppression and deployment of critical equipment to the teams in ground. FEMA also partnered with U.S Department of interior to provide support for firefighting efforts for the wide spread fires.
FEMA also actively created Fire Management Assistance grants for the wildfires which hit Los Angeles, Ventura, Pass, Grand Prix, Cedar, Simi, Paradise, Verdale, and Old. More than $100 billion in grants was released through the President's Disaster Relief Fund to meet the cost of fire suppression and compensate displaced families. Money from the fund was used to create new homes for displaced families, while injured victims were admitted for medical treatment. Given past history of victims developing PTSD symptoms after disasters in the U.S, FEMA also ensured that mental health support was administered to victims of the wildfires, especially those who for displaced, lost their businesses and employment, or lost their family members (Barnosky et al., 2018). Mental health programs established by FEMA mainly focused on helping the affected victims in coping and adjusting to the new normal.
Through S&T, the Department of Homeland Security ensured active investigations of new technologies by deploying a technology scouting and transition team to study risk mitigation plans and effective responses to wildfires. Based on the outcome of the investigation, FEMA managed to acquire special expertise across disaster relief agencies such as U.S Fire Management Agency, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Forest Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Conclusion
The California wildfires of 2017 were among the many that have destroyed millions worth of property and led to massive loss of lives in the state. Since 2017, the state has been hit by wildfires in the successive years of 2018, 2019, and 2020. The Department of Homeland Security has played a key role in ensuring that the people of California are safe during such disasters by acting according to the mandate bestowed upon them by the law. Through FEMA, efforts of evacuation, compensation, mental health support, and rebuilding have been successful in such predicaments.
References
Barnosky, J. T., Roberts, P., & Acosta, J. D. (2020). What Can FEMA Learn from the Historic 2017 Hurricane and Wildfire Seasons?.
Mass, C. F., & Ovens, D. (2019). The Northern California wildfires of 8–9 October 2017: The role of a major downslope wind event. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 100(2), 235-256.
Nauslar, N. J., Abatzoglou, J. T., & Marsh, P. T. (2018). The 2017 North Bay and Southern California fires: a case study. Fire, 1(1), 18.
Wong, S. D., Broader, J. C., & Shaheen, S. A. (2020). Review of California Wildfire Evacuations from 2017 to 2019.
