Toll for Valley fire victims can include long-term mental health problems

The physical damage from the deadly Valley fire that ripped through southern Lake County last month is widely apparent, its burned path seen from the streets of a half-dozen rural communities and in images taken from space by NASA.

What is less visible, however, is the emotional and psychological damage that health experts say is common in the aftermath of disasters like wildfires, earthquakes and floods.

“So many people have experienced trauma,” said Gail Van Buuren, a therapist with the Redwood Empire Chapter of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists who specializes in crisis counseling. “It’s going to take time for people to realize how much they’ve lost because so many people are still in shock.”

Van Buuren is part of a robust team of volunteer and government mental health workers that has deployed in the past three weeks to assist thousands of people who were forced to flee the inferno on Sept. 12, including some who were in a race for their lives, tailed by fast-moving flames and embers, and imperiled by burning trees, falling power lines and exploding propane tanks.

Many evacuees said they were confronted with impossible decisions, leaving behind homes and animals.

“What we ran from over that mountain was crazy; it was very, very scary,” said Charles Clevenger, who lives on a 147-acre ranch in Middletown with his wife, Donna, and her mother, Fran Leigh. Donna Clevenger’s daughter, Susan Lerman, and her family, including two young sons, also live on the property and were forced to flee.

For days, they had no way of knowing what burned and what survived. They discovered the extent of their loss when they returned home roughly two weeks after the fire tore through their neighborhood. Four of their five homes had burned down.

“We have four generations living there,” Charles Clevenger said. “What do I feel? It’s just a lot of bad, bad feelings.”

“I’m devastated,” said Leigh, 74. “We’re getting too old to rebuild.”

Long-lasting impacts

Such experiences can have profound, long-lasting mental health impacts, from the initial fear and shock of the disaster, to feelings of numbness and disbelief, sadness, grief, anger, depression and for some, long-term stress and anxiety, experts said.

In the weeks since the fire, many Lake County residents have described feeling those emotions, with some saying they felt like they were “in a movie,” and others saying they still can’t believe what happened.

“I’m hearing from some that they want to rebuild and re-invest in their communities, but for some people - especially the elderly - their whole lives have fallen apart and the thought of starting all over is devastating,” said April Giambra, a counselor for Lake County’s Public Health Department. “We’re watching out and trying to help people who might want to give up.”

The fire burned more than 76,000 acres, drove more than 19,000 people from their homes during the first days, destroyed nearly 2,000 structures, including 1,280 homes, and killed four people.

Mental health experts and medical researchers say it can take months or even years for people to recover emotionally from the initial trauma of disasters, as well as the long-lasting infrastructure damage in communities, including the loss of a home. Military veterans have advanced the wider public understanding of post-traumatic stress conditions, but there is also well-documented evidence that natural disasters can take a serious toll on mental health.

“People have different reactions to stressors, but some people could develop post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of what they’ve gone through with the fire,” Van Buuren said.

There is widespread evidence of the psychological imprint that disasters can leave in their wake. More than two-thirds of the 100,000 people that fled the 2003 wildfires that swept over 750,000 acres of Southern California said they feared for their life or the life of a loved one at the time, according to the National Center for PTSD, a research and education center within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Twenty-four people were killed in the fires, which destroyed thousands of homes.

Three months later, a third of the survivors showed signs of depression and nearly a quarter screened positive for PTSD, according to the federal research center.

A 2007 study of another deadly disaster, Hurricane Katrina, found that people who were displaced suffered a severe emotional as well as physical toll.

“The people who resided in these communities lost not only their homes, but their culture and day-to-day life,” according to the study from the journal Perspectives in Psychiatric Care. “One’s culture and identity are developed and learned over time and cannot be easily replaced. A person may adopt another culture or identity, but the original self, much like the city of New Orleans, has been shattered and torn.”

As thousands of people return home after the Valley fire - or to what remains of their homes - therapists say they will be grappling with the fallout, both from flight from the fire, as well as any personal loss they suffered.

Some could experience prolonged feelings of fear that could translate into social withdrawal, anger, nightmares, substance abuse and hyper-vigilance, or constantly checking for hazards, according to mental health experts. Children and teens could display their need for help by acting out in school, seeking attention or losing interest, experts said.

“After that first 30 days of shock wears off, then that’s when the flashbacks and nightmares can start,” Van Buuren said. “So it’s really important for people to get grounded and seek out people who can listen.”

Some who already have experienced trauma, including veterans, could be at greater risk, according to interviews with veterans groups and therapists who specialize in PTSD counseling.

“A lot of veterans have a higher level of emotional stress to begin with, so this is one more traumatic event they’ve been exposed to,” said Skip Hulet, president of the Clearlake chapter of the Disabled American Veterans, a national nonprofit agency. “It’s like a trigger; when people hear helicopters, or exploding propane tanks, it can take them right back.”

Collette Krull, who rented a home in Middletown that burned to the ground, said she was still in shock days after the fire. She said doesn’t know how she’ll recover, financially or emotionally.

Krull said she already suffered from severe depression and anxiety related to trauma from her prior service in the Navy.

“I’m overwhelmed. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said.

Krull received a $1,000 check for short-term assistance from the area’s Disabled American Veterans branch about a week after the fire. Other veterans who were lined up for meager financial assistance struggled to describe their feelings.

“It’s like I’m in a movie,” said Michael Gould, who served in the military and fought in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1971.

Gould’s arms were wrapped in gauze from injuries he sustained while trying to save his home.

“I’m not good at talking about this stuff,” he said. “All I can say is it’s terrible.”

Medical experts point out that feeling anxiety after a disaster is a normal response, and stresses can lessen over time and as communities recover.

People who have returned home in Lake County already are showing signs of resilience.

“We’re going to rebuild,” said Donna Clevenger. “Middletown will always be our home.”

For complete wildfire coverage go to: www.pressdemocrat.com/wildfire

You can reach Staff Writer Angela Hart at 526-8503 or angela.hart@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ahartreports.