I Feel Pain Watching The News On The Destruction From The Fires

I’ve been watching the news from Spokane, Washington, and it’s hard to describe how it makes me feel. Homes are surrounded by flames. Whole neighborhoods are at risk. Families have to leave quickly, often with barely any time to choose what to bring. Firefighters are putting themselves between communities and something powerful and unpredictable. These scenes are familiar to me.

Living in California, I’ve seen wildfires threaten communities too many times. I’ve watched the sky turn strange colors, paid attention to evacuation warnings, worried about the wind, and wondered how fast things could change. I’ve written often about being ready for wildfires and why it’s important to have a go bag for ourselves and our pets, since there might not be much time to react when an evacuation order comes.

Still, seeing this happen to people far away doesn’t make it any easier. It feels worse!

Three major fires that started on August 1 are now being managed together as the Spokane Area Fires. Hundreds of buildings have been lost, and thousands of people have had to leave their homes. Firefighters and emergency crews from all over the country have come to help.

Meanwhile, I’m safe at home in California, just watching it all unfold. It leaves me feeling helpless.

I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way.

Major wildfires are burning in other parts of the West and in Canada too. Every year, it seems like another community faces something unimaginable. California, Oregon, Washington, Canada. They are different places, different fires, but the scenes are starting to look all too familiar.

Climate change isn’t always what starts a wildfire. Fires can begin because of lightning, equipment problems, accidents, or even on purpose. But science makes it clear: a warming climate is making much of western North America hotter and drier, which dries out plants and makes it easier for fires to grow bigger and more destructive.

In other words, climate change doesn’t have to start the fire to make its effects much worse. So what can those of us who are watching from afar actually do?

First, we can support the people who are helping on the ground.

Groups like the American Red Cross offer shelter, food, emergency supplies, and other help after disasters. Donating money is often more helpful than sending boxes of things, since relief groups can use the funds to buy exactly what people need.

We can also find local organizations, food banks, animal shelters, and trusted community relief funds that are helping in the area. Wildfires displace animals too, and local shelters may suddenly have to care for pets whose families have left, as well as animals hurt or lost because of the fire.

We should also be careful about what we share online. In fast-moving emergencies, wrong information can spread quickly on social media. Before posting about evacuations, road closures, shelters, or missing people, we need to make sure the information comes from emergency officials or another trusted source.

Most importantly, we can let someone else’s tragedy remind us to get prepared ourselves.

If you live somewhere that could face wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or other disasters, don’t wait until you see danger to decide what you’ll take with you. Pack a go bag for yourself and one for your pets. Keep things like medicine, IDs, important papers, water, food, chargers, and other essentials where you can grab them fast. Make sure you know where your pets’ carriers and leashes are. Learn more than one way out of your neighborhood. Keep your car fueled or charged, and talk with your family about where to meet if you get separated.

Being prepared can’t stop a disaster, but it can give us valuable time when every minute counts. There’s something else we can do, too. We can care.

It might seem small compared to planes dropping fire retardant, firefighters working on the front lines, or volunteers opening shelters, but I don’t think caring is unimportant. The people in Spokane aren’t strangers just because I haven’t met them. The family watching the fire get closer could be my family. The woman putting her scared dog in the car could be me. The person hoping their house will still be there tomorrow could be any of us. Maybe that’s why these images are so painful to see.

I wish I could stop the fires.

I can’t. But I can thank all the countries that have sent firefighters to help, and I can donate. I can share accurate information. I can encourage others to be prepared. I can talk about how our changing climate is making fires more dangerous. And I can let people going through this disaster know that those of us far away see them and care about what they’re facing.

Sometimes feeling helpless makes us think that if we can’t do everything, we can’t do anything at all. That isn’t true. We can do something. And when enough of us choose to act, compassion turns into real help.

If you want to help right now, I’d include a link to the American Red Cross at the end of this article or in a short note. The Red Cross has a long history of giving shelter, meals, supplies, health care, and recovery help after wildfires in the West.