Explainer: How accessibility issues hinder California’s wildfire response efforts

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(Tiếng Việt)

This article belongs to a larger series on California wildfires and climate change.

By: Yannie Gia-Nhi Hoàng

When California’s rampaging wildfires strike, we are all vulnerable. But marginalized communities, including the elderly and people with disabilities, are especially affected. 

A 2019 state audit showed that California emergency response teams have historically struggled with providing help to people with disabilities and limited mobility. Southern California also notably has “the largest Vietnamese population in the U.S.,” with Los Angeles as the top metropolitan area for Vietnamese Americans. 

Climate change—namely, global warming—is only exacerbating these wildfires, making them more intense and frequent in recent years. As a result, advocates and caregivers for people with disabilities emphasize that “prompt action is key.” 

How do people respond when wildfires occur?

Typically, people in affected areas head to evacuation shelters. Residents are advised to sign up for emergency updates themselves as evacuation is currently a self-advocacy system. Loved ones can find or check on one another at Family Assistance Centers (FAC). 

When the January 2025 wildfires first broke out, former President Biden signed a federal disaster declaration that directed millions of dollars from federal funds toward fire cleanup and recovery efforts. Emergency response can involve local fire departments, law enforcement, and organizations like the American Red Cross and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

During January’s wildfires, the EPA “deployed the largest number of Community Involvement Coordinators, Public Information Officers, and Community Relations Specialists to an emergency response to-date.” They listened to affected community members and shared information at Disaster Recovery Centers, town halls, and places of worship. 

President Trump and his administration plan to eliminate the EPA’s environmental justice offices. In late July 2025, the EPA confirmed that its research division will be eliminated, causing approximately 1,115 employees to lose their jobs. It also means that the EPA will face more difficulty when sharing new environmental health standards.

President Trump has also threatened to cut federal aid to California in the wake of this year’s wildfires unless the state agrees to “overhaul its water policies, change its forest management, end sanctuary protections for immigrants, and require people to show ID to vote.” This cut would eliminate many jobs and impact vulnerable communities, such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities. 

How did this year’s wildfires impact the elderly and people with disabilities?

So far in 2025, California wildfires have displaced tens of thousands of people and killed at least 29. According to Laura Trejo, director of the Los Angeles County Aging and Disabilities department, the fires caused approximately 2,500 people in nursing homes and assisted living centers to be evacuated and temporarily sent to emergency shelters. They were later relocated to long-term facilities. 

CalMatters reported that several of the people killed were disabled and most were over 70 years old. Two of the deceased were a father who was an amputee who had stayed behind with his son with cerebral palsy, both awaiting evacuation.

Aging and disability advocates were not surprised. In a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature, 126 advocacy organizations including the AARP wrote, “Older adults and people with disabilities are often disproportionately impacted by wildfires due to factors like mobility limitations, chronic health conditions and social isolation, and that appears to be the case again in Los Angeles.” 

What challenges do the elderly and people with disabilities face during emergencies?

Although wildfires and other natural disasters regularly occur in California and will continue escalating due to climate change, those who are elderly or have disabilities receive little to no resources. Inaccessible evacuation routes, communication barriers for critical emergency information, and ambulances that cannot accommodate power wheelchairs and other mobility aids are just some of the issues preventing inclusive emergency assistance. 

Justice in Aging, an advocacy organization, noted that many evacuation centers lacked basic supplies— such as cots, respirators, and incontinence products—to care for the elderly and people with disabilities. Many evacuation centers, hotel rooms, and short-term rentals are also usually in short supply during and after natural disasters. They do not always have accessible beds and bathrooms, and usually provide housing assistance information over the phone, which is not an accessible form of communication for everyone. 

In an effort to bridge these gaps, the Disability Disaster Access and Resources (DDAR) program, which provides assistance to people with disabilities and the elderly, lists evacuation centers that are accessible. Another organization, The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, helps communities and governments achieve equity and inclusion for people with disabilities before, during, and after emergencies. And caregivers who work in the In-Home Supportive Services program in San Bernardino County can take an emergency planning course on climate change. This initiative only accounts for approximately 4,000 of roughly 600,000 caregivers in California. 

Overall, there is a significant lack of centralized planning. There is still no effective way to track the exact number of people with a disability or limited mobility who faced displacement due to the fires. This lack of organization places the elderly and people with disabilities at greater risk. 

A 2019 report from the National Council on Disability found that recipients of federal funds are neither trained how to provide equal access to emergency and disaster-related programs and services, nor how to hold culturally competent interactions with people with disabilities. This often results in unnecessary institutionalizations of people with disabilities during and after disasters, causing people with disabilities to be separated from their loved ones, lose employment, or be prevented from returning to school.

What can we do moving forward?

The urgency for improvement ebbs and flows. Leaders like Yee of DDAR say that when “advances are made…then we just fall back. We don’t advance in terms of implementation and enforcement.” 

In response, advocates have requested more support in wildfire recovery funds, and the creation of a recovery process for those who are elderly and disabled.

Trejo from the Los Angeles County’s Aging and Disability department has proposed that advancing emergency efforts include tools such as the vial of life, a form with all of an individual’s medical information. Currently, the department offers the vial of life on its website for people to print and fill out.

Trejo also pitched “[creating] a tool for people who want to self-identify as having unique needs” so that emergency responders know where people with disabilities or mobility challenges live and need assistance with evacuation. Responders would be able to locate people in need, even those not enrolled in a county program or service. 

In the aftermath of this year’s fires, county officials are still working to examine how the fires affected people with disabilities and the elderly. This work involves “checking in with nursing homes and assisted living facilities…[and] people who live at home who receive county services.”  

Voting for local and national leaders can also impact the quantity and quality of government support that is provided to the elderly and people with disabilities in the aftermath of wildfires and other natural disasters. Elected officials can support increased funding and improvements in the recovery process for communities with specific needs.

California wildfire resources in Vietnamese for the elderly and people with disabilities

➡️ To read and/or hear the website read aloud in Vietnamese:
  • Click on the blue accessibility button on the top, righthand side of the website page. (Circled in Figure 1).
  • A menu of various languages will pop up. Scroll down and select “Vietnamese.” The website should now be translated into Vietnamese. (Figure 2)
Figure 1
Figure 2
➡️ To read the website in Vietnamese
  • Click on “Select Language” at the top of the website.
  • Vietnamese will be on the right side of this menu. To see “Vietnamese” as an option, you may have to zoom out on your computer screen.
    • If you have a PC, hold down these buttons: “Ctrl” and “-”
    • If you have a Mac, hold down these buttons: “command” and “-”
      • To zoom back in on a Mac, hold down these buttons: “Ctrl” and “+” 
    • To continue zooming out, hold down the “Ctrl” or “command” button while pressing the “-” button.
  • Once you see “Vietnamese” on the menu, click on it. The website should now be translated into Vietnamese.

California wildfire resources in English for the elderly and people with disabilities