As the Eaton Fire destroyed parts of Los Angeles, Galen Buckwalter said he had little option but to ride his wheelchair through the dark streets of his Sierra Madre neighborhood after the city lost electricity.
The streets were littered with branches and debris, the wind roaring, and heavy clouds of smoke advancing behind him, he claimed, but he attempted to remain cool and concentrated on one goal: get out of the evacuation area.
Buckwalter, who is 68 and paraplegic, relies on his powerchair to get around and be independent. He has a modified vehicle that can load and accommodate his wheelchair, but on the day he wanted to flee, it was being fixed at a neighboring shop.
The Eaton Fire, which started on Jan. 7 north of Pasadena, destroyed or damaged almost 10,000 houses, burnt 14,000 acres, and killed 28 individuals, including some with disabilities or mobility challenges.
“It was gutting to read that,” Buckwalter told AWN. “I can’t image what their dying moments were like, and to make it more personal, what if, say, my powerchair failed? What if I couldn’t evacuate at all?”
More prone to get left behind.
According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the fatality rate among individuals with disabilities during catastrophes is often two to four times that of the general population.
People with disabilities are more likely to be left behind during emergency responses, according to the organization. Buckwalter saw the Eaton Fire as a stark reminder of the disparities that handicapped and non-disabled people suffer during disasters.
“When anyone is disaster-planning, they focus on things like their support network, evacuation plans, food, clothing, and shoes,” said TJ Hill, executive director of the Disability Community Resource Center in Los Angeles. “But people with disabilities have additional things to be considered, such as their transportation needs and alternatives, or medication-planning.”
Buckwalter’s wife and principal caretaker, Deborah Buckwalter, 72, said she had a lot to think about when preparing their “go bag.” She wanted to ensure that her spouse had drugs and bowel management gadgets, she explained.
Most crucially, with the van in the repair, they needed to devise an alternate mode of transportation in order to flee.
Buckwalter’s motorized chair weights around 400 pounds. He claims it’s too heavy for his wife or even two strong persons to transport in a car trunk.
He considered getting an Uber Wav, a wheelchair-accessible car, he explained, but Ubers were not permitted in the evacuation zones. Buckwalter is paralyzed from the chest down; leaving his power chair and using a standard wheelchair would mean losing his freedom and movement. At the moment, he had no idea when he would return home.
“I tell people I’m a semi-digital person, and my chair is a part of me. “Everyone in Los Angeles relies on a vehicle, and I rely on mine,” he remarked. “Independently evacuating is not possible, that is the nature of disability, that you need assistance.”
