More Than Just Memes: The Impact of Fires at UC Berkeley and Beyond

This semester it feels like California cannot catch a break. Within a month, we have had thousands of acres of both Northern and Southern California burn, a tornado and hail storm in Davis, earthquakes, and PGE’s power shutoffs. These events have changed what it means to live in the Bay Area.

While many of us are transfixed on the UC Berkeley meme page and celebrating the cancellation of classes in these times, we must remember the real human impact of these events, especially since these events disproportionately affect certain vulnerable populations. The families who are uninsured and have lost everything in the fires. The students who have asthma, possibly a result of polluting industries in their hometowns, that struggle with any changes in the air quality. The people of color around the world and in California who, despite the toxins in the air, continue to work in the fields to bring food to our tables.

Fire and power shut offs are exacerbating already existing inequities. The “natural” disasters caused by a political and social system poorly equipped to support, protect, and save people is exactly at the heart of the climate justice discussion. As Professor Neil Smith of CUNY writes in the aftermath of Katrina, “In every phase and aspect of a disaster – causes, vulnerability, preparedness, results and response, and reconstruction – the contours of disaster and the difference between who lives and who dies is to a greater or lesser extent a social calculus.“ 

In the fall of 2017, I remember sitting in the hallway of my dorm with another student from Santa Rosa. We sat there for hours checking news reports and listening to the Sonoma County local radio as they were reporting the location and spread of the Sonoma Complex fires. Thankfully, their family had already evacuated but we listened to the radio report the location of the raging fire. It was moving closer and closer to my floormate’s home. As we listened they were able to describe the personal significance of each road and house the fire consumed.

Ultimately, my floormate’s family home was spared but it made us feel helpless, sitting less than 200 miles away listening to the radio. Even now, the families and communities affected by the 2017 Sonoma Complex fires are still struggling to rebuild or have moved out of the area. 

These past few years have been some of the costliest fire years. In 2017, insurance payouts surpassed $12 billion and 2018’s claims are predicted to be higher than that. These costs also only reflect those who were able to access fire insurance.

Everyone struggles to rebuild after a natural disaster but those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged are particularly affected as they are more likely to be without savings and insurance. In the aftermath of these fires, Sonoma Country has seen a spike in GoFundMe campaigns and “insurance villages” that were set up to help people get back on their feet. 

In the smoke-filled days that resulted from the 2018 Camp Fire, I was an RA who was instructed to help keep smoke out from all common areas. This is where I realized that the majority of the windows in my unit did not close fully to the point where stuffing towels couldn’t even keep the smoke out. My friends and residents who had asthma were coughing and their health was severely impacted long before the University canceled classes. This is when I realized that UC Berkeley and the wider Bay Area are ill-prepared for any large scale disaster. 

During the highest AQI days, some people posted on social media that we, as United States students, were too coddled and that the air quality is consistently worse in other places. It’s true, places such as Delhi, India, and Mongolia regularly see days with AQIs over 150, but AQI levels should not be a competition. There should be a rejection of the expectation that consistently high AQI levels are becoming the world’s new “normal.” The world’s poorest and most socially disadvantaged are impacted first. They are the ones who are unable to buy air purifiers for their home, masks to block out some of the pollutants, or take time off from the fields to feed the world despite the smoke.

A striking photo that illustrates this inequity in the face of poor environmental conditions is one that surfaced of farmworkers in 2018 with the smoke from the Camp Fire hanging in the air. Not everyone has the privilege to protect themselves from environmental harms.

This year, the PGE power safety public shutoffs (PSPS) and the Kincaid Fire Complex has combined to pose a serious threat to human safety and health. Those that are sensitive to air quality are coughing again and the lack of power has made it difficult for those who rely on power for medical and life-sustaining supplies are put at risk. Every single time PG&E pushes back the power shutoff time or remains uncommunicative is another added layer of uncertainty on when to start backup generators to keep life-sustaining power on.

There is a fire raging through Vallejo, shutting down the I-80 in the area. My old hometown of Hercules is now boasting an evacuation center for residents fleeing. Crockett, an old industrial city right across the narrow bay from Vallejo just had evacuations a week ago due to a gas explosion fire.

In leveraging the power that UC Berkeley has as an institution, student leaders are organizing to support those disproportionately affected communities. The week of October 28th through November 1st is Climate Justice Week hosted by the Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC) and teams from the ASUC Offices of Sylvia Targ and Derek Imai. Should classes and campus open for this week, please consider coming out to the planned events to learn more about Climate Justice and how we can work as a community to slowly support those disproportionately impacted.

You can also donate supplies, money, food, and shelter to those impacted by the Kincaid Fire here organized by the Sunrise Movement.