(LOS ANGELES) — As the Eaton Fire ravaged part of Los Angeles, Galen Buckwalter said he had no choice but to ride his wheelchair through the dark roads of his Sierra Madre neighborhood — after the city was left without power.
The streets were sprinkled with branches and debris, the wind howling and thick clouds of smoke approaching behind him, he said, but he tried to remain calm and focused with just one goal in mind: make it out of the evacuation zone.
Buckwalter, who’s 68 and quadriplegic, relies on his powerchair to move around and be independent. He has a customized van, outfitted to load and fit his wheelchair, but on the day he needed to evacuate the van was getting repaired at a shop nearby.
The Eaton Fire that began on Jan. 7, north of Pasadena, destroyed or damaged more than 10,000 structures, burned through 14,000 acres, and took the lives of 28 people, including several who had disabilities or mobility issues.
“It was gutting to read that,” Buckwalter told ABC News. “I can’t imagine what their final moments were like, and to personalize that — what would it have been like if, say, my powerchair failed? Or if I wasn’t able to evacuate at all?”
More likely to be left behind
According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the death rate among people with disabilities during disasters tends to be two to four times higher than among the general population.
People with disabilities are more likely to be left behind in emergency responses, the group said. For Buckwalter, the Eaton Fire brought to light the vast differences between disabled and non-disabled individuals face during a disaster.
“When anyone is disaster-planning, you focus on things like your support network, what your evacuation plan is, food, clothing or 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 primary caregiver, Deborah Buckwalter, 72, said she had much to consider when packing their “go bag.” She needed to make sure her husband had medications and bowel management devices, she said.
Most importantly, with the van in the shop, they had to figure out an alternative method of transportation — to escape.
Buckwalter’s power chair weighs about 400 pounds. he said it’s not something his wife or even two strong people can haul into the trunk of a car.
He thought about ordering an Uber Wav — a wheelchair-accessible vehicle — he said, but no Ubers were allowed in the evacuation zones. Buckwalter is paralyzed from the chest down; if he left his power chair and used a regular wheelchair, he would lose his independence and mobility. At that time, he didn’t even know when he would make it back home.
“I tell people I am a semi-digital human, my chair is a part of me. As for my van, everyone relies on a vehicle in L.A., and I rely on my vehicle,” he said. “Independently evacuating is not possible, that is the nature of disability, that you need assistance.”
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