For several years, there has been an increasing amount of health disasters, either through food diet or caused by the environment. Human beings have been in the frontline, suffering from one of the two disasters, others pushed to the end, being affected by both. With more focus on natural calamities, which are events that cause loss of life, not much has been done. In contrast, several cases have been reported of populations dying due to catastrophes such as floods, wildfires, earthquakes, and landslides, among several others. Wildfires are having a growing effect on society because of their uncontrollable occurrence; therefore, it is necessary to find the best solutions to reduce the number of victims affected by the catastrophe.
Natural disasters such as wildfires have affected a large population across the globe. In 2020, people residing along the west coast of the United States had suffered the death of 30 people and tens of thousands who have been left homeless (Xu et al., 2020). Wild fires damage the environment, and the smoke emitted causes more harm to human health (Liu et al., 2016). As a nurse, I am responsible for ensuring that the victims reach safety while being in good health. However, protecting the entire population cannot be possible without a greater level of preparedness. Hence, as a nurse, I have to call for extra support from the departments in charge of handling wildfires: the firefighters and public health workers. Consequently, the victims will be quickly brought to safety by the health workers as a result of the collaboration.
Wildfires have been of more significant risk to several countries such as Brazil, California, and Australia. Thus, it is prudent to create plans to help manage future wildfire disasters. There is a need to strengthen and adjust the wildfire management capacity and capability (Tymstra et al., 2020. In addition, building with fire-resistant materials and reducing wildland vegetations in areas affected by wildfires, with the assistance of the local community, fire management centers, and the government, will aid in reducing the damage (Paveglio & Kelly, 2018). Furthermore, having a workshop in place that sensitizes the community on climate conditions can aid in understanding and mitigating the high prevalence of outbreaks of wildfires in various areas.
The society has an instrumental role in addressing the challenges emanating from natural catastrophes. The community needs to be well informed on the actions they are supposed to take for effectiveness in the disaster plans in place (Paveglio & Kelly, 2018). Through regular public seminars held in the affected areas, I will gather the right resources like pamphlets, magazines, and presentations that talk about how to manage natural disasters when they occur and how to keep safe from the smoke emitted by the fire. Furthermore, as a nurse, the proper communication on the health risks caused by wildfires will be essential to the local community to understand how they can be safe. Including fire managers, epidemiologists, pediatricians, and toxicologists to inform the public on the dangers of wildfire is important (Rice et al., 2021). With this information, the community can identify the approach they have to take to ensure they are safe in the case of an outbreak.
In conclusion, safety is essential to humans, and the proper knowledge on how to keep safe from natural disasters such as wildfires aids in improving the safety of everyone within the locality. The health of every person is essential with or without a natural disaster. Therefore, cooperation from the government to the local community is necessary when handling calamities.
References
Liu, J. C., Mickley, L. J., Sulprizio, M. P., Dominici, F., Yue, X., Ebisu, K., Anderson, G. B., Khan, R. F., Bravo, M. A., & Bell, M. L. (2016). Particulate air pollution from wildfires in the western US under climate change. Climatic Change, 138(3-4), 655-666. Web.
Paveglio, T., & Kelly, E. (2017). Influences on the adoption and implementation of a wildfire mitigation program in an Idaho City.Journal of Forestry, 116(1), 47–54. Web.
Rice, M. B., Henderson, S. B., Lambert, A. A., Cromar, K. R., Hall, J. A., Cascio, W. E., Smith, P. G., Marsh, B. J., Coefield, S., Balmes, J. R., Kamal, A., Gilmour, M. I., Carlsten, C., Navarro, K. M., Collman, G. W., Rappold, A., Miller, M. D., Stone, S. L., & Costa, D. L. (2021). Respiratory impacts of wildland fire smoke: Future challenges and policy opportunities. An official American thoracic society workshop report.Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 18(6), 921-930. Web.
Tymstra, C., Stocks, B., Cai, X., & Flannigan, M. (2020). Wildfire management in Canada: Review, challenges and opportunities.Progress in Disaster Science, 5(8), 1-48. Web.
Xu, R., Yu, P., Abramson, M. J., Johnston, F. H., Samet, J. M., Bell, M. L., Haines, A., Ebi, K. L., Li, S., & Guo, Y. (2020). Wildfires, global climate change, and human health.New England Journal of Medicine, 383(22), 2173-2181. Web.