WE ARE RESPONDING TO THE
LOS ANGELES WILDFIRES
As Southern California moves from response to recovery after a series of wildfires devastated the LA region, International Medical Corps is continuing to help.
The fires collectively burned more than 16,000 homes, businesses and community centres over 40,000 acres, leading to the deaths of at least 29 people and the displacement of more than 200,000—including families, older people and those with special needs. Smoke from the fires degraded air and water quality, creating respiratory issues and cardiovascular problems, especially for vulnerable populations.
International Medical Corps quickly sent teams to provide medical and mental health care in emergency shelters that were established to accommodate evacuees. We also supported—and continue to support—health centres serving low-income and vulnerable populations by providing them with critical supplies and resources.
Our Response to the Los Angeles Wildfires
Headquartered in Los Angeles, International Medical Corps deployed a response team immediately after the fires began and coordinated closely with local partners—including LA City and County governments—in affected areas to assess the impact of the wildfires, provide aid and fill gaps as needed. Our teams also quickly provided truckloads of essential relief supplies—including thousands of hygiene kits, first-aid kits and KN95 masks—to support affected communities, health facilities and local organisations.
We then moved to providing direct critical care in shelters and communities, deploying volunteer medical and mental health personnel from our emergency roster to treat hundreds of displaced residents in shelters, as well as provide mental health resources and medical supplies at distribution centers and re-entry points.
Over the course of our response, we reached more than 66,000 people directly and more than 141,000 people indirectly with essential health resources and services. From January 17 to February 16, when we were providing direct medical and mental health services, we:
- deployed nine physicians, 33 nurses and 16 mental health workers;
- provided services in three Red Cross-managed shelters—the Westwood Recreation Center,
- Pasadena Convention Center and College of Canyon shelters—and 10 community hubs, distribution sites and re-entry points;
- helped establish and run an isolation unit in the Pasadena shelter to prevent and control the spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19, influenza and norovirus;
- conducted 2,765 health and mental health and psychosocial support consultations; and
- reached 3,777 evacuees with health and mental health services in both English and Spanish.
In addition, we provided support to health facilities (including federally qualified health centres, which serve low-income and other vulnerable populations) and community centres by distributing more than 76,400 essential relief and recovery items, hygiene kits, medical supplies and medical equipment—including nebulisers, air purifiers, pillows, blankets, catheters, diapers and more. We are providing direct financial assistance to support frontline health workers, health clinics and social service organisations, helping to ensure that they are able to continue delivering critical care.
We are still working with these partners to provide training and support where needed. For example, we are collaborating with state and community clinic partners to preposition essential supplies—including medicines, medical supplies, hygiene items and more—with impacted health facilities, local organisations and resource-access sites. And leveraging our 40+ years of experience, we are working with more than 30 partners across Los Angeles County to plan and implement high-quality emergency preparedness and response training at the state, county and clinic levels—helping to ensure continuity of care in the face of future disasters.
For more information on our response, please read our situation reports.