Marión Sandoval began her career at the Chilean Red Cross 15 years ago as a volunteer so she knows how crisis can turn peoples’ lives upside down. Now, as national disaster risk management director for the Chilean Red Cross, she uses that experience in helping to build a new way of managing emergencies, one that starts well before the crisis hits.
Following several years of devastating wildfires around the country, the National Society engaged numerous communities to develop what is known as an “early action protocol.”
It may sound somewhat technical, but the basic concept is fairly simple: give people the tools and knowledge they need before a crisis hits so they can minimize the impact that fires or other emergencies might have on their community. We wanted to know more so we talked to Marion Sandoval about this novel approach.
Why did the Chilean Red Cross develop this early action protocol for wildfires? For about the last 15 years, we have had an significant recurrence of forest fires. We have gone through mega fires like the one in 2017 that affected the Maule region and that had a significant impact on homes and also claimed many lives. These losses are being lamented to this day.
The problem is that many people lack sufficient knowledge about fire behavior and the actions they need to take to stay safe. This is especially critical in communities located near forestry lands, or where timber companies are operating and where wildfire risk is high.
That’s why it’s essential to support these communities—so they can better understand how fire behaves and how to reduce its impact and protect their lives, belongings, and livelihoods.
A volunteer with the Chilean Red Cross provides eye drops to ease the irritation caused by exposure to smoke. A new, early action protocol developed by the Chilean Red Cross provides residents with first-aid kits and other tools to protect people’s lungs and eyes from smoke and particulate matter.
What are some of the key actions in the protocols that help the people get ahead of the fires? One of the first ones is to know their environment, so that they can know where they should make firebreaks (places cleared of trees that can slow or stop a fire from spreading further) and how and where to evacuate safely.
During the spring season, for example, the fields near people’s houses are filled with grass or, as summer arrives, dry plantations. So the houses are surrounded by vegetation that becomes a real risk factor.
So in the first stage, we deliver a firebreak kit consisting of tools to make ditches or firewalls and to clean out the areas surrounding their homes. Along with this, people will receive an evacuation kit that includes a backpack with items to protect from smoke, plus a first-aid kit that contains eye medication and items to protect lungs and eyes from smoke and particulate matter. All this will be accompanied by the training of volunteers and community members.
What we are hoping for is to encourage communities to evacuate as soon as we have the declaration of what we call “the red button” – a warning system that that is activated by the National Forestry Corporation, based on real-time monitoring of the fire’s movement. The red button activation means the community is likely to be exposed – in 2 or 3 days -- to the impact of the fire.
One of the big problems in Chile is that communities often do not evacuate because of the fear of losing their belongings and their homes. So, in this case, the early action protocol promotes safe evacuations because people feel more assured that their belongings and their homes will be protected.
This protection is also critical for recovery afterwards because these households are also what allow people to have electricity, hot water, a shower, a refrigerator or cooked food – things that also help prevent diseases. After fires, forest water sources are lost or contaminated, which could lead to diseases.
At the same time, local authorities are encouraging people to build and improve their homes with more solid, fire-resistant materials such as concrete, bricks, blocks, rather than wood or other lightweight materials.
In this way, we are also ensuring the subsequent recovery of people’s livelihoods. When these fires strike, not only is the housing lost, but also the plantations people have made for personal consumption and for animal fodder are lost. This means byproducts such as milk, cheese, poultry and eggs –which people sell or consume – are also lost.
All the work you are doing in response to forest fires connects with the high temperatures and heatwaves. How are the these two phenomena connected?
Clearly, if we have fires in an area and a heat wave happening at the same time, we are going to have a greater impact and, in turn, a greater advance of the fire. So, we have now started to review heat waves. We also want to advance in a protocol for heat waves.
We are now entering winter, but in the last summer we had a heat wave alert almost once a week d uring the months of February, March, even December last year. So, the dynamics of heat waves is happening a lot in the southern part of our country and here in the big cities because of the buildings.
So we also want to look for key messages for our community and work on delivering recommendations that are feasible and that can be foreseen. For example, if we have heat waves, there is the issue of hydration, sunscreen, of walking in the shade, doing sports. There a lot of recommendations that we could be delivering to our community to prevent the impact of heat waves.
Are there any other actions being carried out by the Chilean Red Cross to prevent fires, or threats related to extreme temperatures?.
We have a program in which schools, communities, neighborhood councils, the community itself knows its risks and can identify the needs, not only for forest fires and heat waves, but also for floods, tsunami effect, landslides and other emergencies.
The key to any situation is to be prepared, to have contingency plans, to have family emergency plans, to be clear about what we are going to do when we have a heat wave or when we have a forest fire or any other event that could affect us.