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Fleeing the LA fires alone on a wheelchair: 'I had to take my chances'
Galen Buckwalter and his wife, Deborah, were alerted around 9.30pm on Tuesday evening that the rapidly spreading Eaton fire near Pasadena, California, was endangering their home and they should immediately flee to safety.
Galen, 68, is paralyzed from the chest down and uses an electric wheelchair for mobility. Normally, he drives with his van that accommodates the chair, but as the extreme southern California windstorm was fueling the flames north of his home, his vehicle was sitting in a repair shop.
Earlier in the evening, he felt confident that the fire in Eaton Canyon would not travel all the way to his Sierra Madre neighborhood by the hills. Now, he was unsure how he could get to safety.
Galen thought about getting in his wife’s car without the chair, risking losinghis mobility and facing the destruction of an essential device that could take months to replace.
“Leaving his chair behind, it’s like leaving behind part of his body,” said Deborah, 72. “It is his legs.”
Galen, 68, is paralyzed from the chest down and uses an electric wheelchair for mobility. Normally, he drives with his van that accommodates the chair, but as the extreme southern California windstorm was fueling the flames north of his home, his vehicle was sitting in a repair shop.
Earlier in the evening, he felt confident that the fire in Eaton Canyon would not travel all the way to his Sierra Madre neighborhood by the hills. Now, he was unsure how he could get to safety.
Galen thought about getting in his wife’s car without the chair, risking losinghis mobility and facing the destruction of an essential device that could take months to replace.
“Leaving his chair behind, it’s like leaving behind part of his body,” said Deborah, 72. “It is his legs.”
More:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/10/fleeing-california-wildfires-los-angeles?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Evacuation plans in emergency situations must include those with disabilities.
21 replies
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I can't imagine the terror he must have felt, paralyzed, in a 400 lb chair with no help.
This is a situation that needs to be addressed.
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Have you read this book?
A hospital after Katrina.
Through the lens of both physician and journalist, Sheri Fink investigates the mysterious deaths that occurred in a New Orleans medical center shortly after Hurricane Katrina. Fink explores the role of ethics in the medical field, especially regarding the issue of patients being euthanized by medical staff. Fink’s journalistic work here not only makes for a captivating read but also serves as a grim reminder about the vulnerability of health systems during major crisis.
After Hurricane Katrina struck and power failed, amid rising floodwaters and heat, exhausted staff at Memorial Medical Center designated certain patients last for rescue. Months later, a doctor and two nurses were arrested and accused of injecting some of those patients with life-ending drugs.
Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting by Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink, unspools the mystery, bringing us inside a hospital fighting for its life and into the most charged questions in health care: which patients should be prioritized, and can health care professionals ever be excused for hastening death?
Transforming our understanding of human nature in crisis, Five Days at Memorial exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals how ill-prepared we are for large-scale disasters—and how we can do better.
After Hurricane Katrina struck and power failed, amid rising floodwaters and heat, exhausted staff at Memorial Medical Center designated certain patients last for rescue. Months later, a doctor and two nurses were arrested and accused of injecting some of those patients with life-ending drugs.
Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting by Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink, unspools the mystery, bringing us inside a hospital fighting for its life and into the most charged questions in health care: which patients should be prioritized, and can health care professionals ever be excused for hastening death?
Transforming our understanding of human nature in crisis, Five Days at Memorial exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals how ill-prepared we are for large-scale disasters—and how we can do better.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/five-days-at-memorial-sheri-fink/1114975091
Perhaps our Congress should take the time to address our preparedness for these types of disasters as they will become more frequent as the earth warms. That is if they have some time to spare with all their partisan investigations of their perceived enemies.
Thanks so much for commenting, brer.
A fathers love. Unconditional.
May they both rest in peace.
My health is administered through Lee Health. I am assigned a nurse navigator (RN) that's helps me with all my health needs (even makes house calls).
The best thing about this program is the evacuation procedures in place for disabled people which I am one. They know in advance what my healthcare needs are to be able to send me to the right shelter.
This reason alone is what gives me pause about leaving the area to someplace else.
