As wildfires disrupt Los Angeles schools, experts begin to study mental health effects on students

Los Angeles schools have become the latest casualty in a series of wildfires. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the number of wildfires this month alone has doubled from the number of total fires last year. 

At least a dozen public schools have burned and over 700,000 students and staff have been displaced. 

Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed an executive order to expedite school reopenings in Los Angeles, but experts warn of the long-term impacts on both mental and physical health for school staff and students, along with the need for long-term planning.

As the former Butte County Superintendent during the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise, Tim Taylor said he regrets pushing his teachers and staff back into the classroom three weeks after the fire.

“You’ve really got to focus on the staff’s mental health,” Taylor explained. “We spent four full days with the top mental health specialists in the country helping Paradise teachers prepare for the kids coming back, and it still wasn’t enough.”

Dr. Adrienne Heinz, a clinical psychologist at Stanford University, has worked with the survivors of the Sonoma fires in 2017 and 2019.

She underscored that while student recovery is critical, educators — who act as stabilizing forces for children — also need support.

“We can’t forget what administrators and teachers have been through,” Heinz said. “It’s essential to create a trauma-informed workplace for them, as they are the emotional barometers and anchors for children.”

She further noted that children often absorb their parents’ stress, which can lead to academic struggles and social withdrawal.

“There are negative consequences,” said Heinz. “Academics might drop off, or kids might isolate themselves, which can be quite harmful after a traumatic event.”

Heinz developed a climate trauma app for teens in Sonoma County that had tools like managing stress and anger, employing self care and healing from loss.

“There’s a lot of need to understand the irritability that also comes with having to endure,” she said. “[Young people] might be engaging in more risky behaviors because what’s the point, the world’s burning anyway.”

Heinz mentioned that those that used the app found it validating and many became leaders in their community – finding purpose through wildfire recovery courses. However, she emphasized that resilience should not fall entirely on children.

“They’ll struggle without the right support systems,” she said. “It can’t just be up to them to be resilient.”

Both Taylor and Heinz emphasized that rebuilding communities will need to be baked into the framework of the school systems.

At University of California San Francisco, Professor of Psychiatry and Chair of the UC-wide Council on Climate Health Dr. Elissa Epel is planning long-term for youth climate resilience. She has developed a college course that combines science, emotional resilience skills, and reflective practices to help students cope with climate distress.

“We brought together inspirational leaders, science, and contemplative practices,” Epel said. “It wasn’t just academic — it was experiential.”

The results were promising, with participants reporting reduced climate distress. Those same students, Epel said, can become leaders during natural disasters. She is pushing for similar curriculums in K-12 schools.

“There’s a real gap in how we educate children and it doesn’t fit the social world that they’re entering,” Epel said. “There’s a reflective process that goes on when we promote and teach about climate resilience.”

The Public Policy Institute of California is in the beginning stages of planning research on the impact of wildfires on students. Shalini Mustala, a research associate at PPIC, is looking at the links between wildfire smoke and student health.

“Wildfire smoke has particulate matter that’s easily penetrable into the respiratory system,” said Mustala. “Children are affected because they tend to spend more time outside and have higher breathing rates, so their inhalation of these particulate matters is higher.”

Mustala highlighted that wildfire smoke exposure has been associated with reduced school performance and impaired cognitive function in children, compounding the challenges they already face.

Following his time as Butte County superintendent, Taylor transitioned into an education consultant role helping school districts recovering from natural disasters. He explains there are better systems in place for schools. 

“It’s much more strategic,” he said. “The California Department of Education takes over as a Central Command Center — they monitor what schools have been lost … we have playbooks for mental health, how to deal with a disaster and how to do the FEMA paperwork.”

Recovery will take time, Taylor and experts agree, but they affirm that aid efforts are informed by past catastrophic events.

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