Community support in Shelburne County as salve for lingering wildfire trauma

On a typical afternoon at the arena in Barrington, Amy MacKinnon might be helping people pick up laundry detergent, a bicycle, or a grocery gift card—anything to ease the burden on families from the massive spring wildfire.

“In general, people are just confused,” she says. “They have a lot of questions and they don’t have the answers yet.”

They want to know things like what their insurance will cover, how to pay their deductible, how to replace a freezer full of spoiled food.

They can meet some material needs at the “free shop” in the arena that is filled with donations. But for MacKinnon, who normally runs Our House Youth Wellness Center, there is another unspoken question that underlies the questions asked.

“What they’re really saying is, who cares about me?” she says of some of the hardest hit families. “They feel hopeless. Or, like, who’s going to take care of me?

“So that’s what we’re trying to say here: we got you.”

‘Many mental traumas’

The fire started on May 27 near Barrington Lake in Shelburne County and grew rapidly. On June 13, the province announced that the fire, covering an area of ​​approximately 235 square kilometers, had been brought under control.

The fire displaced 6,700 people and destroyed about 60 houses and 90 other buildings.

Laura Torak thinks it will take a long time for the people around to process it all.

“A lot of mental trauma has happened,” she says.

Torak owns the Ship’s Galley Pub in Shelburne and also offered to serve meals for first responders and evacuees during the fire.

She says people talk to her about their memories, and her own memories still bother her.

“I can’t look at the sky when the sun is rising or setting because it’s red,” says Torak.

The sunset is much like the red light of the flames, she says, and billowing white clouds remind her of smoke. Helicopters, or even a lawn mower that sounds like a helicopter, reminds her of the water bombers.

“I love backyard campfires. I don’t think I’ll have one this year,” she says. “It is too early.”

She finds relief in talking to people and says she would like to have a community gathering with some counseling to confirm that what she is going through is normal.

Torak’s son, Eric Jeffery, is a fisherman and volunteer firefighter. Although his work on the fire is over, he is still alert. One day he smelled smoke through his open window and ran outside to see where it was coming from.

“I knew it was close because you could tell by the smell,” he says. After going around his property, he saw smoke coming from his neighbor’s chimney and felt relief when he realized it was coming from the wood stove.

“But the first instinct was to run around and check everything,” he says.

Some people in Shelburne told CBC News they are still concerned about the possibility of another fire, saying they haven’t fully unpacked their cars yet, so they’re ready to leave just in case.

Significant psychological problems

Dr. Vincent Agyapong is the chief of psychiatry for Nova Scotia Health’s central zone and the chief of the department of psychiatry at Dalhousie University. Before coming to Nova Scotia, Agyapong lived and worked in Fort McMurray, Alta.

He was one of 88,000 people evacuated during the 2016 wildfire that destroyed part of the city. After that, Agyapong started to study how people reacted mentally to the disaster.

What Agyapong discovered was that “the one thing that protected people’s mental health was priceless,” he says.

Of the hundreds of residents who responded to a survey he conducted in Fort McMurray six months after the fire, about 14 percent reported symptoms of major depressive disorder and 19 percent reported signs of anxiety. About 13 percent reported symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder. People also reported high rates of alcohol consumption and other substance abuse.

He repeated the survey three more times, the last time after five years, and found that people continued to report higher-than-expected levels of anxiety.

“The prevalence of these conditions was much higher after the wildfires at all the different times when we examined how people were doing,” he says.

Agyapong also found that the distance of people’s homes from the fire didn’t seem to affect how they felt afterwards. Some were badly affected by the evacuation, even though their property was not damaged. And some who only witnessed the fires through television reported being affected.

After the fires in Nova Scotia, the province announced emergency grants of $500 for evacuees, a small business assistance program, and short-term grants of up to $550 for those who became unemployed.

But Agyapong’s research suggested that money alone – whether it came from the government, the Red Cross or an insurance company – could not guarantee peace of mind.

“None of these factors protected people from the mental health burden over time,” he says.

The only protective factor, he says, was the support of friends, family and community.

“Everyone should take the opportunity to support anyone they know lives in the wildfire area.”

How to access a mental health doctor

Formal mental health support is also important, he says, and anyone seeking help should contact Nova Scotia Health’s Mental Health and Addictions Program.

This has been announced by the health authority a list of ways to access the in-person and virtual mental health services it offers. It will also open a new mental health and addictions venue in Clark’s Harbor on July 4.

But Agyapong also explains that after a disaster, aid workers cannot immediately help everyone who is having a hard time. So, he says, it’s important to reduce the number of people who find themselves in crisis as much as possible — and community support is the best way to do that.

“Community organizations should step up to support local community agencies so they can better support people living in the wildfire areas,” says Agyapong.

Back at the Barrington arena, Amy MacKinnon is deeply concerned about people being forced into poverty and their mental and emotional health going forward. She hopes to set up a community center where they can connect, share grief, and receive mental health first aid.

In 20 years of community service, MacKinnon feels this is the most important thing she’s done.

“It’s been the best work of my life,” she says. “It has been, without a doubt, the most impressive, best work of my life.”