Assembly hears ‘fire brain’ and mental-health surge after wildfires; committee urged to fund community resilience training

Wildfires are producing marked increases in acute mental-health distress and, for a significant minority, long-term psychiatric and cognitive symptoms, UC psychiatrists told the Assembly Health Committee.

Dr. Elisa Appel, professor and vice chair of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco and a representative of the UC-wide Center for Climate Health and Equity, told the committee that climate disasters amplify mental-health burdens and that "fire brain"—lasting problems with concentration, attention and decision-making after wildfire exposure—is measurable months after an event. She said callers to suicide and crisis lines in Los…