But last week he was forced to confront a new hurdle: His left pinkie finger was amputated. It was his third surgery since his hands were ravaged by the wildfire that devastated Paradise, California, last month. And now he’s not sure if he will be able to work again.
Those who were burned but survived are only beginning to deal with the consequences of the wildfire, which killed 85 people with 10 still unaccounted for, according to the Butte County sheriff, and consumed more than 18,000 structures. For the people burned in the Camp Fire, the battle is far from over.
“Long after people forget that the fire ever happened, across the U.S., there are still people here that live that nightmare every day,” said Blevins’ fiancée, Mary Sykes.
The number of people burned by wildfires is not tracked, according to the American Burn Association, but hospitals in areas prone to fire are girding for future influxes of such patients as wildfires occur more frequently.
“We are worried about the increase in fires that we get; it seems like they come fast and furious,” said Dr. David Greenhalgh, who leads the burn division of University of California, Davis, where the Camp Fire victims are being treated. “In terms of taking care of a massive burn, it’s not only the initial care, it’s the weeks and months of skin grafts and dealing with sepsis.”
To deal with the possibility of a large increase in fire burn patients, UC Davis has formed a consortium with 25 hospitals across eight Western states, Greenhalgh said, with procedures in place and medevac helicopters on standby to transfer patients to those burn centers around the region. The hospital has also added another burn specialist to its team this year, for a total of five.
Rescuers flew Blevins to UC Davis for treatment. At least 11 people were hospitalized with burns from the Camp Fire. Three are still hospitalized; two are considered to be in fair condition, and one is critical.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.