February 4, 2025
This 79-year-old lost her home in the California wildfires.
Older adults are especially vulnerable to natural disasters. “For older individuals who live on their own, the risk is that they will not be able to leave their homes, said Carolyn Ross, co-executive director of the Village Movement California, a coalition of 50 neighborhood-based community organizations that provide community programming and expertise to help older residents age in place.”
- Karen Bagnard’s home of more than 50 years in Altadena, California, burned down in January’s Los Angeles-area wildfires.
- The fires have displaced older residents at a vulnerable time in their lives.
- “I sure didn’t expect this at the end of my life,” Bagnard, 79, told CNBC. “I figured I’d go before the house would.”
