A pop-up camp is providing emergency care for the youngest survivors of wildfires: ‘I call them ambulance chasers for good’

Providers like Project:Camp offer emergency education and care to families as climate change brings more destructive weather

One week after evacuating from the wildfires that devastated parts of this eastern Washington city, Mareesha Backman handed over her youngest son to a stranger and took her first deep breath of relief.

Spokane public schools was hosting what has become a growing part of disaster response: a day camp for children of survivors. Backman showed up that first day feeling stunned," she said: hot, poorly showered and underslept. Thanks to the camp's volunteers, she was able to go to a doctor's appointment, run errands and simply sit in the air-conditioned quiet of a friend's home.