Igniting on Jan. 7 and burning throughout the month, the Southern California Palisades fire, among three others, ravaged nearly 55,000 acres of land.
Issuings of fire alerts and evacuation orders have caused Southern California residents to flee to protected areas of California and even across the country.
“The people that I have direct contact with, thankfully, have[n’t] lost their houses,” World History 2 and IB Economics teacher Dean Wood said. “But all of them have told me that they have bags packed and are ready to go, in case they get an evacuation order.”
Senior Sydney Parish moved from Thousand Oaks, California to Northern Virginia in 2022.
“The fires have spread extremely close to my old neighborhood,” she said. “Luckily the areas affected by [previous] fires have slowed the spread of the fires to my neighborhood as all the plants are already burned around it.”
Despite the fire’s slower spread through her community, Parish said they are still dealing with repercussions.
“My neighborhood has been struggling with outages and the fear of strong winds causing the fires to spread to them,” she said.
The damage caused by the fires surprised Wood, given his experience in those urban areas affected.
“The territory all along that 405 Freeway has houses and businesses and all kinds of buildings; it also has vegetation,” he said. “So, I guess I’m surprised by it, because when I lived there, there were wildfires all around Los Angeles itself, but never right within Los Angeles.”
Parish recognized that the Southern California area has faced fires before and commented on the attitude of those residents.
“They are still staying extremely positive in this difficult time,” Parish said.
Along with the hopeful spirits of communities Parish mentioned, Wood associated part of that with their actions to help.
“I think [my friends] are all doing what they can to pitch in around their communities if there’s anything that they can do: donating funds, donating time, stuff like that,” Wood said.
Parish continues to contact and send positive messages to family and friends.
“The sad part is [that] there isn’t much I can do to help,” she said. “Sending my best wishes and offering my friends emotional support is the extent of the aid I’m able to give.”