Gracie Berger, a sophomore at the University of Oregon, received an update from her family Tuesday, saying that her home was under emergency evacuation orders due to the proximity of the Eaton Canyon fires in Altadena, California.
“Being in these classes, it felt like no one else even knew this was happening or had any idea… everyone was fine and I wasn’t fine. I was checking my family’s location. I was texting them and they weren’t responding, and it was nerve-wracking,” Berger said. “I didn’t know if they were okay, (and) I didn’t know if our house was okay.”
Berger’s family had left their house in Altadena to stay with her grandparents — whose house is close to the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena — they received a second evacuation order the very same night and had to flee again.
Berger’s father drove up to the evacuated neighborhood and put out some of the embers from the main fire, in an attempt to prevent further fires from igniting.
Berger recalled that her neighborhood had around 180 houses, of which 50 had burned down.
Her grandparent’s home was one of them. They had lost everything.
Berger received this news in the form of a text message from her sister during class.
“She’s (Berger’s grandmother) like a big sentimental person. All of the family things, photos and everything was in her house that burned … she’s being very strong about it, ” Berger said, recalling how her grandmother is currently handling the devastating news.
“An entire community gone”
Hayley Kaufman, a sophomore, said her family lived a bit further from the main fires, but that multiple people from her high school had to evacuate and lost their homes.
Kaufman recalled how devastating the impacts of the fires have been to her community and the memories that had been permanently changed.
“It was really scary, the entire first week of school. My hometown is never going to be the same. I’m going to go back, and it’s an entire community just gone,” Kaufman said.
Penelope Burian, a sophomore, grew up in Altadena and said that many of her childhood friends and family lost their houses and were forced to evacuate to emergency shelters.
“It’s hard to focus on school when I have friends from home texting me that their house burned down,” Burian said. “For a while, I didn’t know who was safe and who wasn’t because they didn’t have power.”
Jessica Yang, a transfer student and a senior at UO, grew up in Irvine, a city south of the fires but still heavily impacted by unhealthy levels of smoke. Growing up in the area, she knew many people affected by the fires.
Yang said that one of her friends had to evacuate due to health conditions worsening from the smoke. Many of her friends from summer camp went to Palisades High School, which was completely burned down by the fires.
“It’s been a tough spot to navigate for me, I’m near all of this tragedy peripherally but I’m not experiencing it in the same way my friends are, but it feels like there’s not much I can do to help other than listening to them,” Yang said.
Yang said she also is doing what she can by donating to different Go-Fund-Mes for her friends and those who have been impacted.
Minimal fire prevention efforts led to the fires
The Los Angeles fires are being labeled as one of the “worst” catastrophes in the US, with the fires claiming at least 24 lives, destroying 12,000 structures homes being completely burnt, leaving thousands without power and preliminary projected damage costs of over $150 billion, as of Jan. 14.
The three most prominent fires within the region are the Palisades fire, which burnt 23,713 acres, the Eaton fire, burning 14,000 and the Hurst fire, burning 799.
Investigations are currently being conducted as to the causes of the different fires, but legal cases have been filed against Southern California Edison Company (SCE), an electric company, alleging its responsibility for the Eaton fires due to the negligence to de-energize, despite a red-flag warning.
Multiple factors are making containment of the fires increasingly difficult. First and foremost, the Santa Ana winds have been spreading the wildfires on the hillsides drastically and making preventative efforts minimal.
Southern California has a very particular type of fire ecology and ecosystem, and the overgeneralization of that ecology has often made fire responses haphazard and ill-prepared. Chaparral biomes, characterized by shrublands and hot and dry summers, have crown fires, which burn intensely and infrequently every 30 to 150 years. Unlike forests, chaparral crown fires can’t be avoided through usual fire mitigation strategies.
The California Chaparral Institute mentions that the attribution of forest fire preventative tactics, such as slash and burn techniques, have weakened the Chaparral ecosystem and made it prone to catching fire.
Climate change is an undeniable threat to the ecosystem, amplifying intense fires such as the ones currently raging.
Due to misaligned policies that don’t take into account Southern California’s natural ecosystem, fire-resistant native ecosystems have been slowly eroded and made the region more prone to devastating fires.
“There was a very serious understaffing of (first responders). I remember there being pretty sparse fire stations … there should be more in an area that’s so prone to fires,” Masha Petrova, an EMT student in Lane County, mentioned after reflecting on her education in emergency services.
Petrova was a resident in the Palisades neighborhood and grew up attending Palisades High School, which was damaged in the Palisades fire. Although Petrova is training in Eugene, her family is located in Brentwood, a 10-minute drive from the fire line.
Due to the damage within the area, Petrova’s brother, who was attending Palisades High School, has been on an extended break; the damage within the area has made in-person learning inaccessible, and there have been talks of relocating students to nearby schools or continuing classes online until the end of the year.
“There have been wildfires in that area before that hadn’t been nearly as big and you know that it’s temporary, but this (fire) is larger than that, and it pauses life for a second … living in an area with wildfires and earthquakes (emergency kits) are something people should have but it’s often neglected,” Petrova said.
Petrova said the general preparedness skills of people are also limited; having bags of documents, medications, valuables and emergency supplies isn’t a common practice in many households, so sudden evacuation orders had left many without important items.
From afar, students give to those who have lost
Many non-profits, community-based organizations and good samaritans have gotten together to distribute resources to those who have been evacuated or have lost their belongings in the fire, giving those who have lost everything something to rebuild from.
Kat Hernandez, a senior, grew up in downtown LA. Although one of the primary concerns impacting her is the strong winds blowing smoke in the direction of where her family is located, she said that she does have family members working in the valley between the Palisades fire and the Hurst fire and many of them have to come back due to the physical pain they have felt from breathing in smoke.
Her friends have been heavily impacted by the fires, with many of them being evacuated, without working generators or electricity, those being stuck in their homes unable to evacuate, and some with their houses completely burnt down.
Hernandez said, “Being in Oregon, and not being in LA, it’s been difficult. I’ve been reaching out (to my friends) saying I have all these extra clothes if you need them, (and) my family is there to support you.”
“We’re just offering as much help as we can, whether it be staying with us, a case of water, clothing. It’s all about community, we’re just supporting as much as we can right now,” Hernandez said.
Even though there are hundreds of miles between LA and Eugene, many students and community members are actively going through devastating losses, and being mindful of how to be supportive is important.
