Editor’s Note: Upper School sophomore Lylah Pouratian and Scarlett Song lived in California before moving to Texas. Both still have family and friends living in areas affected by the recent wildfires.
On Jan. 8, we discovered that a wildfire had begun in the city we both grew up in and lived in until the summer of 2021. Los Angeles, our former home, has since faced mass destruction from the fires. What follows are some of our thoughts and emotions on this devastating event.
Lylah:
When I woke up and went downstairs, my mom was scrolling on our family group chat. She looked concerned.
“There is a fire in the Palisades, right by Jad’s house,” she said.
Jad is my brother’s best friend; we grew up visiting his house in the Palisades often. My brother quickly texted Jad to see if he and his home were okay. Jad responded that he wasn’t sure.
Throughout the week I was glued to my phone, tracking the fires on the Watch Duty App, watching as red zones – areas at high risk – crept near neighborhoods I know so well.
It felt so surreal. Even though I was thousands of miles away, the disaster still hit me so close to my heart. Many places I visited during my childhood are gone, places where I would regularly eat lunch and hang out with friends. When I go back to Los Angeles next month, many places I enjoyed visiting will now be ashes.
My cousin called one afternoon, her voice trembling as she reversed her phone’s camera to show her car, packed with family photo albums, important documents and keepsakes.
“Just in case we have to evacuate,” she said.
Hearing her say it out loud made the reality of the situation even more challenging to cope with.
It frustrates me how my distance makes me so helpless in this situation. I want to try to support fire relief, but most drives are being done locally. I hope to soon find an effort in the Dallas area that effectively supports fire relief.
Around six other families that I am aware of at Greenhill moved from Los Angeles to Dallas over the pandemic. Knowing multiple families that feel the pain of this situation creates a support system I can lean on.
Scarlett:
Social media, specifically TikTok videos, is where I first learned about the fires tearing through Los Angeles over the past couple weeks. It was surreal to see the city I once called home facing so much tragedy; seeing the posts made my heart drop.
When I lived there, fires were constantly surrounding me. A few years ago, I stepped outside to see white flakes falling from the sky. It wasn’t snow, it was ash. I remember how awful the air quality was every day; stepping outside was as if someone was constantly cooking a barbecue. It was a reminder of the scary reality Californians face daily.
The second I saw the news on Jan. 8, I started tracking the fires nonstop. Each time I checked, new fires would appear around the city. Watching the destruction occur from my phone was heartbreaking. Neighborhoods, stores and streets that I once called home were completely engulfed in flames.
I started to spend hours texting my friends who still live there, constantly questioning their well-being. A lot of my friends did not even know what was going to happen themselves and they all seemed very scared. Some of them were already evacuated, while others told me they were watching hopelessly as the fires creeped closer and closer to their homes. I felt helpless, knowing there was nothing I could do from so far away.
The hardest part for me was realizing that these places would never be the same. There have been thousands and thousands of acres surrounding Los Angeles completely destroyed.
One of my closest friends texted me that her house in Malibu had completely burned down, and that all her memories and everything she possessed and loved was gone. It was hard to find the right words to comfort her. What can you say to someone who just lost everything?
Through seeing the news all over social media, I grew frustrated with the misinformation spreading. I noticed how all over TikTok and Instagram people were posting edited pictures of the Hollywood sign burning, which is something that never happened. People were using this period of disaster to further create a sense of panic and spread false information.
Not only have people intensified the panic of the fires but they have also found ways to intensify the fires themselves through arson. News articles have reported on multiple cases of arson found during the fires. It is impossible to understand how someone could intentionally ignite fires in places where dry conditions and high winds guarantee the fire to spread.
The fires have completely destroyed so many communities, and social media has both informed and spread misinformation. This tragedy is absolutely heartbreaking for so many people and reveals how important it is to support those affected.
