
Caroline Bryant
Editor-in-Chief
Eaton and Palisades wildfires weaken in Los Angeles after over a week of burning despite increasing winds.
Yet, finding who or what to blame still remains up in the air. Though they have accused hikers, utility poles and arson, spokeswoman Ginger Colbrun for the LA division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives told BBC “it’s just too early” for answers.
As of now, the BBC has stated that firefighters have contained the two fires to a combined 40,000 acres. Since Eaton and Palisades started on January 7, around 82,4000 residents have evacuated, with 170,000 Californians still under evacuation orders. The death toll has risen to 27 people, with 18 others missing.
The BBC also found that over 12,000 structures have been destroyed by the fire, including thousands of homes, over a dozen schools and recreational spaces. Sophomore Millie Alba-Sommers recalls how many sentimental places she visited during her childhood are gone.
“A friend’s family … had a family-owned pizza shop that is just absolutely gone, which was really hard,” Alba-Sommers said. “The place where my prom was held is gone. All these places that were really important to me, and the beach, is just destroyed.”
Alba-Sommers, who hails from Thousand Oaks, California, lived just an hour outside of the Pacific Palisades, where the Palisades Fires are dominating. While the fire hasn’t reached her neighborhood, she knows many whose houses have burned down and those who are refuging family and friends during the evacuation.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told CNN that many residents may not be able to return to their homes, as cleanup may take around three-to-six months. Even those with undamaged homes have been advised to stay away in precaution of “hazardous debris” and “contaminated topsoil removed along with concrete, which is porous and can absorb toxic water.”
With many still house-less after Camp Fire, California’s deadliest wildfire that blazed through the northern part of the state in 2018, knowing when the community can return, is uncertain.
“I’m sure there’s going to be even more struggles with people losing their homes and then with these displaced people trying to find shelters. It is just absolutely devastating. LA can barely handle the amount of people they have already with the structures that they have, and now they’re losing all of this,” Alba-Sommers said.
The San Fernando Valley Sun stated that many who find a shelter are turned away due to overcrowding or not being considered a displaced person. Mel Tillekeratne, co-founder and executive director for a LA county nonprofit for the homeless, explained first-hand accounts of such trouble to the newspaper.
“We’re getting calls from people saying, ‘I don’t have a place to go. I can’t get into a shelter … because I wasn’t displaced by a fire, but I’m still homeless,’” Tillekeratne told The San Fernando Valley Sun. “For us, there is an uptick in people that we need to serve, but I think it’s the things we don’t see that are more troubling.
Moving away from the state at 18, Alba-Sommers is thankful she is safe. However, like the hundreds-of-thousands back in California, watching her home city burn is heartbreaking.