What Took Everything Away
What happened to the people in the L.A. wildfire?
If you were the one who had to evacuate, what would you bring? Well, these people didn't even have time to think about all the things that needed to be brought, but had to evacuate as quickly as they could.
You are in your house all cozy and warm, when you get a notification that you need to evacuate out of your house immediately. You and your family quickly pack up and evacuate, confused and scared. Later, you see all the heavy smoke and the fire coming down from the mountains. When you come back home after the fire settled down , everything is gone. You have lost everything that you had and loved.
If you were the one who had to evacuate, what would you bring? Well, these people didn't even have time to think about all the things that needed to be brought, but had to evacuate as quickly as they could.
Photo Credit: Slate
On January 7, in Los Angeles, one of the most destructive and devastating wild fires happened. It burned more than 10,000 acres and everyone had to quickly evacuate from the fire. At least 29 people have passed away from the fires.
More than 12,000 homes and buildings were burnt down. There were 100,000 people that had to leave their homes. When many people came back their houses were gone like they were never there.
Not only did people lose their homes their health has suffered. Due to the enormous fire, there were outrageous amounts of smoke and ash. A lot of people breathed the air in and got respiratory diseases.
A lot of people are also suffering from poor mental health. According to Darbie Saxbe, “After a scary event, both kids and adults may be especially sensitive to danger cues or reminders of the threatening event”. Many schools burnt down, which means parents did not have anywhere to rely on for their children's. Children and adults can have life long traumas and can give people a very hard time in everyday life. These scary traumas can come back as flashbacks or dreams anytime.
The fire also made people have very sensitive sensory cues. People experiencing all the smoke, the sounds, and the sight of all the buildings burning down may take a long time to become desensitized to this kind of exhausting stimuli.
Photo credit: The Hill
Many people needed to evacuate and weren't able to see their families for a while. Many have also lost their loved ones forever.
It isn't just the victims of the fire, but the firefighters that sacrificed themselves who suffered. 15,000 firefighters from 5+ states came to help L.A with the wildfire. All the firefighters were battling for 24 days until the fire settled down.
Through this very tragic event that happened in L.A. many people's lives changed drastically in many different ways. The city itself has also experienced many tragic changes. Many people are hoping for the best that their situations in L.A will get better as soon as possible.
Works Cited
Menze, Marrisa. “25 people dead in Palisades and Eaton fires as Los Angeles braces for more high winds, red flag weather.” CBS News, https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/deadly-los-angeles-wildfires-continue-burning-after-devastating-entire-communities.
Saxbe, Darbie. “How the LA Wild Fire are Affecting the Children's and Families.” USC Today, https://today.usc.edu/parenting-through-disaster-how californias-wildfires-are-affecting-children-and families/#:~:text=The%20destruction%20of%20schools%20and,children's%20physical%20health%20and%20safety.
Stelloh, Lantheng, Cohen, Helsel, Tim, Marlen, Rebecca, Phil. “California wildfires: What we know about L.A.-area fires, what caused them, who is affected and more.” NBC News, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-wildfires-what-we-know-palisades-eaton-los-angeles-rcna188239.
