On January 7th, the first of many fires erupted in Pacific Palisades, a relatively small neighborhood in the Westside region of Los Angeles. As the day progressed, the Palisades fire was easily identified as the largest and most destructive in L.A. history – but several others (Sunset, Eaton, Lidia, Woodley, Tyler, Hurst) were also instrumental in the destruction of thousands of homes and multiple deaths.
As one of California’s largest and most popular cities struggles against the ongoing crisis, the Campo community, whether it be through involved family members, local media reports, or humanitarian concern, has grown aware of the situation. Senior Lydia Pochueva added her opinion on the issue by stating, “It [was] completely devastating; even though we’re in a safe area, it’s incredibly difficult to hear about people losing their homes and how it’s fallen under politicization, making it a political issue when it should be an issue of safety.” Her reference to the controversy surrounding the mayor of Los Angeles on current news is not standalone; other students have mentioned hearing about this topic when discussing the fires.
Senior Matthew Sugiyama agreed with Pocheuva as he added, “Hearing about a tragedy like this in such an important area of our state, especially with a lot of students having family members in the area, it’s terrible.” Sugiyama, one of many who wanted to take action, has already begun to organize a pickleball tournament in April through the Moraga Youth Committee, in which one of its central causes is to support the people affected by the fires.
In addition, an interesting point was brought up by junior Patricia Davila Gil, who, aside from noting “I was really anxious and surprised about the whole situation when I first heard about it”, pointed out that “L.A. has a big Hispanic population, so I especially felt worried about them since they’ve worked so hard to be there, and then their homes were burned down. The whole thing is so devastating.”
While both the Palisades and Eaton fires have been fully contained and overall conditions have eased, relief efforts are extremely crucial after a full month of burning. The staff at The Campo Claw urges all members of the Campo community to take individual action if possible and raise awareness of the situation to prevent these tragic events from happening again.
