Elise Anderson, 2024 Paschal High school graduate did not see a threatening fire in her future when she was accepted into the University of Southern California for this school year. However, beginning January 7, 2025, a massive wave of destructive wildfires have affected the Los Angeles metropolitan area and surrounding regions and that fire and the fear it spreads has been part of her freshman year at USD.
As of January 29, 2025, three fires still remain active, which include the Palisades Fire, Hughes Fire, the most recent and Border 2 Fire. Most of the damage has been done by the two largest fires: the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades and the Eaton Fire in Altadena (neighborhoods that surround Los Angeles, California). According to the Los Angeles Times, “Both fires now rank among the ten most destructive in California history and the most costly in U.S. history.”
The border 2 fires are more recent than others that started from the beginning of the new year, January 7th. According to California Department of Forestry and Fire protection, The Border 2 are the fires spreading down to San Diego and have the least amount of the containment with 43%, as of recently. Compared to Palisades with 94% and Hughes with 98%, as of recently.
According to the Independent Newspaper, “After battling multiple fires cropping up amid dry and windy weather, a round of weekend rain brought both much-needed relief to the area and a new threat: debris flows and flash flooding in burn scar areas.” As well as, “The concern for petroleum based ash that accompanies the ongoing fire that officers are afraid will be explosive due to petroleum’s highly flammable properties.”
Elise Anderson shares her stories of witnessing the fires, “It was very hard at first because I personally know people who have been impacted but I didn’t grow up here so I can’t imagine the people who’ve grown up here and lost everything.”
She continued, “I was sad because L.A. is a very beautiful city and to see it go through so much sorrow is very sad to witness. I’ve been wanting to move here since 2018 and then I was just upset because I’m finally here and all my favorite places are burning. Hollywood is burning.”
According to The Guardian, “Hollywood had already been dealing with the effect of COVID on both production and cinema attendance before the dual writers and actors strikes of 2023 added further disruption. Last year’s US box office topped out at $8.75 billion, a steep decline from 2019’s $11.3 billion total”.
Notable celebrities like “The Hacks” star Jean Smart and American author Stephen King discussed their concerns about the Oscars and whether they should postpone or cancel it. King wrote, “Not voting in the Oscars this year. IMHO they should cancel them. No glitz with Los Angeles on fire.”
Elise explains how the air quality is now back to normal and it is not like that anymore in Southern Los Angeles. “It doesn’t smell like smoke outside anymore, The fires are a lot smaller than what they were before, people are moving back into their homes. It’s obviously better.”
Rain over the weekend of January 24-25 helped put most of the fires out. As of January 31st, the current fires in California were under control or completely subdued.
However, reports are now coming in about fires beginning in North Carolina.
