Over winter break, junior Meghan Lee was enjoying her vacation in Los Angeles with her cousin: she was eating good food, celebrating the new year, and exploring the city. Just days after returning home, Lee’s mom received shocking news: her cousin had been forced to evacuate her home due to the uncontrollable Palisades fire.

“I was so scared, because my cousin is down there, and she’s really close to the Palisades,” Lee said. “Thankfully, her house was not destroyed in the fire, but she did have to evacuate for a few days.”

The Palisades fire started on Jan. 7 in the Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles County and quickly spread to the Pacific Palisades, Topanga, and Malibu. The fire was not only deadly by nature but also fast-spreading due to the harsh Santa Ana winds blowing from 80 to 100 miles per hour. The fires razed over 200 acres of land just hours after it had begun. 

“I don’t think the media shows just how fast the fire is actually spreading, because people get evacuation orders on one day and they don’t even get to make it home before the fire is at their doorstep,” Burlingame alumnus and UCLA freshman Chinmay Rao said.

The fire was fully contained on Jan. 31, after burning 23,448 acres, destroying 6,837 structures, and claiming 12 lives. As of Jan. 24, the Palisades fire ranked as California’s third-most destructive and tenth-deadliest wildfire. While its cause remains under investigation, Los Angeles County issued mandatory evacuation orders on Jan. 10 for residents in affected areas. Nearby communities were told to prepare for evacuation, and UCLA opted for a temporary shift to virtual classes until Jan. 17. 

Rao said that students could see the fire approaching campus from their dorm windows.

“We could see it expanding really rapidly,” Rao said. “It was a strange feeling for everyone because we didn’t know what to expect.”

Though Burlingame is hundreds of miles away from the Palisades fire, the community quickly mobilized to assist. Starting from Tuesday, Jan. 7, San Mateo County deployed more than 150 personnel to the Los Angeles area.

“My mom is a firefighter, and so she knows a lot of people from San Francisco that are even [volunteering to] go down and help,” junior Natalia Spaelti said. “A lot of firefighters from San Francisco, from everywhere, like San Mateo and across California [are] going down to help do anything that they can.”

Deputy Fire Marshal Austin Seely of the San Mateo County Fire Department was among those dispatched to battle the Palisades fire. As an Unmanned Aircraft Systems Pilot, Seely specialized in mapping and monitoring fires from a helicopter to update a database with real-time information. 

“You know [a moment like this] happens once in your 30-year career,” Seely said. “But unfortunately, there’s been so many of them now, between the Palisades and the Paradise Fire and Santa Rosa fires.”

The fires’ destruction deeply affected Burlingame students and staff with ties to Southern California. Throughout January, many were frantically calling their relatives and frequently checking the news for updates. For Lee, who had just visited her family in Los Angeles days before the fire, the news hit close to home.

Lee’s family evacuated for a few days before safely returning, but even with the threat of the fire gone, Lee’s cousin was suffering from the poor air quality in the area. Her eczema made the situation even more difficult.

“My cousin’s eczema is probably worse than mine, and the smoke [was] wreaking havoc on her skin,” Lee said. “She’s been using a Dyson air purifier basically 24/7 to keep the air within her house clean [and] keeping her doors closed and her windows closed for the most part, just to prevent any of that contaminated air from getting in.”

For English teacher Robert Thurtle, who grew up in Los Angeles County, the fire was devastating and deeply personal. Thurtle’s childhood neighborhood and several locations he frequented were completely destroyed.

“I would take my son to this place called Skull Rock, and we used to go up to Skull Rock and hunt lizards and hang out up there,” Thurtle said. “I grew up hiking around that area.”

Thurtle also visited his family in Los Angeles, and while his family and most of his friends moved out of the now-destroyed neighborhood, he felt rattled and overwhelmed by the devastation.

“I was thinking ‘Oh my god, a whole portion of my life is gone,’” Thurtle said. “It’s been erased, [so now] it’s more a place of memory.”