As wildfires ravaged the Pacific Palisades, Gigi Glass, MCAS ’27, watched in disbelief from her deck as smoke billowed over her neighborhood. By the time the flames subsided, her family’s home was reduced to ashes, she said.
“When they started, I was at my house,” Glass said. “We could see the smoke from our roof deck. My house is in the Pacific Palisades, and my entire neighborhood was affected by the fire.”
Flames have engulfed more than 38,000 acres of land in Los Angeles, Calif., forcing over 100,000 Californians to evacuate as neighborhoods are destroyed. While the Eaton fire is now 80 percent contained, only around 50 percent of the fires started in the Palisades have been extinguished, according to state officials.
Glass said she and her parents evacuated minutes before the Los Angeles Fire Department issued the first evacuation order.
“We didn’t get to take as much stuff as other people because we decided to leave earlier, and we didn’t know if it was going to be that serious,” Glass said.
Days later, Glass said her family received confirmation that their house, along with much of their neighborhood, had been reduced to ash.
“[My parents] always said if our house were to ever burn down, that means our entire town would burn down,” Glass said. “That’s exactly what happened this time.”
Smoke and ash residue continue to rise from the Eaton and Palisades fires, and the deterioration of air quality has prompted health warnings in surrounding districts.
“There’s really high wind back home and smog,” said Katie Shepard, MCAS ’28. “You would open the car door and ash would fly out at your face.”
Shepard lives in Orange County, Calif., about an hour and a half away from the heart of the fires.
Although the region is associated with celebrities and Hollywood stars, Shepard emphasized that many ordinary residents also lost their homes and are now grappling with major disruptions to their lives.
“People assume that the fires are only affecting people in Beverly Hills and celebrities because they’re in the Palisades, which is an area where I know some celebrities also lost their homes,” Shepard said. “But I think people didn’t realize that normal people were also losing their homes, and it’s going to affect them a lot more than people say it will.”
Irisia Masino, MCAS ’26, said the fires were intensified by the fierce, unpredictable winds that are common around Los Angeles.
“The winds were 90 to 100 miles per hour for those two to three days,” Masino said. “They’re called the Santa Ana winds, and they affect the LA area the most.”
Masino, who is from Ventura County, lives approximately 20 miles from the fires. She said she got stuck at a friend’s house the night the fires started.
“The night the [fire] started, I was actually at my friend’s house, and the power turned off,” Masino said. “And we live in a mountain community, so I couldn’t drive home or anything because so many trees were falling. It was kind of apocalyptic.”
In the wake of the wildfires, trees, houses, and even entire neighborhoods were left in ruins. On a recent drive through Malibu, Masino said she saw the full scope of the devastation firsthand.
“It [was] so horrific,” Masino said. “There were palm trees still standing, but they were just burnt—they were fried. It was pretty eerie.”
Despite ongoing efforts to contain the fires, the death toll continues to climb, according to the LA Medical Examiner. This has left many, like Shepard, reflecting on the significant loss of homes, lives, and the broader impact on the state.
“You just feel so terrible for everyone that you know who’s losing their homes and lives up there—it’s devastating,” Shepard said. “As a state as a whole, it definitely has had an impact, a huge impact.”
Still, Shepard said the tragedy has sparked solidarity, with individuals and organizations across the country stepping up to help.
“People are being very compassionate,” Shepard said. “There are a lot of relief efforts happening.”
Students affected by the wildfires in greater Los Angeles and in need of connection to campus resources or direct support can contact the Office of the Dean of Students at deanofstudents@bc.edu or 617-552-3470.
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