Wildfires have spread rapidly across the Los Angeles area destroying everything in its path as it consumes homes and lives in California. According to CBS News, two wildfires ignited Jan 7, and since then, 28 people have died and more than 12,000 structures have been destroyed. 

This devastation may seem far from Abilene, but it is still changing the lives of others in the ACU community.

Alumna Emma Perkins (‘22) is currently in her third year of law school at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, and her Malibu rental home was destroyed in the Palisades fire.

“A few hours after the Palisades Fire started on Tuesday, Jan 7, my roommates and I had to evacuate our home,” Perkins said. “We evacuated early afternoon and sheltered at Jim and Joline Gash’s house. Jim Gash is the Pepperdine president. We found out early the next morning that our house was completely gone.”

After intense winds triggered the many fires to spiral out of control, CBS News reported over 200,000 residents responded to evacuation orders prompting them to escape the quickly approaching flames leaving behind many belongings lost to the destruction. 

Alumnus Colton Powell (‘19) Malibu, CA home before the wildfires destruction. (Photo shared by Alum Colton Powell (‘19))

“There are whole parts of Los Angeles that are unrecognizable from how they once looked—with all the buildings in the area completely gone,” Perkins said. “Wildfires are a part of life in California, but rarely do they affect so many people’s homes and properties. It really is a uniquely tragic situation.”

After the fires began, the impacted areas were barricaded off after evacuation was complete to keep the residents of the area safe. Now that the fire has passed on from certain sections of the city, some residents are being allowed into the areas destroyed by the fires to see what came of their belongings and homes. 

Alumnus Colton Powell (‘19), a law student at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, lost his home in Malibu to the fires and is now living with a friend in a different part of Los Angeles. 

“I’ve noticed a lot of the rhetoric around the LA fires has been about the wealth of some of the impacted areas—and there’s certainly truth to that—but that doesn’t tell the whole story,” Powell said. “Fire is in-discriminatory. People of all different walks of life lost everything they own and entire communities were totally wiped out.”

Not only were people’s physical homes destroyed, but the neighborhoods that held many core memories for many people in these areas were wiped out in such a short amount of time. 

“While I lost a lot, those who I truly feel for are the ones whose entire lives are in this area,” Powell said. “I am praying that God is able to provide peace to the people impacted by this and that ultimately He can work in each of their hearts through this as I know that He can.”