“They sent me a photo of the house and it was completely gone.”
That was how Palo Alto High School Class of 2022 alumnus Max Barthelemy learned that his house in Pasadena had been completely destroyed.
Barthelemy’s story is similar to an estimated 16,000 other Los Angeles residents who also lost their homes in the various fires. Multiple fires across Los Angeles County have burned over 40,000 acres, according to Forbes. Most notably, the Palisades fire, which ignited on Jan. 7, burned over 23,000 acres of land. At its peak, the fire placed 200,000 residents under evacuation warning, according to CalFire. The Eaton fire, which started on the same day, burned over 14,000 acres of Altadena and Pasadena. On Jan. 22, the Hughes fire ignited north of Santa Clarita, quickly growing to more than 5,000 acres in less than two hours, according to CalFire.
Environmental effect
While the blaze has been the main concern for firefighters and homeowners alike, experts worry about the issues residents will face once the fires subside, believing they will be just as harmful. One prominent issue is poor air quality in a city already famous for its pollution.
“The latest news story is the ash, which is just blowing around everywhere,” Paly science teacher Nicole Loomis said. “That’s going to be particulate matter, which is a real problem [for] anyone with asthma or COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].”
The Environmental Protection Agency also found high levels of lead and chlorine in the air, 0.45 micrograms per cubic meter, which is three times the limit set by the EPA.
“If lead is getting into people’s bloodstreams, then that’s not good either,” Loomis said. “That’s a neurotoxin, especially for children.”
Though rain would improve air quality, it could also cause other complications for residents.
“That [rain] could cause its own issues, because generally speaking, after you have a burn and then it rains, you have mudslides,” Loomis said. “Anything that wasn’t taken out already by the fire is at risk of being taken out by the mudslides.”
The danger of this year’s fire season was also compounded by severe drought conditions and the Santa Ana winds, according to Loomis.
“Normally, the winds would blow from the ocean toward the desert, but now they’ve flipped,” Loomis said. “So you’re getting this really dry, warm air coming at high speeds. It’s been a real challenge for the firefighters because any spark could land on something that could be ignited.”
According to Loomis, increasing temperatures due to climate change not only potentially pose a risk for more wildfires in the future, but could also jeopardize the homes of people all across the country, not just Southern California.
“There are projections that some of the cities in the southern United States will basically become unlivable in a number of decades due to climate change,” Loomis said. “Phoenix has been cited as one, where there’s barely any water and temperatures are already high. It’s possible that LA could have those conditions as well. We don’t exactly know, but climate models do predict that things will get hotter and drier.”
Losing history
The Los Angeles Conservancy, a historic preservation nonprofit in LA County, estimates that over 50 historic buildings were lost in the fires, a devastating loss for a city known for its history and architecture.
“They go from legacy businesses that have been there for decades, like Altadena Hardware … then very modern contemporary, groundbreaking architecture like the 708 house, which is in the Palisades,” said Andrew Salimian, director of advocacy at the conservancy. “It’s a real range of places that are beloved to communities and then high style architecture.”
The city’s famous architecture has drawn tourists for years. Therefore, some anticipate that the city’s tourism rates will fall.
“I wonder how that’s going to impact even wanting to come, for fear,” Paly history teacher Mary Sano said. “I think just even the desire to come [to the city] might be somewhat squelched.”
Paly English teacher Lucy Filppu, who grew up in Southern California, mentioned other famous landmarks that were nearly destroyed by the fires.
“The flames got down to Will Rogers Beach in Santa Monica,” Filppu said. “I thought it was going to take the Getty, which is one of the most amazing museums.”
Hostile housing
According to CalMatters, the fires have damaged or destroyed an estimated 12,000 buildings. This sudden lack of housing has worsened LA county’s already serious homelessness problem. As stated by the LA County Homelessness Initiative, the homeless population was over 70,000 in 2024.
The influx of people without homes has started to impact the already tight housing market in LA. Barthelemy’s house in Pasadena burned down in the fires. While this temporarily left him without a place to live, he ended up in an apartment.
“I found a place for a very reasonable price but it took a long time to find it because there were some variants in prices,” he said. “There are definitely really high prices, and there were not that many options to choose from for housing.”
Barthelemy’s experience is not a unique one. According to radio program Marketplace, thousands of displaced people are now struggling to find housing.
This influx of potential buyers has already raised the price of housing, as well as the cost of rent.
As a result, local and national government agencies have offered support to those in need. California governor Gavin Newsom signed a relief package on Jan. 23 aimed at helping the LA area recover from the fires, according to the Associated Press. Some of the $2.5 billion will go towards sheltering displaced people.
According to its website, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been paying for debris removal and fire suppression efforts. It also has offered financial assistance to help people pay housing costs and replace personal property. FEMA’s support applies mostly to people without insurance.
But even with insurance, some homeowners are struggling to cover expenses and 12% of Americans don’t have housing insurance at all, according to CBS News.
“Insurance companies are already bailing on California and Florida due to the natural disaster risks,” Loomis said. “If you don’t have house insurance, you can’t carry a mortgage on your house. Then when it burns down, you’ve absolutely lost everything.”
Rebuilding the destroyed structures will most likely take years, Salimian explained.
“It’s going to be a long process,” he said. “I do know the hazardous materials are an issue right now. There’s lead, asbestos as part of the buildings that burnt down have just been scattered everywhere.”
The number of buildings lost has created a discrepancy between the construction needed and the amount of resources available.
“Rebuilding that many homes in a short time span takes time and there’s not necessarily enough contractors, enough architects to all be working on that at the same time,” Salimian said. “So it’s going to be a real crunch in terms of labor and skilled labor to rebuild. I can’t guess, but it’s going to be years before everything is rebuilt.”
Palo Alto residents react
The fires have urged some Palo Alto residents to prepare a plan in case a local natural disaster were to hit, though some experts say it’s only a matter of time.
“It’s definitely not an if, it’s a when,” Loomis said. “We live with that risk all the time. You [should] do everything you can to mitigate risk.”
It’s also recommended that Californians pack and regularly update their “go bag” with multiple days of food and water, as well as other emergency supplies.
“It [the fires] did cause us to look at our emergency kits, update things [and] make sure batteries were not expired,” Sano said.
Some have also turned to donations as a way to help those affected by the fires. Filppu’s walking club, Power Moves, has dedicated their laps to the cause and have raised over 4,000 dollars as of Feb. 3.
Barthelemy has also received new clothes and a new sketchbook as the result of a GoFundMe set up for him by a family friend.
“Fire isn’t somebody else’s problem,” Filppu said. “It’s all our problems. Don’t pity people in Southern California. Get active, get informed. Plan for your future, because it’s here.”
