How would you feel if your city was burning down into flames? Or even if you were near it in some ways? Well let’s hear some thoughts from the Liberty Patriots.
Sophomores, Sophia Samaniego, Elijah McConnell, and a student who chooses to stay anonymous state
¨I feel unsafe because Nevada is a really dry state.¨
¨I would say that it seems a little scary but as long as the fire is contained, I wouldn’t have any real fear of living next to the fires.¨
¨I am worried because i’m concerned that the smoke from the fires will come to Vegas which would affect us.¨
The recent Palisades wild fire that began on January 7th, 2025 and is still active as of now, has taken 23,448 acres in Los Angeles county and the fire has been ongoing in the Santa Monica mountains for Southern California. The day the fire had been reported it covered 10 acres of land, just the next day, January 8th, 2,921 acres had been covered. Later that night at 11:10pm the fire had been reported to be taking on 17,234 acres. The fire had been spreading such a phenomenal amount in the few days that kept passing that by the 12th of January, at 6:33am, the fire was covering 23,707 acres.
The fire as of January 27th at 5:45pm, has a containment of 95%. 12 people since and because of the fire have been reported dead and 3 have been injured. A firefighter had even taken an injury. Captain Greg Baker, from the Northern California side, fell onto rocks from about 8 feet.
A student here at Liberty, Kassie Kirkham gives an insight on her personal effect on the wildfire. “Two of my parents’ friends that are really close to my family, their house burnt down and almost couldn’t save their dogs. They were out on vacation and they had to fly back and rush in as one of the fires had been coming over one of the hills they lived on which had started to burn some of their acreage and the dogs were breathing in a lot of smoke.” Alongside the interview she said everyone was okay though and the dogs were taken to a veterinary center. Many animals had been a part of this disaster that even the Pasadena Humane Society had taken in over 610 animals for the Palisades fire.
Another student who speaks heavily on the fire for his side talks about the way it has made him feel and how it also has personally affected him within friends and family. Gabriel James Mitchell tells “I feel kind of fearful for the people that I do know live over there cause they did lose their homes and they grew up in there, they were calling me saying we don’t know what to do anymore. So it is kind of upsetting to know what’s happening over there and it feels unreal because they’re losing the place that they were living in, and it’s just kind of hard for me to accept that’s happening to them.”
Natalia Riat who is a student here at Liberty and also a former Califorian, talks about her fear as well and the way it’s really making her feel.. “I feel a lot of fear mostly with the fact that it was caused by human beings and its caused a lot of chaos and destruction around Los Angeles, and it really hurts me because I used to live in California, I don’t really remember being there but knowing the state I grew up in is being burned down by all these fires, it doesn’t make me feel safe.”
