Grace Yarrow ’19, a former West High student, moved to California this summer, describes her life living near the fires.

¨The worst part that affected us was just trying to get caught back up when we went back to school, and offer support for those people who lost everything in the fire,¨ Yarrow said.

As of press-time, the wildfires have destroyed or damaged more than 14,000 homes. Fires like the Atlas fire have destroyed over 40,000 acres of land and that number is growing due to some of these fires are less than 10% contained. In an attempt to contain these fires, Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency on Oct. 10 and has deployed three medevac helicopters and over 100 military police officers have been dispatched. The state of emergency has also allowed more support for families who need it.

¨Everyone has done a really impressive job of coming together to find supplies for evacuees and offer as much space as they can for people who were displaced,” Yarrow said. “I think everyone I’ve talked to has felt really grateful to be able to have such a strong support system during this disaster.¨

The fires have caused over 20,000 people to evacuate. Those who were evacuated often come home to damaged or destroyed homes. Even those whose homes are undamaged can’t move back in due to the toxic ash and people, like Grace, who haven’t evacuated can´t leave their house.

¨Lots of people didn’t really leave the house during the fires, while the air was still dangerous and the ash was still falling,¨ Yarrow said.

The ash that is falling contains toxic heavy metals that come from computers and other electronics that burned in the fire. This means that if the wind blows or if it rains before clean up starts, the ash can go into streams or rivers and contaminate local water supplies. If this were to happen cleanup would not only take longer but there would also be serious damage to the environment. Of course, this would require lots of money and manpower, so organizations like the Red Cross are helping in cleanup and recovery by setting up shelters to speed up the process.

¨The state government’s declaration of emergency has allowed us to recover and the community’s efforts are what have really mattered,¨ Yarrow said.