Updated: January 19, 2025, at 9:05 p.m.
Junior Shuli Wong’s phone erupted with texts and calls from high school friends urging her to evacuate her Altadena, California, home as she was eating dinner with her family on Jan. 7.
“I was like ‘What are they talking about?’” Wong said. “And we went upstairs to my bedroom window, because that has the best view of the mountains and outside, and we saw the flames.”
The Eaton fire — one of two fires that ignited that day in Los Angeles amid severe drought conditions and high winds — had started to close in on her neighborhood in the San Gabriel Valley. Another fire swept the hills of the Pacific Palisades, a coastal community, earlier.
The Palisades and Eaton fires spread rapidly, expanding to cover 27,000 acres two days after they started and have caused an estimated $135 billion to $150 billion in damages, making them possibly the most costly wildfires in U.S. history, AccuWeather reported.
The exact cause of the fires remain under investigation as of Wednesday. The Eaton and Palisades fires are one of the most destructive and deadly in California’s history, destroying an estimated 12,000 structures and killing at least 25 people.
After seeing the fire encroach into their neighborhood at about 7:30 p.m., Wong’s family decided to collect belongings like passports and photo albums and stay with a friend in Eagle Rock, about six miles south of Altadena, hours before city officials issued an evacuation order. Wong only grabbed a few clothes, she said.
Wong said her dad was watching the fire’s developments from their home security cameras after they reached safety, when at around 1:30 a.m. the next morning, the cameras went offline.
Wong said her family, who moved to Altadena more than six years ago, believes their home burned down between 3 and 4 a.m. when their neighbors told them the fires had reached their homes.
“My entire neighborhood is gone,” Wong said. “There’s a couple of random houses that stayed standing, but it’s just so devastating. I obviously feel a strong connection to Altadena, but not as much as like these people who their entire lives were there and everything.”
Wong said that the next morning, she returned to her home with her family to get “closure.” Nothing but their chimney was still standing, she said. Some small fires remained within the rubble. A metal ‘W’ — a gift from her mom to her dad that once hung by the family’s pool — was the only object that endured the flames.
“Me and my mom grabbed that and we put it in the car, but that was the only thing we took, and I think probably the only thing that survived,” she said.
Wong said it’s been “difficult” trying to process the fires but that being with her family has made it easier to grieve. She said a family friend started a GoFundMe for her family, and her high school friends sent her a sheet circulating in the Altadena community of fundraisers for people affected by the Eaton fires.
Wong said the family will likely use the funds raised from the GoFundMe, which has surpassed its $50,000 goal, toward finding a place to live in Los Angeles since her brother is still in high school, but they have considered leaving the city before the fires.
“I don’t know what the future holds after that, but for at least the next year and a half, two years, we’re planning on staying in LA,” she said.
Smaller fires ignited in other parts of Los Angeles County, including the Sunset fire in Hollywood Hills and the Hurst fire in Sylmar, a suburb in Northwest of the city. The Sunset fire was 100% contained within a few days, while the Hurst fire is 98% contained as of Wednesday.

Ella Gray, a first-year from Brentwood, said she was sitting in her bedroom when her friend from home called, asking her to look out her bedroom window. She saw plumes of smoke from the Palisades fire, a few miles west of her home, Gray said.
“It was just insane and just growing and I had to tell my parents, and they were like, ‘Oh my God, do we evacuate?’ Just this whole thing escalated so quickly,” she said.
Gray said her family made the decision to evacuate before a city-issued warning after seeing the fire’s initial low containment, but debated whether to leave at first since they have been in the situation before. Gray said the fire didn’t reach her house, but a few of her friends’ homes did burn down.
“I feel really bad for the people who kind of just had to throw their pets and a few clothes in a bag and just get out of there before their houses burned down,” Gray said.
Sophia Wegmann-Gatarz, a first-year from Mid-Wilshire — a neighborhood in central Los Angeles — said the fires burned down sentimental places for her and her friends, like local hiking trails.
The flames also came within six feet of one of her favorite museums, The Getty Villa, but it survived.
She said she never evacuated but was prepared to. One of her former high school teachers and multiple of her friends lost their homes, she said. Wegmann-Gatarz said she volunteered at her local YMCA before returning to campus, which “maxed out” from the amount of donations.
“LA has already learned that the community has become so strong,” she said. “Immediately after the fires, our YMCA maxed out its donations. It was really heartfelt to see that community came together after such a disastrous event.”
Teddy Schneiderman, a sophomore from Tarzana, a Northwest Los Angeles suburb, said he is worried about being back in D.C. because his mother lives alone in Los Angeles.
“It’s terrifying,” Schneiderman said. “I called my mom and I said, ‘If you need me, I’m coming home immediately,’ and I’ve stuck by that. I’ve been in contact with her every day.”
Schneiderman said he appreciates the support from his GW and Los Angeles friends, checking in to see if he’s safe.

First-year Norah Allshouse from Santa Monica said residents were “well-prepared” for the fires since wildfires are common in California because of its warm and dry climate, but was “disappointed” in local and federal officials for not providing enough resources to contain the fires quicker.
Allshouse said it’s “heartbreaking” to see people on social media downgrade the severity of the fires because they believe fires only impact the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods.
“Altadena is historically a minority, specifically African American, community. All of those people are displaced and have nowhere to go,” she said.
Dash Filus, a first-year from the San Fernando Valley, said he’s thankful for the support Los Angeles received from other firefighters, who have come from eight different states, Mexico and Canada.
“I saw a fire truck from Utah, I saw a plane land carrying Mexican firefighters, Canadians, firefighters from all over the West Coast coming in,” he said. “That’s a really incredible program, because I’ve learned throughout this, LA does not have nearly enough firefighters to deal with a fire of this scale — nowhere does — so I’m glad this agreement is in place.”
Numerous GoFundMes have started for families and local businesses impacted by the fires. Organizations like the LA Fire Department, Pasadena Humane Society and many others are also accepting donations.
University officials are also urging community members to donate to the GW Cares Student Assistance Fund, which provides emergency funding of no more than $1,000 to students experiencing “an unforeseen emergency.” Awards for the student assistance fund are either processed as direct deposits into a student’s bank account, or a physical check issued by the University depending on a student’s preference.
Jackson Walter, a first-year from Pacific Palisades, said his community has mostly been burned down, including his church and old schools, but his house remained standing. Walter said the fires show some infrastructural issues within the fire department and forest management in the city, but also a sense of “hope” in a polarized nation.
“For people at GW that want to support, maybe skip your morning coffee for two days and just donate that to a GoFundMe,” Walter said. “Because I’m sure you’re two to three degrees of separation away from somebody who lost kind of their livelihood, so everything helps.”
University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said officials are committed to remaining in contact with and providing support to students, families and alumni with ties to the Los Angeles area.
“During these difficult times, our hearts go out to everyone facing unimaginable devastation, experiencing tremendous loss, and preparing for a long road to recovery,” McClendon said in an email.
McClendon said the University extends their hopes for the safety of students, faculty, families, alumni, Los Angeles campus communities and other impacted areas.
This post was updated to include the following:
This post was updated to include comment from University spokesperson Shannon McClendon.