The orange-yellow and red colors blend together in the sky as the blistering flames creep further along the West Coast and continue to destroy everything in its path.

The wildfires began in a blaze after what was supposed to be a festive gender reveal party went south, and a pyrotechnic machine exploded. 

With California’s recent fierce wind, drought and dry air, the environment mimicked the effects that gasoline would have on the fire. It spread 15 miles in just one day, the worst spreading fire in 18 years, according to BBC news. 

Students are worried about their families, some of which are near towns that have been completely evacuated or even burned to the ground like Santa Clara, San Joaquin, Vacaville and many more. 

This wave of destruction put an immense amount of pressure and stress on families on the West Coast that have been left homeless and in an extremely dangerous environment.

Emmie Thaw ’23 has family friends that live in California. 

“They [my family friends] told me that once it was 9 a.m., and it was already pitch black because there was so much smoke,” Thaw said. 

Health officials informed the public that whenever they go outside, they always should always wear a mask because of the smoke in the air. 

Families need to deal with the hazardous air quality, which is stressful on its own, but even more so, the destruction of their property. Even though Staples families don’t have to deal with the effects of this mass destruction firsthand, they are still constantly worried about their loved ones’ health and safety. 

Thaw’s family got lucky: they never had to evacuate, and their house stayed perfectly intact, but it was still nerve-wracking knowing that they were so close to such a dangerous and untamed fire. 

Other Staples students have loved ones on the West Coast who weren’t as lucky as Thaw’s family. Coco Laska ’23 has close family friends living in Oregon who lost their house due to the fire. Nothing in their home was spared or recognizable in the aftermath. 

Although the entire family is safe, being abruptly forced to start a new life from scratch can obviously be difficult financially and emotionally. 

“Many of their friends and family have been chipping in in-order to help them financially with insurance and more,” Laska said. 

Laska and her family have had a hard time seeing their close friends in such distress. And they’re not the only ones. Many people in Westport who have family members or loved ones affected by the wildfires feel very emotionally impacted. 

“It was stressful knowing that people we were super close with were experiencing such a dangerous and scary event,” Thaw said.