It was Christmas break, and for many students from Le Moyne College, news and images of the Los Angeles wildfires flashed across television screens.

Suddenly, all the snow didn’t seem like such a big problem.

“It literally looked like the apocalypse outside,” said Le Moyne Class of 2024 graduate, Lily Buchholz. Buchholz has been a part of the St. Joseph Worker Program volunteering in Montrose, a community within Los Angeles since August.

On Jan. 7 at 5 a.m., Buchholz awoke to knocking on her bedroom door. One of her fellow volunteers had come to tell her that they needed to evacuate. She packed essential items like her passport and food then departed her house within 15 minutes. Buchholz and the other volunteers evacuated to a house of some sisters of St. Joseph, located in Newport Beach for a week before returning to their house.

About 15 miles east of Montrose, Sierra Madre resident, Gwen Robertson — a friend of Le Moyne Professor Daniel Roche — had to evacuate her home as well. Robertson reported high winds the day of her evacuation which are very dangerous. “Any time it forecasts to be windy here you have to be careful about the wildfires,” Robertson said.

According to Robertson, the hills surrounding her community are “designed to burn” because they are covered in highly flammable plants that germinate after burning. The back side of the hill near Robertson had wildfires in both 2010 and 2020; however, the front side has not burned since the 1990s. This buildup of fuel allowed for a massive fire.

Robertson had been monitoring the fire through the app Watch Duty. She saw a post that the wildfire was covering five miles.  Soon it became 200 and she had to evacuate.

With two hours to evacuate, Robertson packed what she calls the “Ps” which include pets, pills, papers, phones, pants, and photos.

It is common, Robertson says, for people to discuss what they chose to bring with them for evacuation. “That’s something people talk about. It’s a very strange experience.”

Robertson considers her community to be lucky with regards to the damage from the fire. In a community of about 11,000, 17 homes were lost. Roche, the Le Moyne professor who recently visited Roberston, estimates that 16,000 houses and buildings were burned in Los Angeles.

“At the very essence of this tragedy,” Robertson says, “is its scale.  We lost 17 homes in Sierra Madre which would have been unthinkable in any other fire but now we’re like oh, we only lost 17 homes.”

At night, Robertson can see the mountain near her house, illuminated by the lights of houses. Next to the lights? A black spot marking where the fires were.

Rebuilding efforts will take a long time, according to Robertson. She expressed gratitude for the many relief efforts that came in the days following the fires from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (commonly referred to as Cal Fire), and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Buchholz mirrors Robertson’s sentiments saying, “It’s so awesome to see people care so deeply… It’s really inspiring.”

A friend of Robertson lost his home to the fire and was waiting for the Army Corps of Engineers to remove debris from his property. When the corps arrived, they asked him if there was anything he wanted them to look for and he said he wanted his telescope that he built when he was 13. After sifting through the ashes, they found the melted lens of the telescope which “became something that was saved out of nothing,” Robertson said.

While reconstruction has been slow, nature seems to be reviving itself. Robertson said: “There’s currently green and there’s been a bunch of rain… we have had 8 inches and we’ve had our first green on the mountain.”

While residents of Los Angeles are attempting to rebuild, more challenges lie ahead. Robertson explains that there has been flooding and mudslides which have posed threats to the homes and buildings that were spared.

The long-term effects of these natural disasters are far reaching. Robertson notes that there will be significant loss of generational wealth, changes to property taxes, and changes in insurance.

Roche mirrors this saying, “This will be a generational trauma. It will determine much of the community for a long time.”

Despite the immeasurable destruction, Robertson still has hope. She said, “If nature can regenerate then humans can regenerate too.”