The Palisades and Eaton Fires in Southern California were 100% contained after 24 days of destruction in January. For Georgetown students whose homes stood in evacuation zones over 2,000 miles away, the Georgetown bubble left them worrying for friends and family, some of whom had lost their homes.
The Southern California wildfires caused at least 29 deaths and damaged more than 18,000 homes and buildings in January.
Students from L.A. and concerned faculty spoke to the Voice about how the Georgetown community can show their support during a stressful time for some Californians on campus. Despite 100% containment, those impacted by the wildfires continue to face uncertainty as they rebuild their lives.
Stratton Rebish (CAS ’28) lives in Brentwood, Calif., right on the edge of an evacuation zone that the Palisades Fire nearly reached. Like many other students, Rebish was flying back to campus in early January when the news of the fire broke, and refreshed the page every five minutes until he landed. Although he did not lose his home, it felt unreal to him that his family’s favorite pizza place had burnt down, where he had spent a lot of time during his childhood.
“There were points when I was attached to my phone with live coverage because one gust of wind could change everything,” Rebish said.
Throughout all the uncertainty and grief, Rebish found comfort in messages from loved ones, acquaintances, and even faculty. Rebish appreciated it when others asked him about his family, even if he did not know them very well.
“Dean [Sarah] Lim sent an email to all her advisees who are from California,” Rebish said. “It’s a silly email but it kind of meant a lot to me.”
Rebish said that even for students from California who have not lost homes, evacuated, or been otherwise directly affected, the fires created anxiety and these small gestures of support were helpful.
“The things I valued the most were when people checked in and asked how my family was doing,” Rebish said. “I feel like people were aware around campus even though it was far away.”
Aaron Magtoto (SFS ’27) lives in La Cañada Flintridge, Calif., where the Eaton Fire came within six miles of reach. Many of his classmates and teachers lost their homes in the neighboring Altadena.
Magtoto’s initial reaction to the news of fires spreading near his community was one of shock and fear.
“I think it was a lot of disbelief,” Magtoto said. “That’s part of living in L.A. and that’s part of living where we live. But it’s just very different when it’s confronted and impacting your life.”
Magtoto spoke about how some of the most respected and well-loved figures of his community, such as the teachers at his high school, have lost their homes in the Eaton Fire.
“Thinking about these teachers and where their finances might stand with it all, it makes me feel for them even more since they’ve impacted me so much and are often very underappreciated and undercompensated,” Magtoto said.
Magtoto suggested that greater flexibility in Georgetown’s academic policies would help students take care of their mental health while dealing with grief and uncertainty from the fires.
“I feel like Georgetown has kind of a reputation of being super rigid on policies, and there’s not a whole lot of flexibility in terms of classes and things happening around campus,” Magtoto said. “I feel like there could be a lot more policies that support more flexibility around student scheduling, emphasizing student mental health because it is a lot to deal with.”
Some Hilltop faculty have offered support for students’ wellbeing in light of fires. For example, Rev. Christopher Steck, a residential minister in New South, has continually reached out to students affected by the wildfires. On Jan. 23, Steck hosted a prayer service for the wildfire victims.
“The specific context was reading about them in the paper and then becoming aware that they were concrete individuals in my dorm, which is always disturbing,” Steck said. “There are specific people that I would pass in the hallway that are now grieving.”
Every Thursday night, Steck hosts a mass followed by prayer and snacks in his dorm. He dedicates these prayers to issues that he feels have occupied the minds of students, which have included students’ election anxieties, their plans for the future after Georgetown, and crises like the wildfires that are affecting many students on campus.
“Anything that moves it away from just this solitary suffering to something that is now supported by friends, other people, even anonymous people, is, I think, encouraging,” Steck said. “ That’s true for any kind of thing that students are going through.”
However, Steck also acknowledged that public events like prayers require careful planning to prevent violations of students’ privacy, and that they don’t always address students’ concerns comprehensively.
“There are all kinds of ways in which students might be hurting or suffering that I don’t necessarily know about,” Steck said. “But in the big public events, they’re not just known by the individual suffering, they’re known by the whole dorm.”
While Steck said that Georgetown currently provides essential resources for students’ mental health, the university should expand the breadth of resources and better communicate how to access them. Steck said that while sending students emails and flyers is helpful, they can easily forget where they saw the information.
“I wish we could have the money for CAPS [Counseling and Psychiatric Services] being three or four times bigger than it is,” Steck said. “But I think Georgetown does a good job. The fact that we have chaplains in every residential hall is a good thing. I think one of the things that we could get better at is to find ways to make sure students know what resources are there.”
For students like Magtoto and Rebish, studying over 2,000 miles away from family and friends affected by the wildfires can be emotionally draining. Magtoto finds connection with L.A. through messages from people in the area and other L.A.-based students at Georgetown.
“I was getting updates from people from [high school], from people in the area, even people here at Georgetown that are from the L.A. area were always asking about how each other’s families are doing, even just passing through the hallways,” Magtoto said. “I think I just really saw how tight we were.”
