These past weeks, there has been several devastating fires in our area. There is the Palisades fire, which is the biggest one, the Eaton Fire, the one closest to us, and several other little fires popping up everywhere. The Eaton Fire was about six miles from us and it was raining ash. It was so smoky that we couldn’t even go outside and had to wear face masks inside.The city of Los Angeles is bringing in fire fighters from cities and states all around us, and even some from Canada. This is very bad timing for a fire to start in Los Angeles because Mayor Karen Bass just cut funds from the fire department and some fire hydrants aren’t working because there isn’t enough water pressure in them. I have never experienced something quite like this just being 12 years old, almost 13. I can’t imagine all the homes that have been burned and how people are going to recover from the things that they lost. The fires have burned tens of thousands of acres, mostly in the mountains, and many animals have lost all their homes also.

Many California Native plants have also burned. There are many opportunities for us to volunteer to help fire victims. My family and I are very fortunate to have not lost our home and we have given many clothes and necessities to the people that need them the most. We have also volunteered at local nurseries, including the Hahamungna Nursery to help bring back the habitats of the animals in the mountains and all of the natives that have lived there for years.

Though all the fires have caused so much destruction, there are some benefits to this catastrophe. Most native plants are extremely flammable and have been great fuel for the fires, but some are fire resistant. The Oak and the Toyon trees can withstand fire. Though the fire burns all their leaves and bark, they are still alive and green on the inside. They can recover from most of their burns and grow back. The Matilija Poppy plant is a very flammable plant, but it has seeds that only germinate in fire. The more fire that burns them, the more strong and plentiful they will grow back. These poppies are very persistent and hardy. Also, because many people’s houses have burned down, they just have a blank plot of land with nothing on it. This is a great chance for them to rebuild their houses with fire resistant materials. They can put on a special kind of paint called intumescent paint, which is fire resistant. They can also install sprinklers on their house to spray down any fires in the future. But most importantly, they can redesign their yards. They can plant many plants that are fire resistant or not flammable. They can also put decomposed granite instead of grass, and plant their plant 10 feet away from the house. These non-flammable items are the things that make the difference of whether your house is going to survive a fire. Though these fires have been a huge affliction, there are some positive outcomes from it.