The California wildfires started on January 7 near the Pacific Palisades near Malibu, California and spread to Los Angeles. The fires were caused by severe drought, low humidity, and strong winds. According to analysis, valued at $27.9 billion, around 11,000 homes were lost.
California Government asking for $40 billion to help recover.
“That is just crazy,” freshman Emma Riley said. “That just shows how much damage the wildfires caused.”
Over 80,000 people were displaced from their homes.
“Needing that much money means that the people who got hurt need help too,” Emma said.
As reported by action news, the victims are receiving support from thousands of people by donations. Mountains of bags of clothes stacked at L.A. Climate Week’s host.
“It is amazing how much stuff people are donating,” freshman Kiara Walker said. “It shows how much they want to help the people that were affected.”
Based on Next City, donation hubs ended up with more used clothing than they could pass on to survivors.
“That is kind of sad that a good thing could be bad,” freshman Sophia Ballou said. “People just wanted to help, but it just created more problems.”
Citing the New York Times, wildfire victims are in need of cash more than used clothes.
“I do feel like the victims would need cash and other essentials more than clothes,” Kiara said. “Clothes are important but you need other things to survive too.”
Sophia questions if that ever happens when she donates items.
“I sometimes donate stuff to the STUCO room for the things that they do,” Sophia said. “I wonder if they ever get too many donations.”
The donations for STUCO are not out of control.
“I have been to the STUCO room a couple times and the boxes are not crowded,” freshman Camry Hogue said. “There is still a decent amount though.”
Coming from the New York Times, people helping with the donations believe they come from a good place and heart.
“Overall I think people really just donated because they wanted to help,” Sophia said. “They did not mean for it to be a problem.”
