The Southern California fires that have been raging through the greater part of Los Angeles have been one of the biggest events of 2025, despite the year barely having started.
The Palisades, Eaton, and Sunset fires sparked in early January, with the first fire having been reported on January 9. Since then, nearly 50,000 acres in Southern California have gone in flames.
With that comes the thousands of people losing their homes, prized possessions, and beloved memories. Firefighters have been in full force, battling the fires around the clock to attempt to tame the flames.
The California wildfires have been widely publicised, unsurprisingly as the locations of the fires are hotspots for both tourists and celebrities– where people are already too invested in the lives of celebrities and people have long flocked to California for the glitter and glamor of Hollywood.
However, America, and the rest of the world, seem to forget about their empathy in the face of tragedy.
No matter the extent of social and economic status, the people involved in the Los Angeles fires face a nightmare many of us cannot fathom–having to rebuild their lives from the ground up.
While there are the modern, multi-million dollar mansions found in Los Angeles, there are also familial homes that have been passed down through generations that have been consumed by the fires.
Iconic landmarks such as The Bunny Museum, the Robert Bridges House, and the Will Rogers Ranch Home have burned down and the damage that comes as a result from the fires continues to be extensive.
Most significantly, people have lost their whole lives. Many people have posted their losses, showing their family homes and belongings completely turned to ash.
Despite these hard losses, people have taken to the Internet on platforms such as X and news outlets to twist the California fires into a pawn.
From political articles attacking the Los Angeles mayor, presidents, ex-presidents to people venturing to even say California deserves the fires because of the political values of the state, the attention shifts from the importance of supporting those affected to petty arguments and political wars online.
The stray from empathy in these situations is not new.
Ironically, you would think that disaster would bring society together. In the case of the California fires, there are still moments of good.
It’s in the posts that urge people to pray for and support California, the hundreds of people coming together to prepare emergency kits and donations to those evacuated and who have lost their belongings, and the companies that have created it a priority to offer free products, including women’s sanitary items, clothes, and food.
Fire knows no bounds, and affects all people, whether it’s people living in tents or multi-million dollar mansions.
There is still a call to remember to be empathetic. We are all still people, and in order to battle the tragedies that come to us, we must stand together and uplift and support one another.