By Brigid Murphy

October 15, 2019 at 6:52 pm PDT

For the past five days, the Saddlerige fire has spread over 7,500 acres, torching the hills that line the San Fernando Valley’s northern edge and affecting USC students whose families live in that area.

The fire started on Thursday, Oct. 10, and has since forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes. Fire officials have stated that the fire is more than 40% contained, but dozens of structures, including homes, have already been damaged.

Gabi Geozian, a junior Italian language major, is from Porter Ranch, Calif. While her house remained unharmed during the fire, her hometown was heavily damaged by the blaze. Geozian said she was glad that she was away from Porter Ranch during the fire, but she described the feeling of concern she had for her family, friends and possessions back home.

“It’s definitely disconcerting when you get a call in the middle of the night about evacuating,” Geozian said. “I was definitely concerned all of Friday about what was going on, if everyone was safe and if our house was burning down.”

Although the fire has yet to be fully contained, Geozian felt safe enough to return home to see her family and neighborhood.

“I went back home the other day and I saw a few of the houses in my development burned down, but everything seemed pretty fine in that area,” Geozian said. “It was mainly the Aliso Canyon area. That's really where the main fire was.”

Though she was saddened to see the damage the fire had inflicted on her neighborhood, there was a silver lining. Geozian described how her community banded together to spread well wishes to those who were most affected.

“When I saw one of the houses, there were actually some posters posted on it,” Geozian said. “Not just caution posters, but I think they were from people in the community. It’s nice to see that they're trying to support each other.”

Marcus Leher is an industrial and systems engineering major at USC. Originally from Brentwood, he was on campus while the fire was affecting his hometown. His family, who were still in Brentwood, had to take action to ensure his little sister didn’t have to deal with the effects of the fire.

“I have a five-year-old sister, so we didn’t want her inhaling any of the fumes,” Leher said. “My parents and her just kind of left for the day and went a little south. Once they got back, they didn’t really go outside for a few days just because of the fumes.”

Leher said that on Oct. 11, he and a friend drove to Sylmar, Calif. to see the damage the fire had caused. Sylmar was where the Saddleridge fire began on the night of Oct. 10.

“We were driving north on the highway,” Leher said. “There [was] a lot of traffic and we could see the fire on the mountains to the right. We were [also] right next to a reservoir, so planes kept coming and taking water and then going up to the mountain and dropping it on the fire.”

Gwendolyn Strasburg, a sophomore from USC, is from Thousand Oaks. While neither she nor her family was largely affected by this particular fire, she’s familiar with the toll that a natural disaster can take on a college student. Though her friends who live out-of-state have endured things like hurricanes and snowstorms, Strasburg says she feels that none of her friends can relate to her fear that the fires may eventually pose a threat to her family’s home.

“I think that part of the nature of being in college is being friends with people who are all from different places,” Strasburg said. “At this point, I seem to be the only one in my friend group who's actually affected by the fire and I haven't really felt comfortable talking about that stress. It's something that I think about a lot, even if I'm just sitting in class or going about my daily life.”

Strasburg explained that as summer leads into fall and fire season drags on, communities like hers worry about their safety.

“It’s definitely a more somber period of time because regardless of how much fun you’re having, there’s always an undertone of worry about potential fires,” Strasburg said. “There’s always that potential for one to break out. So it does present itself in a kind of constant anxiety.”

For any students, faculty and staff that need assistance during the wildfires, please contact Campus Support & Intervention at (213) 740-0411, according to USC President Carol Folt.

See the published article here.