Wildfire

On April 26th, a wildfire broke out in Sierra Madre, California. Sierra Madre is located about 15 miles northeast of Los Angeles, and borders the east side of Pasadena. Since my house is on the east side of Pasadena, I was very worried about this situation. I was constantly checking the news updates online, and by Sunday the fire has already burned about 400 acres and was only about 5% contained. One of the websites had what looked like a MapQuest map that showed the burning area in red. It used to only take me about 7 minutes to drive to my high school, and the fire was much closer to my house than that.

I don’t get homesick, so when I’m at school I don’t really think about my house very much. But this situation made me realize how important it is to me to know that my house is there and that I can go home at anytime. I think that this is a pretty common way of thinking. We don’t realize what is truly important to us until we are about to or do lose it.

This situation also made me really think about what material possessions I actually value. When I talked to my mom on Sunday, she asked me what I would want her to get out of my room if the worst happened. At first I had absolutely no idea. When I thought about all my stuff and realized that I actually had to decide what I would want to be saved, I was at a total loss. But the more I thought about it, it was actually not as difficult as I had first thought. The things I found myself choosing were not clothes or shoes or my TV, instead I wanted pictures, my yearbooks, and other things with similar sentimental value. I think that those are the things that are truly important. The things that can’t be replaced. Fortunately, by now the fire is mostly contained and my house is safe.

Sierra Madre Wildfire
Over 1,000 Flee Wildfire Near Los Angeles