The fires in California are causing record damages across the nation, and some owls can feel it too.
“We knew that most of Malibu was going to burn down,” Temple University senior Max Mirkin said. “We were obviously hopeful that it wouldn’t be their house or their property, but I was sort of waiting to hear the news that you would eventually find out.”
And find out they did. The wildfires flaming through southern California took with it the home of Max Mirkin’s loved ones.
“I still don’t know if it’s truly hit them…I’m not sure if they’ve really taken it all in yet,” Max said when speaking about his family members.
Mirkin’s aunt and uncle picked up everything as fire and winds ravaged through their city. Now, after nearly 24 years of calling Malibu home, a home is nowhere to be found.
Max says, “I truthfully don’t think they’re going to move back into that place or onto that same property.”
Back on campus, another California student waits to hear from his family, who was forced to evacuate from his hometown of Calabasas.
“I’ve been trying to talk to them every single day since last Thursday,” Temple sophomore Dylan Majerus told me. “It’s been pretty hard just cause they’re so worked up and haven’t really been able to think straight, so I haven’t really gotten the most elaborate responses.”
Watching the fiery damage spread is something Dylan never saw coming.
“I just never would’ve thought an area where I live and am so close to, the community… how threatened everyone is right now. It’s very saddening,” Dylan said.
Both Max and Dylan are anxious to get back home.
“Me not being there has made it a lot worse, and I just sorta wanna be back home in a sense,” Dylan shared.
For Max, he feels similarly.
“To think of all the people displaced, it’s really an odd situation, and especially being all 3000 miles away in Philadelphia,” he said.
Max will have a chance to see the damages first hand when he travels home for the upcoming fall break.
Dylan is here to stay a bit longer and will reunite with his family in December.
Be the first to comment