My name is Tom Leivas. I’m a freshman and a member of Pali’s football team. On the day that the fires started, I was shocked, but when I heard that the school and the football facilities had been damaged,...
I woke up to my phone vibrating from hundreds of notifications. Every single one had the same message: The Palisades is on fire. A week earlier, a smaller fire in the Palisades was swiftly contained. I...
On Jan. 7th, 2025 at 10:45 a.m., I was catching up on my favorite show and making plans with friends, when a loud knock on the door startled me. I was home alone and hesitant to open the door at first,...
I started to worry when I saw flames outside of my window in the Highlands. I was not as worried as I probably should have been though. The Palisades has had a lot of fires. We had one just the week before,...
When the fire erupted on Jan. 7, I was in Malibu working out at a gym by Point Dume. My mom and I watched the first set of fire trucks roll out, then a second and a third. The power cut out in Malibu because...
There’s nothing more eye-opening than watching your world go up in flames.
It wasn’t just the houses, it wasn’t just the community, it was my childhood, my memories.
All the places my family...
At 10:30 am on Tuesday, I was sitting on the couch ordering a new Taylor Swift vinyl when my mom (very nonchalantly) came downstairs and told me to pack a bag. Obviously I was like, “Why?” And she...
At the start of the Palisades Fire, I was 2,000 miles across the country, visiting family in Cleveland over break. We were only there for two days when my friends broke the news to me that there was a...
I was reading my book when my mom told me that there was a fire going on in the Palisades, and she was going to take a look from our rooftop balcony. I looked up at her and said, “OK.” This was nothing...
My bearded dragon died.
My home is fully burnt.
I was on Fox News for this.
My elementary school and grocery store and restaurants and streets.
The sky was orange like it was sunset at...
The past month has been one of the craziest of my life so far. In the blink of an eye, my entire childhood was decimated. It all started on that fateful day, Jan. 7, 2025, which will forever be remembered...
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About People of Pali
Tideline, Pali’s newspaper, has created a section called “People of Pali” to give students a platform to share their stories regarding the Palisades Fire. Any student was able to send in a submission, which were then edited by Tideline staff.
We encourage everyone to read these narratives to learn about the fires from the perspective of Pali’s students.
