On Jan. 7, two major fires — the Palisades and the Eaton fires — broke out in Los Angeles County, killing at least 28 people, destroying more than 12,000 structures, and forcing over 150,000 Californians to evacuate. Among those affected were Princeton students from the greater Los Angeles area, many of whom lost homes, faced evacuation orders, and grappled with the devastation to their neighborhoods while preparing to return to campus for the spring semester.
Lauren Zaidel ’26 lives in the Palisades and was traveling back to Los Angeles with her family when the fire broke out.
“By the time we landed, we tried to get back into our neighborhood and it was completely closed off by police. There were National Guard tanks everywhere,” Zaidel told The Daily Princetonian in an interview.
Zaidel attended Palisades High School before Princeton. During the fire, the school partially burned down, with a few buildings left standing in the aftermath. “A lot of the classroom buildings burned down,” Zaidel described.
Hailey Hubbard ’26 and Tess Hubbard ’28 are also from the Pacific Palisades. According to Hailey Hubbard, they had been evacuated several times while she was in high school, though they were usually “back in their house a couple hours later.”
The sisters soon realized that the evacuation would be different this time around.
“[I] saw a house catch on fire that was on the hillside,” Hailey Hubbard told the ‘Prince’ in an interview. “When I saw that, I realized that this was not the same as everything else that had happened before.”
By the end of Jan. 7, their mom’s house in the Palisades had burned down.
“We knew a bunch of people who were essentially watching their houses burn down on their security cameras,” Hailey Hubbard said.
The home of Hailey Hubbard ’26 and Tess Hubbard ’28 on the morning of January 8th
Courtesy of Hailey Hubbard ’26
Teddy Rountree-Shtulman ’28 is from Pasadena, California, and was forced to evacuate on Jan. 7 with his family and three cats for two nights due to the Eaton fire.
“It was mainly scary because, due to the winds, there [were] no firefighters that could use their planes to put out the large amounts of the fire,” Rountree-Shtulman told the ‘Prince.’ “They couldn’t fly in helicopters or planes around to drop water.”
He added that “there’s a wildfire season in California. They happen every year. No one expected the wind at all, and so the wind changed everything.”
While the fire stopped a mile north of his home, which remained safe, many members of his community did not have the same experience.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the people that we know live in Altadena and their houses burned down,” he said.
Princeton students living in the greater Los Angeles area received an initial email on Jan. 12, 2025 from Senior Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Mellisa Thompson.
The email stated, “If you find that your residential college advising team can be of help in any way, please do not hesitate to let us know.”
Students also received a more personalized email from their residential college’s assistant dean for students the following day.
“I just replied saying I was safe and that I was fine,” Rountree-Shtulman said. “They did reach out pretty quickly.”
For Hailey Hubbard, her junior independent work deadline was on Jan. 13, but she had submitted a 30-page draft in December. When the fire destroyed her home and everything she needed to complete the assignment, the history department agreed to treat it as a final assignment.
“They were very gracious and understanding and basically said don’t give it another thought,” Hailey Hubbard recalled.
Many people in the Palisades community were not allowed back until two weeks after the fires started, with some residents waiting longer to be allowed back into their communities due to hazardous conditions.
“We were evacuated for about two weeks before we had any news of the house or anything like that,” Zaidel told the ‘Prince.’
“I know a lot of my friends whose house burned down ... They’re trying to go back to sift through their stuff and see if there’s anything that they can recover, but the National Guard and the firefighters won’t let them back,” Zaidel continued.
The Hubbards were allowed back into their community on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 15 days after they received the evacuation order.
“It was entirely unrecognizable,” Hailey Hubbard said. “Driving down my street, it was disorienting, you had no idea where you were. You had no idea what anything was.”
“I think the hardest part is grieving the loss of the community ... the people that I come home and hang out with over Thanksgiving break and summer break,” she added.
The aftermath of the Pacific Palisades community
Courtesy of Hailey Hubbard ’26
Zaidel echoed many of the same feelings.
“It’s super smoky and ashy everywhere,” she said. “Looking across the street, there’s devastation everywhere, and half the neighborhood is gone.”
The hazardous conditions have kept some residents away from their homes nearly three weeks since the wildfires began.
“Even the people whose houses did survive that were in the area, they can’t even return home because it’s almost impossible to live in an environment like that,” Rountree-Shtulman said.
With the spring semester set to begin on Monday, Jan. 27, Hailey and Tess Hubbard have never been more excited to return to the Garden State.
“It’s kind of nice to be able to have another place that even though it isn’t like ‘home,’ it’s kind of like a second home that we get to go to,” Tess Hubbard told the ‘Prince.’
“I’ve never been more excited to get back to my quad,” Hailey Hubbard agreed.
Hayk Yengibaryan is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Glendale, Calif.
Senior News writer Hannah Gabelnick contributed reporting.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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