It must’ve been at least a month since we first heard of the horrible fires in California, but it was unbelievable to actually see the destruction up close, smell the charred remains, and to feel the soot under my feet.

It was the late morning of my first trip to California. My mom was so anxious to show me where she grew up, so that area had to be our first stop. Mt. Baldy looked incredible driving up Euclid Ave. in Upland, California. One of the first things I noticed was how the terrain was scorched right down into the neighborhood that lay in the foothills. The siding on many homes had been blackened from smoke and other homes further up had been completely destroyed.

From there, we proceeded to start driving up Mt. Baldy. The ground looked completely toasted, the trees were bare and black. Everything seemed so desolate and it was actually hard to look at. When you’re staring right at that kind of ruin, you can’t help but think about who or what could’ve been hurt, or even died. The fires had even melted away the paint from the road signs. At the top of the mountain where Baldy Village is located, it looked as if nothing had ever happened, but the air smelled just like a campfire. The winds blew ash in different directions up and down the mountain and in the distance; the air was so thick that a dark haze blocked any potential views.

Going back down the mountain meant stopping for pictures. There was a house where nothing was left except twisted metal wreckage, or so I thought. While taking pictures, I ran into a lady and her husband who told me about how these fires had in fact been started by the same people who started the ones in San Diego. Then they told me about the person who owned the property and showed me something that managed to turn my stomach. In the chain linked part of the yard was a live Ostrich. All of the other exotic animals on the property had been killed except this one animal. It was impossible not to feel sorry for it. Its body was covered in burns, its feathers were scorched, and its eyes had been fused shut. I could only see it for so long before having to leave.

Now I’m not usually one to get upset by something like that so easily, but seeing what I did made me angry. If other people at our school could see it too, I imagine it could have the same effect. The fact that someone could possess enough evil in them to commit an act like this is disgusting. We hear about how people lose their homes, how lives were lost, and how thousands of acres were destroyed. But reality doesn’t truly set in until it’s right there in front of you. That whole mountain had to have been engulfed in flames for that kind of devastation to become a result. The ash was to deep that you could sink into it when walking. It was like warm, gray snow. To smell those smells or to feel the rough metal remains of what used to be someone’s Toyota is enough to make you speechless.

It’ll be amazing if whoever started the fires is caught, and hopefully there’s a chance that they will be. There needs to be some kind of justification for what thousands of people have lost, if there is any way possible for that to happen.