What an evacuation really feels like

On Dec. 7, at 5:37 p.m., the City of Oceanside released its first of many consecutive evacuation maps due to the Lilac fire. It wasn’t until four posts later, that I realized my area along College Boulevard was under mandatory evacuation. Earlier that evening, I had seen a post on snapchat of someone hoping that our speech and debate Winter Classic tournament would not be cancelled or else they’d, “kill themselves.” This brought to my attention how insensitive and unworried many were, simply because the fire hadn’t impacted them yet. I have seen multiple complaints of not wanting to share homes with families who had to evacuate, which had seemed to desensitize the entire issue at hand. It is easy to say that nothing will happen when you have not faced the effects first-hand. This is meant to raise awareness that it is absolutely necessary to have sensitivity and to wish the people facing the fires safety instead of painting this natural disaster as a minor disturbance.

After seeing the notification on my phone, I gathered the essentials. Clothes, electronics and food were tucked messily into my suitcase and thrown into the car. Pacing back and forth between my room and my mother’s room, I caught glimpses of my grandmother between the wall and her cracked door frame. She was sitting eyes pressed shut while holding the rosary repeating the hail Mary in Spanish in what seemed like a never-ending cycle of worry.

Hearing her pray to god in a plea to keep our house safe, made everything seem surreal as I was brought to the realization that this isn’t just something that you hear about on the news from the comfort of your own home.