JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
One year ago, the Palisades Fire disrupted tens of thousands of lives in Los Angeles. Among them was a group of elementary schoolers in Carlsbad, two hours south of LA. In interviews and reporting for NPR's Student Podcast Challenge, the fourth and fifth graders of Magnolia Elementary's podcasting club set out to document the impact on their community, including the hope, kindness and compassion that rose from the ashes of tragedy.
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UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: We start today's story with a firefighter who is on the frontline, Shane Lawlor, a local dad here in Carlsbad.
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UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: Engine 33, are you trying to get ahold of engine 39?
SHANE LAWLOR: So when I first heard about the fires, I was actually not working on one of our fire engines. We went up there just to look around the area and see. And I thought, you know, there's not much I can do. But then, when everything came through, we ended up getting punched into what's called a task force, and it was all on. It was all hands on deck. So I really wasn't sure what to think, and there wasn't really a time to think about it too much. Once everything kicked off, it was just know your job and go to work.
The hardest part for me was the days after, just going back into those neighborhoods after the fact, after everything had blown through, when it was all done, during daylight and just seeing how much devastation was everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: Our community and a lot of others around southern California gained new members because people had no choice but to leave their homes in the path of the fire. That included a little girl named Goldie (ph), who came to Carlsbad. One night, her world changed forever.
GOLDIE: I felt a little scared. And I saw the smoke from the sky when I was at school.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: Right.
GOLDIE: We had to skip lunch. They just sounded the fire alarms, and we had to evacuate. Dad packed all the stuff, and we went straight to his office. I felt a little sad because my friend, Adelia (ph) - she had to move somewhere else because of the fires.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: There were a few schools that burned down, and then our school did not have running water and had pretty severe smoke damage. And so LA and all the volunteers had camps that they created for the children who didn't have schools to go to. And so Goldie was able - and her brother - were able to go to Mar Vista camp. And Goldie, do you want to tell them what you got at the end of Mar Vista camp every day?
GOLDIE: Toys like this egg thing. And you open it up, then there's, like, a stuffy inside.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: They had all these big bags of donations that people in Los Angeles had given to the kids who were affected by fires. So we got things like sheets for our beds because those got damaged at home, and Goldie got replacement stuffies (ph) and replacement toys and sheets and clothes and all the things that we needed when we couldn't get into our neighborhood.
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UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: And from everyone we talk to, we learn this. Fires can take things away, but they can't take away kindness. They can't burn up hope, and they can't stop people from rising from the ashes together.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: And to everyone listening, when the world feels heavy, look for the helpers, or better yet, be one.
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SUMMERS: Those were fourth and fifth graders from Magnolia Elementary's podcasting club in Carlsbad, California, reporting and reflecting on the Palisades Fire. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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