Wildfires ravaged areas of Southern California Oct. 21-28, burning over 3,000 structures, most of them homes, according to newswire.com. Gov. Schwarzenegger declared California in a state of emergency Oct. 21. The 15 wildfires claimed seven lives and left over 100 injured. The people of San Diego County and surrounding areas were forced to evacuate their homes, leaving their property to the fury of the blaze.

Californian sophomore Michelle Maasz’s emotions ran the gamut as she experienced the crisis.

Maasz’s family moved from Jackson Township, Oh., to Rancho Peñasquitos, Calif., 20 miles from downtown San Diego, in 2006.

Maasz said she first noticed the intensity of the fires at the beginning of the week.

“My family was driving home from church on [Oct. 21] and there was so much smoke you couldn’t see a mile ahead of you,” she said. “We went up on this mountain to get a better view and it was raining ash.”

Maasz’s father, Steve Maasz, said although the smoke was evident, it didn’t mean the fires were near.

“There were some police officers there, also trying to get a look at the source of the fire,” Maasz said, in an e-mail interview. “We learned then that the fires were still some 20 miles away, so we were not greatly concerned the first night.”

However, Michelle Maasz experienced the fear of evacuating the next day.

“My mom woke me up early Mon.dayaround 5:45 or so. I didn’t really listen to her at first until she said, ‘Girls get up. We’re under mandatory evacuation.’ I was really stressed out,” she said.

In that time of panic, she explained how she automatically decided to save meaningful items over materialistic.

“I started rushing around my room gathering everything of sentimental value, old CD’s people made me, pictures and scrapbooks. After I had a suitcase full of that, I remembered about my clothes,” she said. “It took me awhile to get ready.”

For Steve Maasz the resonating feeling that kept him positive through the evacuation was the confidence that their property would be unharmed.

“I knew we were quite fortunate to be together and to have many of our most sentimental possessions with us safe and sound. Moreover, I still had plenty of hope that the fires would not reach our house,” he said.

The Maasz family stayed in a hotel. However, many people found shelter at Qualcomm Stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers. Other areas like schools were closed for relief for the evacuees.

Although Maasz didn’t stay at the stadium, she heard stories that even though the reason for being there was tragic, the general mood was light.

“My friend Chris compared it to a carnival because he saw so many people he knew,” she said.

Yet Maasz was anxious about her home and friends.

“Throughout the day I was tense, but got either a text or phone [call] from all my friends checking on me,” she said. “It made me feel better, but at the same time made me more worried.”

To find out the predicament of her home, Maasz contacted her neighbors, who waited in their home until they received a call from the 9-1-1 dispatch that they had to evacuate.

The closest blaze was four miles from the Maasz household.

However, as Maasz returned to school the following week, she learned that other students in her district were not as fortunate.

“I was told that 300 students in our district lost their homes and [I] just found out my principal lost her home and certain teachers did as well,” she said.

Steve put the destruction in perspective.

“San Diego County has over 3 million residents. About 1,300 homes were lost. This is tragic, but it still represents only about one-tenth of one percent of all homes here,” he said.

Other suburbs like Murrieta, Calif., weren’t hit as badly.

Chris Dizdar, a 17-year-old senior at Vispa Murrieta High School, said that his school was shut down from Oct. 24 into the beginning of the next week for evacuees.

“Red Cross was at school and people were living out of it for a few days,” he said.

Unlike Maasz, Dizdar has lived in California for many years. However, this year’s fires were still frightening.

“I was afraid because [the news] said 15 wildfires were all within 15 miles of my house and all of them were within about 20-30 miles around the city,” he said.

As the panic subsided now that the fires are under control, the surrounding cities are back to normal.

“It should be remembered that even while we evacuated, the San Diego Airport continued to run on schedule,” Steve Maasz said. “All went on as usual throughout most of the City of San Diego. It was almost exclusively in the outlying areas that the fires took their toll. This is still a great place to live.”