On Jan.7, Sacred Heart University’s Inception Dance Crew boarded a flight from JFK to LAX for their highly anticipated LA Industry trip. Little did they know that just about 24 hours later, the group would be back in the airport searching for a flight home.
What was meant to be a fun week of dancing, workshops, and tacky tourism, quickly turned into chaos as fires broke out across Southern California.
“I just think it’s such a surreal thing—we were looking right at it, it was right in front of us—and we didn’t even realize it,” said junior Morgan Holmes. “We took pictures and in the background there were huge smoke clouds. Looking back at it, we realized, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s smoke, not just a cloud in the sky.’”
Thanks to the efforts of SHU’s Assistant Director of Dance Taylor Krebuszewski, who had accompanied the dancers on their trip, the students were able to board a flight home after a sleepless night full of alarms, power outages, and howling winds.
“I didn’t have time to be afraid because I knew I needed to remain calm and gather as much information from authorities and the staff around us,” said Krebuszewski. “Even two weeks later, there are moments I think back to the trip to LA and feel in shock to have been witness to the clouds of smoke, high winds, sirens, and smell of fire that took over miles and miles of LA.”

Source: AP News, Chris Pizzello

Source: Contributed by Morgan Holmes, ’26
While the SHU students were luckily able to evacuate and return home safely, this is not the case for many out in Southern California where homes, schools, and families have been left devastated.
According to AP News, between the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire, at least 28 people have been killed and over 14,000 structures have been destroyed since the fires broke out on Jan. 7.
While significant progress has been made to control the fires, these numbers are expected to rise as new fires continue to erupt across Southern California.
“7 a.m. on Wednesday morning [Jan. 8] while we were waiting for cabs to the airport, I’ll never forget the sun rising, highlighting the stark divide in the sky where the smoke was billowing from the Palisades with the clear blue skies in the East,” said Krebuszewski. “Looking back, I still can’t believe how quickly the fires spread and the devastation it has caused.”
As of Jan. 27, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported that fires were still burning in the Pacific Palisades, Eaton and Hughes, though all are over 90% contained.
Organizations including the American Red Cross and Save the Children are working to provide families necessary aid in this time of crisis.
To learn more about how you can get involved, visit redcross.org or savethechildren.org.
You can also call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) or text the word CAWILDFIRES to 90999 to make a donation.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.