In the past week, millions of individuals across Southern California have been impacted by massive, widespread wildfires. Evacuation orders for the largest fire, the Palisades fire, have been issued as flames continue to spread, with only 11% containment. The fires have traveled over 40,000 acres, destroying entire neighborhoods in their wake. As many are faced with the horror of losing their home and belongings, we can’t help but notice the separation between classes that becomes evident by the natural disaster’s media coverage.

Any time someone loses their home to a natural disaster, it’s undoubtedly a tragedy. Day-to-day routines are completely uprooted and the cost of replacing your belongings is a massive financial burden. When you’re a member of the working class, you don’t get the luxury of having a “we can just replace belongings” mindset. However, it’s a completely different experience if you’re rich. When natural disasters happen, we feel that far too much media coverage is devoted to those with the means to recover losses, rather than those whose entire lives are uprooted.

With residences and businesses destroyed, countless individuals must come to terms with rebuilding their lives and homes, including many popular Hollywood stars and wealthy residents. These celebrities include Jamie Lee Curtis, Paris Hilton, Billy Crystal and more who have lost their homes to the spiraling flames. While we sympathize with these individuals, we have noticed an excessive amount of media coverage being dedicated to their losses and not the losses of working-class residents.

For example, USA Today recently published an article titled, “Milo Ventimiglia, Tina Knowles, and Paris Hilton, more celebrities lose homes in LA Fires.” While there is unfortunately an audience for celebrity news, we feel highlighting the anguish felt by well-off individuals is a disservice to those who can’t afford to just buy another mansion. While media outlets seem to sympathize with celebrities impacted by these fires, coverage discussing the general public affected is limited to statistics regarding property damage or death and injury tolls.

In addition to the amount of celebrity coverage, some sentiments circulating social media from public figures affected by the fires come off as slightly insensitive to those mourning the loss of their homes. Celebrities have posted reminders to those who were able to flee the fires that their well-being takes priority, and that inanimate objects and belongings are replaceable. However, due to the imbalance of financial stability that exists between those sharing sentiments and the general public, this sort of verbiage can feel frustrating.

The effect of losing your home and all of your belongings for the majority of individuals is a catastrophic life event. The typical working-class LA citizen likely does not have the funds to find new housing, as well as purchase replacements for items lost to the fires. This mindset completely contrasts with those who have the financial resources to not stress about their belongings’ destruction. To make matters worse, roughly 1,600 fire insurance policies in Pacific Palisades were dropped by State Farm in July 2024, in addition to more than 2,000 policies being dropped in two other LA zip codes. 

In general, we view being able to remain calm and collected in the face of such adversity a privilege. We find it disheartening that rather than validating and supporting those expressing their mourning, people are being pushed to focus on the silver linings of this disaster by public figures who might not fully grasp the severity of the issue to others. Ultimately, we see the coverage of well-off celebrity losses as extra salt in the wound to working-class residents affected by the fires, which only adds to the United States’ class divide.