ASU students impacted by California wildfires
TEMPE, Ariz. - Impacts of the California fires are being felt by many, and that includes students of Arizona State University.
"Just the smell and seeing how frantic everybody was, just crazy," ASU student and California native Shay Mauriello, said. "Everybody was so on edge."
For some, Spring 2025 semester started on a different note
Things looked a lot different for a few of those students as the spring semester started on Jan. 13, as they fear what they'll return home to in the summer.
Mauriello recalled how tense it was watching the fires consume his Los Angeles community, waiting with his parents for orders to evacuate.
"They were freaked out. I live in kind of like a bushy, like, rural area," Mauriello said. "My best friend whose childhood house I grew up going to fully burned down."
Big picture view:
According to university officials, 6,000 Californians attend ASU in person, in either Arizona or California. Per the university's website, they have a campus in downtown Los Angeles. That is in addition to the nearly 14,000 Californians who attend the school via online courses.
Of the Californian students at ASU, some of them were evacuated, some were unaffected, while others completely lost their homes.
Students' Perspectives:
A photo taken by Mauriello as he flew back to Arizona shows how many schools, homes and entire communities are gone.

While Mauriello's family home still stands, some of his fellow California ASU students weren't so lucky.
That includes Lance Doven, who left California on Jan. 5 for his spring semester abroad, not knowing it would be his last time in his childhood home.
"Lance lost everything, like the car that we used to ride around in together and his whole house. Knowing that he's lived there in this community for his whole life, is just devastating," said Doven's friend, Luke Magnotto, of ASU's Sigma Nu fraternity.
Doven's parents got out with only the clothes on their backs, and Doven received the heartbreaking news while he was on the other side of the world.
"His family, you know, had to tell him overseas," said Jake Crosby, another one of Doven's friends and president of ASU's Sigma Nu fraternity. "It’s just really sad for him."
We were not able to speak with Doven directly because of the time difference between Phoenix and where Doven is currently located, but his story highlights some of the many stories of those that lost everything.
ASU Professor Dr. Gene Schneller was in Los Angeles when the fires broke out. Schneller flew back to the Valley with other students who lost everything, and talked about what happened after they landed.
"Many of them had to go out and buy everything. From a new laptop, which they might have left in their house, to clothing, you know, right down to the very most basic things," he said.
ASU community rallies around affected students
The ASU community is rallying around students like Doven. His fraternity brothers are posting a GoFundMe all over social media.
"We're trying to show him all the love we can give, given he's not able to be around us," Crosby said.
Other students are starting campus wide donation drives.
"It’s super easy to just drop it in a box, so, I thought might as well help out," said Gracie Mobley, Director of Student Government and Civic Engagement for the National Panhellenic Conference.
Donation boxes at ASU were delivered to California on Friday, Jan. 17.
What's next:
Some students who are impacted are grateful for a sense of normalcy being at ASU, but are still having a hard time being away from home.