Guernsey student escapes Los Angeles wildfires

A student from Guernsey who escaped the wildfires in Los Angeles has said the situation was unlike anything she had ever seen before.

Amelie Le Prevost, a first year student at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), fled her university accomodation and travelled about 300 miles (482km) north of the danger zone when the fires started to spread.

At least 24 people have died in the fires and 23 others are missing in the Eaton and Palisades fire zones.

Ms Le Prevost said she felt "overwhelmed with support" from friends and family and was "very grateful to be safe".

The student said she returned to UCLA for her second semester days before the fires started after spending Christmas at home in Guernsey.

"The situation has been scary," she said. "It's unlike anything I've ever experienced before.

"To be so close to an area of great danger is something, coming from Guernsey, that I'm not quite used to."

Ms Le Prevost said while the university was not in the evacuation zone, students were warned to have a bag packed ready to leave.

"UCLA is a couple of miles from where the fires are now," she said.

"From the building I live in I could see the fires, I could smell it.

"There are students who have lost their houses to the fires. We have had professors who went to work that day and their house burned down while they were teaching.

"Everything they brought to work that day is all they have left."

Ms Le Prevost, who is currently staying in Gilroy, California, said it was unlikely she would return to the campus before the end of the week.

Firefighters are battling to contain the fires but Santa Ana winds are expected to strengthen again.

"It's definitely been a bit of a whirlwind second term for me but it's been nice that everybody's been such a great community," Ms Le Prevost added.

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