The Palisades fire, the largest of multiple fires burning across Southern California, started in the LA area more than two weeks ago, and firefighters are still trying to subdue it. Entire neighborhoods have burned to the ground, tens of thousands of families have been left without homes, and lifetimes of memories are gone forever.
"It looks like a scene from an apocalyptic movie, something you would see in a dystopian nightmare, especially in those impacted areas," accounts Pastor Greg Munck of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, south of the fires. "Over 5,000 homes are gone."
Thousands of people outside the burn area have also lost their jobs with businesses that are no longer there.
"The school, the grocery store – everything that they go to, they're gone," Munck laments. "They're just gone."
In response, Crossline has become a staging area for aid sent by churches and businesses across the country. The church is providing food and water and finding beds for the recently dispossessed for the nights to come.
"We have some partnerships up in LA that are directly dealing with families on the ground," the pastor details. "One of those is the Dream Center up in LA, also the Red Cross."
While most organizations help meet physical needs, Munck says what the survivors need most is prayer "for the calming of hearts."
"People are so broken," he says.
