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Carmel HS grad evacuates college as California fire spreads

LOS ANGELES (WISH) – The fires raging in California hit close to home for one Hoosier family.

News 8’s Jenny Dreasler spoke to a Carmel native and Carmel High School graduate making her way home from California as the fire nears her university.

CarynGrace Horn, a freshman at Pepperdine University in Malibu, one of the cities hit hardest by the Woolsey fire, talked to News 8 as she waited for a flight back to Indianapolis Sunday evening.

She said she’s ready to come home, and the fires are more devastating than Hoosiers can imagine.

“It’s so weird, I can’t even explain it,” Horn said. “Pepperdine is completely shut down, and all the roads leading up to the school are also closed. My friends and I actually left Friday night before it got really really bad.” 

Like many students, the Carmel native was forced to evacuate her campus housing and with little warning, she only had time to grab a few of her belongings.

As flames creep closer to Pepperdine, the school announced it would be closed until after Thanksgiving. Students will be able to work remotely until the school reopens Nov. 26. 

“I have like what I’m wearing, a few change of clothes in my backpack, my blanket and my sweatshirt,” said Horn. “A lot of the areas around Malibu and stuff like that, it’s really, really smoky. Where my friend lives, you can like open the door and you could smell the smoke in the morning.” 

As the Woolsey fires continue to wreak havoc on much of southern California, Horn said she’s just ready to come home to family in Indiana, but her thoughts will remain in California as she’s still worried about her friends who could be in the path of flames. 

“I was in shock for a really long time,” said Horn. “I definitely cried a lot because I was worried about some of my friends that were still on campus.” 

Horn told News 8 it’s been a rough week at the university: A Pepperdine student was one of 12 people shot and killed in a mass shooting Wednesday in nearby Thousand Oaks.