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HONOLULU — Growing up in Southern California, Victor Lowe was well accustomed to the occasional fire alert, or the cancellation of school or a game due to poor air quality from smoke in the area.
But there was no way to be prepared for the widespread wildfire destruction near his home in Santa Monica since Tuesday — especially not for it to happen with him thousands of miles away during his first year of college.
The Hawaii men’s volleyball freshman setter tried to grapple with reality by frequently checking news and social media reports all day Wednesday, then again after that night’s match against Harvard at the Stan Sheriff Center. Multiple blazes in the northwest area of Los Angeles were largely out of control entering Thursday morning. Thousands of structures were reported destroyed with at least five people dead.
“Right now thank God, my family’s safe,” Lowe told Spectrum News in a tunnel of the arena after the Rainbow Warriors swept the Crimson. “My family, my uncle’s family and my grandparents are all evacuated and staying at a hotel together. A bunch of my friends’ and family friends’ houses are burned down to the floor, which is very sad, but somehow by some miracle my house is still standing. Fires are less than a mile away, very close. But thankfully there are fire trucks and first responders there keeping the fires away from our house. But it has been very devastating; my whole hometown is burned to the floor, basically.”
Lowe was not sure about the fate of his uncle’s house that was deep in an evacuation zone. Santa Monica is near the evacuation zone of the Palisades Fire, which is the largest in the history of greater Los Angeles.
“It’s really hard to comprehend not being over there to see it and seeing it on social media and stuff like that, and hearing from my family the updates,” he said. “I’m just not certain on anything.”
He said he also wasn’t sure before the game how he’d be mentally during the Rainbow Warriors’ game; the 6-foot-6 Lowe, out of Harvard-Westlake High School, is three matches into his college career and has yet to make his official debut, settling in as part of the UH bench mob.
During the game, though, Lowe appeared engaged in the action on the floor from his spot near UH’s tunnel.
“I was kind of struggling with it a little before the game and throughout the day,” he said. “But once I got on the court I tried to just focus on the game and bounce off the energy. Guys were supporting me through it too. I tried not to let it affect the game or anything like that.”
UH coach Charlie Wade said Lowe had expressed the seriousness of the situation to the rest of the team.
“It’s real, for sure,” Wade said.
Fellow freshman Kainoa Wade, who had an effective debut on Wednesday, said afterward, “We’re praying for him and his family. Hope they’re all safe.”
UH has three other players from Southern California on the team, though they are from areas farther from the fires: redshirt sophomore hitter Kai Taylor (Costa Mesa); freshman defensive specialist Matthew Wheels (Huntington Beach); and junior setter Vladimir Kubr (Torrance).
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.
