Wednesday morning began with the Bel Air hillside aflame. The Skirball Fire broke out Dec. 6, forcing Archer to close due to closures on the 405 Freeway and poor air quality. Winter Wonderland, which was planned for that day, was postponed.

Winter Wonderland is an annual tradition where students wear different festive sweaters, while decorating gingerbread houses and eating latkes. However, since Archer was closed, Dean of Students Jenn Babin alerted students in an email that the celebration would be postponed until after winter break. 

“Due to the extenuating circumstances, we will be postponing Winter Wonderland until after winter break,” Babin wrote in an email.

According to Babin, student council will announce more details about Winter Wonderland soon. 

Archer remained closed on Thursday, Dec. 7 and Friday, Dec. 8 as families were displaced and bus routes were disrupted.

Around 46,000 people evacuated early Wednesday morning and returned home Thursday night. The mandatory evacuation zone extended from Sunset Blvd. to the south, Roscomare Road to the west and Mulholland to the north. 

Many Archer families in the surrounding area were forced to leave their homes, including Sophie Goldberg ’18. She evacuated after receiving a notice on her phone.

“We had to grab the safe, my parents wedding album and our dog,” Goldberg said. “We were really scared but tried to remain calm.”

Senior class rep, Josie Garcia-Euyoque ’18 said that Winter Wonderland will still be exciting despite the natural disasters that have postponed it. 

“Winter wonderland might be coming late this year,” Garcia said. “But we’ll have all of everyone’s favorites — including the latkes.”