Lincoln Riley sends message to Los Angeles community recovering from wildfires

The city of Los Angeles has been rocked by devasting wildfires throughout the month of January, which have now prompted recovery efforts in that community. Those efforts are on the minds of everyone, including USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley.

Riley held a new press conference to introduce some new staff members where he opened by sharing some of his thoughts on the wildfires. In it, he sent a message to the Los Angeles community regarding the fires.

“A lot of things here to cover,” Lincoln Riley said. “It’s going to be a much longer opening statement than you guys are used to from me. First, definitely want to recognize our community. Obviously, all the damage from the fires in previous weeks has been something that’s been heavy on the heart of our entire program.”

The Los Angeles wildfires began on January 7th, 2025 when major fires broke out in Pacific Palisades and Altadena. In total, there would be seven separate wildfires, exacerbated by Santa Ana winds and dry conditions. By the time the fires were extinguished on January 31st the devastation was hard to quantify. Roughly 57,636 acres with dozens dying and dozens more still missing. More than 200,000 people had to be evacuated at one point or another.

“We were very fortunate that we had a very limited number of people within our program that were affected when you talk about former players, current players, and staff. So very, very fortunate that ​way, but it’s also something that’s become very important to our team from an outreach standpoint to make sure we’re supporting our community, the first responders. I’ve been very proud of our team’s response, how involved and engaged our staff has been, our guys have been with that effort and those are certainly going to continue,” Riley said.

“And again, our thoughts and prayers go out to all the people affected and our entire community. It’s something we feel. We know USC is a huge part of Los Angeles, the amount of support that we get, how close this city is — it’s very near and dear to us. So, just want everybody to know we’re here and going to continue to support those efforts — the first responders, the families affected as much as we possibly can.”

Now, recovery efforts are beginning in Los Angeles. It will be a long and difficult effort that, as Lincoln Riley pointed out, is going to need to see engagement with the community.