A mother and her daughter were forced to evacuate their home due to the fires in Southern California. Now, they’re finding normalcy in the Bay Area. Tanya Paz and her daughter, Cementine Goldstein, had no idea early dismissal from school last Tuesday would be the last time they’d see Clementine’s school in a while. “Her school closed early,” Paz said. “We had emergency pickup due to the high winds.” Later that evening, the Eaton Fire had sparked to the north of them, and by Wednesday morning they learned the fire was rapidly expanding into the community of Altadena. Clementine recalled the sky looking different that day. “When I woke up, it was yellow instead of a regular color,” she said. california wildfires Jan 14 Eaton Fire becomes second-most destructive wildfire in California history california wildfires Jan 13 Wedding band found under rubble of home destroyed by the Eaton Fire They were forced to leave their home in Altadena. “We were just outside the formal evacuation zone, however, the police officers were evacuating our area,” Paz said. “The police came and called mommy for a long time and then said to go,” Clementine said. They spent the next few days waiting for updates. On Saturday, they learned Clementine’s school was safe with little damage. But heading back to class wasn’t going to be easy. “We understood it was going to be a complex process to reopen,” Paz said. That’s when Paz decided to contact family and friends in the Bay Area and head north. They reached out to Alta Vista School, a San Francisco-based school that specializes in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. The school’s team was excited to answer the call. “At the moment when there’s so much uncertainty, we just want to try if we can help in any way,” Alta Vista Head of School Rob Cousins said. “Like a lot of other schools, we want to be able to do that.” A couple days later, Clementine stepped foot into her new kindergarten class. “When we got there, she had a chair with her name on it and a cubby with her name on it,” Paz said. “They were just completely ready for her.” Clementine seems to fit right in. Paz said that she is extremely grateful. “I think just being able to provide normalcy and school and routine even not in our hometown is kind of just an incredible thing that Alta Vista has helped us with,” she said. United Teachers Los Angeles told the Los Angeles Times about 150 school employees it represents have lost their homes and 550 are displaced. Earlier Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced measures to help schools recover and maintain funding.