'My family is stuck in the LA fires. Here’s what I wish people on social media would stop saying.'

"The world is on fire and I am writing about it," I wrote in my weekly newsletter this morning. I didn't actually know if I would be writing specifically about the literal fires engulfing California, but I know that it's all I've been able to think about. 

And that's not because it's my job to be online, as a Gen Z journalist. It's because my family lives there, including my 14-month old nephew. 

Yet, according to many on social media, the amount of media coverage that the LA bushfires are getting is "frustrating" since our bushfire seasons don't get the same global coverage. 

And that's why I ask: would this coverage be more okay to you if my brother moved his life, his wife, and their son back home to Queensland? 

My family has a real affinity for being scattered all over the globe, despite not being a particularly large family. 

I live in Edinburgh, Scotland. My brother is in Los Angeles with his wife, her family, and their son. My sister lives back home in Australia on the Queensland/New South Wales border with her fiancé and their daughter. 

Usually, my parents are based full-time in Queensland themselves, but considering their only grandson just turned one in November, they have been in the United States for an extended trip. 

Image: Supplied.

Image: Supplied.

Image: Supplied.

Ultimately, the Venz clan is no stranger to foreign tragedies affecting us at all hours of the day, with messages of "hey, just saw the news, is everyone in your end of town okay?" being sent at various times of the year across all different forms of family group chats. 

This week, I was down in Manchester for a few nights to catch up with friends, see some live music gigs and attend Tim Duggan's UK-leg of his Work Backwards book tour. Since I was at back-to-back events, I hadn't properly checked my phone (and therefore the news) until I got back to my hotel late on Wednesday night. 

Obviously, my first point of action was to contact my family and make sure everyone in our family was safe and accounted for. My sister-in-law has lived the majority of her life in LA, with her mum and sisters all based across California, too.

I was assured they were all safe and sound, and I finally let out the breath I had been holding. 

Watch: Is Australia prepared for an incident like the Los Angeles fires? Story continues below.

In the hours that followed my initial text, as we seeped into the early morning of Thursday over here in the UK, the news kept getting worse. 

My dad assured me he had packed essentials in case they had to evacuate quickly, my mum sent me regular updates as to where the fires were in proximity to their home, my brother sent pictures of my nephew enjoying his lunch in his beautiful one-year-old ignorant bliss. 

Obviously, I am very happy that my own blood is safe and sound amid the bushfires. We are incredibly fortunate to be able to say that right now, when many other people are not. 

But my relief for my own family is simultaneous to the heartache I feel for all of the people who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, their communities, their lives. 

I am heartbroken, even if those people are rich. Even if those people can afford three holiday homes on the Malibu beachfront. Even if those people are celebrities. 

And if you aren't, why the hell not?

The fact is: people are losing their lives right now to these bushfires. People you may not know, but that someone else knows and loves — that someone out there will be grieving. Someone has to go without a mother, or a father, or a brother, or a sister, or a cousin, or an uncle, or a friend, or a lover. 

Someone out there is suffering right now, and no amount of money or celebrity status can fix the heartbreak of grief. 

So please, to the people taking to social media to say that it's "frustrating" that Australian bushfires don't get as much publicity, stop.

In 2025, let's remember that natural disasters are not a competition.

Feature Image: Getty/Supplied.