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Los Angeles school officials on Thursday refused to commit to when classes would resume as the worst fires in the city’s history continued to destroy entire residential neighborhoods and displace thousands from their homes.

All Los Angeles Unified School District campuses were closed Thursday after four historic blazes engulfed the city earlier in the week, killing at least five people and injuring many others. 

At least three LA Unified schools, including the famed Palisades Charter High School in the Pacific Palisades, as well as Marquez Charter School and Palisades Charter Elementary School, which are all in the same area, were completely destroyed, said LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. 

Schools in other districts in LA county were also destroyed. 

At a visit to a school food pantry where workers and volunteers were providing meals to displaced children in Glassell Park, ashes blanketed the ground and smoke covered the sky, Carvalho said the nation’s second largest district would remain closed through the end of the week.

He did not say when schools would reopen.

“The entire community is still under red alert,” Carvalho told reporters during the visit to Sonia Sotomayor Art & Sciences Magnet school. “Schools are shut down. There are absolutely no activities.”

More than 600,000 students across Los Angeles were without classes due to the closure of LAUSD and at least two dozen other smaller districts in LA county because of the fires. 

Carvalho said LA Unified officials were working to provide digital academic resources and printed lessons to families but widespread power outages and poor air quality continued to hamper distribution efforts.  

It was unclear if the district planned to offer remote classes such as those during the pandemic.  

LAUSD was operating food pantries for students who depended on school meals at eight campuses across the city on Thursday and officials planned to double the number of sites offering free food on Friday.  

The district was also offering access to mental health services for employees, families and students in need of support.  

As fires continued to burn across LA, many families were evacuated from their homes. Others faced hardships including dangerous levels of smoke that contributed to toxic air quality. Piles of ash and debris still covered many streets and buildings, while burnt and abandoned cars choked roads in some of the city’s hardest-hit areas.    

Residents who visited the food pantry at Sonia Sotomayor said they were grateful for the meals provided there by LAUSD. Parents there also expressed appreciation for online learning materials provided by the district. 

But Leni Lam, a mother of three from Atwater Village who visited the pantry Thursday, said the emotional fallout from the fires would be more difficult to overcome. 

As power outages continued and Lam worked to clean ash and debris from her home while caring for her children and her disabled husband, she hoped LAUSD would reopen schools as quickly as possible. 

Lam said her children were still recovering from the “nightmare” of online learning during the pandemic and that LAUSD should resume in-person instruction as soon as it’s safe.   

“My kids are pretty resilient, and they’re really strong,” said Lam. “But emotionally and socially, like they’ve been set back.”