When celebrities and the ‘average joe’ deal with the same struggles, the spotlight tends to center on the celebrity, but this shouldn’t be the case with the recent fires.

Tragedy has struck California. From the Paradise fire to the Southern California fires, many are suffering. This includes regular people and celebrities. However, we should not be focused on the few famous people who have lost their homes. Instead, we should pay attention to the average citizens who, in some cases, have lost everything.

Celebrities are everywhere. In magazines, commercials and movies, we are constantly surrounded by these seemingly perfect people.

However, the lives of the famous are not always as great as they may seem. Sometimes, they even go through the same issues as regular people. This is true when it comes to the recent California fires.

My heart goes out to everyone who has been affected by these fires. Although, I sympathize more with the average citizens than I do with the celebrities.

The middle-class and lower-class makeup most of the population. While celebrities and regular people alike have lost their houses, cars and belongings, celebrities are usually worth millions and sometimes billions. They probably won’t have as much trouble replacing lost items like a lower or middle-class person will.

Some celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian, were even able to hire private firefighters. In Kardashian’s case, her family’s $60 million mansion was saved.

While some may have an issue with the wealthy employing private firefighters, I see no harm in it. If you have the means to protect your home, then you should be able to use them.

Although, this is part of my point. The rich and famous tend to have the upper hand in emergencies, like the Woolsey fire.

For the most part, the media has done a good job not focusing on the celebrities who have been affected, but instead have brought awareness to the everyday people. People who may never recover from these tremendous losses, who are praying that they will survive and who can’t sleep at night because they don’t know where they are going to live or how they are going to feed their family.

However, there are some media outlets, such as The Patch, who have been repeatedly updating us on the effect it has had on our favorite Hollywood stars.

I get the appeal of wanting to report on the celebrities that have been impacted. After all, these are the people who direct and star in our favorite movies, but we need to focus on the working class.

Every life matters, but when it comes to the fires, let’s focus our attention on the people who need it the most.

Brooke Martin can be reached at [email protected] or @bmartin471 on Twitter.