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Student Reporter Beat

California burning

 

This month’s “I-Witness” features a letter from Gwendolyn McGregor Scherer FP’95, a resident of Carlsbad, California, who writes this month with an account of the fires in San Diego County.

Carlsbad became one of the major centers for evacuees. Many camped out in mobile homes on the ocean.  Residents had to remain indoors as the air quality was very poor. The images of the smoke from the burning were spectacular and frightening. We could stand on our balcony and look from one end to the other to see what was burning, and where. The Santa Ana winds would blow the smoke our way and out over the ocean, and then the winds over the ocean would take the smoke and blow it back over towns, including those that were not in direct line of the fire. The winds also picked up the heat of the fire, so those without air-conditioning suffered, having to stay in closed, overly heated homes. Cars and streets were covered with ash and soot; we had to wear masks if we needed to go outside.  However, the emergency plans put in effect by the government was orderly, and so many water donations came in that one news source reported it was possible literally to “float” out of the stadium on the amount of water received. 

 

I teach at two colleges: Palomar College in San Marcos and Mesa College in San Diego.  Palomar is in San Marcos, where there were three major fires.  At last count, ten professors at the college have lost their homes.  There may be many more, as the college has nine sites and over 50,000 students, most of whom live in the areas of the major fires. Palomar Mountain sits directly behind the college was also the location of one of the major fires.

Mesa College is very close to Qualcolm Stadium, which was the major evacuation site. Many of its professors and students live south of San Diego in places such as Chula Vista, La Mesa, etc.  These were also major fire sites; I have received e-mails from a few students that have lost their homes. All schools were closed for the entire week, as the fires affected use of major interstates as well as created a serious danger of smoke inhalation.

As many news stories have reported, the reason these fires were so difficult and caused so much erratic damage was because of the yearly Santa Ana winds. The epicenter of the fire could have been controlled more effectively but the winds (which are usually warm and very breezy) caused embers to fly over the contained areas to new brush. This new brush would catch fire and continue the action.  Action and re-action: this explains why houses on some streets were burned, while none burned on streets close by, or why or one house burned completely while its neighbors remained standing.  

Fire in California is a constant hazard, just as nor'easters and flooding are to the East Coast.  A couple of years ago, Governor Schwarzenegger purchased several firefighting helicopters and equipment, and initiated a general “re-education” of the populace on fire and earthquake safety.   His response to the fires was very swift; before Bush even thought to respond (and he was quicker on this one than on Katrina), the governor had everything running smoothly.  The government had encouraged people to have emergency kits in case of such disasters and instructions as to what procedures to carry out.  This forewarning aided many in so many ways.  At the time we prepared our kits, we never thought we might have to use them as soon as now. Thankfully we didn't have to, but we were ready. I cannot say how very important it was to have that foreknowledge and to feel prepared.