Fire
devastation weighs on CSULB students
Brian
Brannon/On-line Forty-Niner
By
Angelika Meyer
On-line Forty-Niner
With
more than 743,000 acres burned, 22 lives
lost, thousands of people evacuated from
their homes, and more than 3,570 houses
burned to the ground, it is easy to see
why so many people have been affected by
the Southern California fires.
"It
was so creepy, sitting on the roof of the
school watching the fire burn the mountains
of Simi Valley. It seemed like it was coming
right at me," said David Bodnariuk,
Cal State Long Beach alumni, and current
resident of Simi Valley.
The
fires covered much of Southern California
including Lake Piru, Simi Valley, Grand
Prix, Paradise, Cedar, Roblar and Otay.
Many schools were closed, thousands of houses
evacuated, and many people have been suffering
from asthma due to the smoke.
When
asked how the fires affected her, Sucharee
Cierras, biology major at Loyola Marymount
University, said, "I was affected mostly
in small ways, but my asthma has been acting
up due to all the smoke and ash in the air."
On
Sunday, October 26, most of the airports
in Southern California were closed as a
result of the fires, causing cancellations
and delays in flights coming into and leaving
the region.
Audrey
Mink, communication and political science
double major at CSULB, was a traveled home
from Colorado the day after the airports
were closed. Mink said she would have liked
to stay in Colorado for longer.
"I
was worried about my family because I didn't
know how close the fires were to them. My
brother, who goes to Cal State San Bernardino,
had his apartment building evacuated, and
my youth pastor's parents had their house
burn down," Mink said in response to
whether or not she knew people who were
directly affected by the fires.
There
is a lot of controversy between people on
whether or not fires should be allowed to
burn, or if there should be preventative
and reactionary measures taken. Some people
believe that fires are a natural occurrence,
necessary for the environment to cleanse
itself for new life to take place, while
others believe that we should cut down trees
and brush to prevent such devastation, as
they consider fires to be, from occurring.
When
asked whether or not the fires have changed
her outlook about the environment, Cierras
said, "Not really. Being a biology
major, I believe that fires are necessary
for the environment, they spur new life.
But I do think that when the fires start
devastating houses and hurting and killing
people, that we need to take measures to
stop the fire. Otherwise, the earth needs
us to let it burn."
Thousands
of firefighters have been working for days
straight, including fire fighters California
has brought in from neighboring states.
"I
hope people now recognize the importance
of the vehicle registration fee, because
without it the local fire departments would
never have had the resources to fight this
tremendous fire," Bodnariuk said.
President
Bush took a trip to California, meeting
with both Gov. Davis and Gov.-elect Schwarzenegger,
to tour the fire devastation, and announced
that the federal government will be stepping
in with an aid package of approximately
$3 million.
If
you would like to help the fire victims,
please send donations to:
The American Cross Disaster Relief Fund
www.acrossla.org
1-800- HELP NOW
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