Fires Leave Their Mark on Students' Lives
By Jessica Bieterman
Corsair Staff Writer

• SMC students, their friends and families learn to cope with disaster.

With more than 743,000 acres destroyed, 27 people killed and 3,600 homes ruined, October has been marked as a month of disastrous fires for Southern Californians .

Hovering clouds of smoke can still be seen atop the mountains where the fires have been burning for weeks now.

These fires have also affected many Santa Monica College students and faculty members who live in the surrounding areas. Suwila Habid, an SMC student, said she lives five miles away from the fires. Although Habid did not have to evacuate her San Diego home, the entire train of events has been devastating for both her and her family.

Habid was lucky enough not to lose anything in the fire, unlike one of her former high school classmates who lost her home. "My family's hearts go out to those who lost their homes," she said. "Thank God nothing happened to our home."

Habid was particularly surprised when she walked outside to discover her family's cars covered in ash; it was amazing, she said, to see how close the fires were to the family's home.

"This is a community disaster," said Habid. "You see California as this perfect place to live and then see it get ruined; you wonder when do things go back to normal?"

For many, life has been anything but normal, not only have the fires destroyed homes and lives, but they have also wreaked havoc with people's daily routines.

"The freeways were blocked when the fires first started," Habid said. "I had to miss class for one day and then had to catch up with all my classes. The worst part was I couldn't get around the city and there was major traffic."

Another student, Ryan Reed, also lived very close to the fires in San Bernardino . Reed said that the most difficult part was seeing everything around him burn.

"Everything was covered in black smoke," he said. "You couldn't see anything - even the birds were on the ground because it was too smoky."

Although Reed did not lose anything in the fire, his brother, Tim, watched as his school (California State/San Bernardino) also suffered from the fires.

"Most of the dorms burned down," said (Ryan) Reed. "It's just weird to see some place you went to get destroyed in a matter of minutes. Imagine losing part of your school like that. How would you feel?"

Although the fires are currently being contained there is still much work to do.

According to an recent article by the Associated Press, many fear that the next danger for California will be mudslides, which may occur because fires have burned away trees and bushes that keep soil in place on hillsides.

Rescue and geological crews have already planned for this, beginning reseeding, digging flood control trenches, and bringing sand bags to communities in danger. If mudslides do occur, it is hoped, they will have as tragic an impact as have the fires.

Habid suggested that there may be things that SMC can do, as a community, to help the victims of the fires.

"We should raise funds for those who lost their homes," she said. "We obviously can't replace memories, but we can help a little with funds."

Currently, organizations such as the American Red Cross have coordinated with several high-profile companies and institutions - for example, the Theta Chi Fraternity at the University of Southern California , among others. But for the most part, it seems, many people still do not realize how severe a problem wildfires can be until it happens to them.

To date, the Red Cross has received $5.9 million in pledges or donations earmarked for the California wildfire relief funds. If you wish to help, please call the Red Cross at 1-800-HELP NOW.