Courtesy of Sarah GriecoLast month, a brush fire broke out on a grassy hill in Mission Valley, less than seven miles from San Diego State. Interstate 8 was clogged both eastbound and westbound as drivers watched firefighters attempt to extinguish the flames. Eventually, with the help of a helicopter, the blaze was put out. The hill behind the Mission Valley Hilton is still charred.
“Lately we have been seeing some very unusual fire behavior,” San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesperson Maurice Luque said to NBC.
Unusual fire behavior warrants the oddity of the Mission Valley fire, but it serves as a reminder that SDSU’s campus is located atop dry, grassy hills similar to the one that burned in Mission Valley. The San Diego area is susceptible to fires thanks to a dry climate that desiccates shrubbery, making it easy for flames to spread for miles with the help of an occasional breeze.
SDSU students may recall the October 2007 wildfires that caused the administration to cancel classes for almost a week, leaving many students stranded in residence halls or forced to flee for home. The campus did not fall victim to the flames, which scorched other parts of the city, but the college grounds reeked of smoke for days.
Kaity Tully, a hotel tourism management senior, said she had never seen a fire before the October 2007 wildfires. Tully was a freshman when she saw the flames from the top floor of Zura residence hall. She said seeing the hills ablaze was nerve-racking and intimidating. Less than a day later, she headed home to Sacramento to escape the smoke.
“I felt the administration could have handled it better,” she said. “When finals came around I felt it. It definitely made a difference since we had lost a week of instruction.”
A former resident adviser who wishes to remain anonymous said that during the October 2007 wildfires the R.A.s were receiving directions from the administration in regards to fire safety.
“We couldn’t do much … but a few R.A.s were required to stay in halls during the week classes were canceled,” she said. “We also provided masks for the students who stayed on campus.”
Fortunately, SDSU has not been subject to a massive wildfire in the past three years. But fire season is upon San Diego with full force, and residents are now being subjected to abnormal fire patterns that have the potential to be disruptive.
SDSU Director of Media Relations and New Media Greg Block said the administration makes a decision whether to cancel class depending on the scale of the emergency. Block also said there is an emergency committee for a variety of different types of situations that determines emergency procedures, including wildfires.
Since the fire in Mission Valley occurred less than a month ago, there have not been any large brushfires close to SDSU.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, wildfire season is expected to last through the end of November.
