If winds hadn’t shifted at the last moment, Communication sophomore Meg Synenki would have lost her house to continuing wildfires in Southern California.
“The fire came within 300 meters of my house,” said Synenki of Scripps Ranch, Calif., one of the hardest-hit suburbs in San Diego. “If it had jumped the highway, it would’ve been in my backyard.”
Synenki is one of many NU students affected by the wildfires that, as of Wednesday night, have killed 18 people, destroyed 1,800 homes and burned 620,000 acres in Southern California, according to the Associated Press. President Bush has declared four counties in the region — Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura — federal disaster areas.
“About 30 of my friends lost their homes,” Synenki said. “I know a lot of people who just lost everything.”
She said she barely recognizes the hometown as her parents now describe it.
“My dad said the flames were leaping 20 feet in the air,” she said. “It was so hot that the sign to our subdivision melted.”
John Berlin of Encinitas, Calif., near San Diego, said although his hometown is not directly in the path of the fire, it has seen several side effects — including falling ash, barely-breathable air, lowered visibility, and closed schools and roads.
“My home isn’t in danger, but the air is awful and the roads are all but empty,” said Berlin, a Weinberg sophomore. “My pool is covered with ash.”
Some students from California said they feel powerless being so far away from their homes.
Courtney Abbott, a Communication senior, said the fire came within three miles of her home in University City, Calif.
“It’s kind of hard to grasp what’s really going on there,” Abbott said. “(Being at NU) put me in an odd position of helplessness — I couldn’t even call my parents because they wanted to keep the phone lines open.”
According to Synenki, some NU students cannot relate to the situation in California because the state’s environment and geography are different from most places in the country.
“People around here don’t get it,” said Synenki. “They say ‘Oh, it’ll rain.’ It doesn’t rain there.”
Berlin, on the other hand, said he believes students are sympathetic.
“I think people at Northwestern understand,” he said. “People on the East coast have blizzards, we have fires.”
For more information students can access www.kfmb.com, a San Diego news Web site that lists some of the addresses of houses lost to the fire. It also gives updates on fire containment efforts and evacuations.
