With wildfires now under containment, Los Angeles residents are focusing on their next steps. Among those affected is Temple University sophomore Lea Prough, whose family lives less than three miles from the fires.
“It was pretty much the last week of winter break that the fire stuff started,” Prough said. “It was really scary at first because the winds were so strong, and you could see it just everywhere, there was a line of smoke on the horizon.”
The wildfires were spreading rapidly and gained national attention and brought communities from across the country to help. Prough said the impact of wildfires in California has worsened in recent years.
“In recent years, it’s gotten much worse with droughts, a kind of mismanagement of the funding for the fire department,” she said. “Although my mom and my sister brought clothes and food and donations to the fire department and several food pantries after I left.”
The wildfires not only affected neighbors, but they also caused safety concerns for Temple students studying in Los Angeles. Chet Pancake, chair of Temple’s Film and Media Arts program, stated that the institution prepared a plan to ensure student safety.
“The University put together a plan, a legal plan for us to guide our students because the students want to go,” Pancake said. “So the university had to form a health and safety plan for those students and assess whether it was appropriate for them to land and be there.”
According to the plan, if L.A. wasn’t deemed safe for students, they would take classes virtually on Zoom and receive supplies to help them travel home. Even with the setbacks, students are participating in Temple’s Los Angeles Study Away Program this spring.
“I think it’s a story of a really fantastic coordinated effort to make sure these students were able to land on the ground, feel safe with family members, and have a plan in hand with very clear directives for what to do if it got worse,” Pancake said. “We’re preparing for summer.”
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