San Diego Area Fires Strike Home with UCSD Faculty and Staff
Thousands of UCSD Employees Evacuate Their Homes;
Campus Becomes Safe Haven to 10,000 Students

Ioana Patringenaru | October 29, 2007

The fires that raged through the San Diego area such as these pictured here of the Mt. Miguel fire, never threatened the UCSD campus. Nevertheless, top administrators who worked around the clock in the UCSD Emergency Operations center established contingency plans in case the situation changed and the campus needed to be evacuated. (Photo / Tim Vaughn)

Classes started up again and offices reopened their doors today at UCSD after fires raging through San Diego County forced the campus to close its doors for a week.

The fires never threatened the campus itself. But thousands of faculty and staff members were swept up in the wave of evacuations that sent more than 500,000 San Diego County residents packing last week. It’s unclear for now how many members of the UCSD community lost their homes. Meanwhile, about 10,000 students stayed put on when the fires broke out. Less than 5,000 left as the week wore on and classes were canceled.

It’s the first time the campus had to close its doors for a week due to an emergency, said Vice Chancellor Steven Relyea. He was one of many top officials who worked round-the-clock at UCSD's Emergency Operations Center during the fires. Administrators took measures to help faculty, staff members and students who lost their homes during the fires. They marshaled the campus’ resources to provide on-campus services for students. They also strove to provide the most up-to-date information for everyone.

Vice Chancellor Steven Relyea

"I'm tremendously grateful to the many UC San Diego employees who were instrumental to the delivery of essential services to our students and patients, and who ensured the smooth operation of the university,” said Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. “Despite the personal challenges of mandatory evacuations and the stresses of such an enormous tragedy caused by these fires, the UCSD community pulled together so that our students and the patients in our medical centers received necessary care and services. Our dedicated staff have pulled together to identify programs that will help faculty, staff and students who suffered losses from the devastating fires.  I'm very proud of all that we have accomplished."

It all started the morning of Oct. 22, when the Witch and Harris fires triggered freeway closures and led to mandatory evacuations for wide swaths of San Diego County. University officials announced the campus would be closed for the day. Later that afternoon, they decided to shut down the university Oct. 23 as well. Finally, on Oct. 23, officials announced the closure would last until the end of the week.

The news spread via the campus’ Web sites, e-mail system, the media, including TV and radio stations, and UCSD's new emergency messaging system. It was the system’s first real-life run and it exceeded all expectations. Monday, about 7,000 received voice and text messages. By Wednesday, almost 4,000 more had signed up, allowing the campus to keep close to 11,000 informed through the messaging system that day, said Stacie Spector, Associate Vice Chancellor for University Communications and Public Affairs.  By then, many faculty, staff members and students who lived off-campus had already left their homes -- and the county.

The Evacuees

Judy and Pepper Lane with their two children.

Judy Lane, was one of them. The director of special events and protocol in External Relations and her partner, Pepper Lane, woke up at 4 a.m. Monday to the sound of howling wind. They decided to leave after a friend said their neighborhood, Rancho Bernardo, was being evacuated. Like many San Diegans, they reached for documents and personal items they had set aside during the 2003 Cedar fire, including pictures of their two children, insurance papers and passports. Then they headed to a hotel in La Jolla with their children and their dogs. “And lucky we did,” Lane wrote in an e-mail. The mandatory evacuation order for Rancho Bernardo actually came four hours later and their neighbors were stranded in traffic jams for hours, she added. By 10:30 p.m., the Lanes became concerned about deteriorating air quality and decided to wake up their children and move on. They drove up to Diamond Bar, in Los Angeles County, where they stayed with a family friend until Wednesday.

Economist Richard Carson also had to leave his Scripps Ranch home. After he got a reverse 911 call, he headed to a friend’s house near San Diego State University with his wife, his 14-year-old son and the family’s cats. That doesn’t mean Carson stopped working. He specializes in environmental issues and served as the government’s chief economist on the team working on the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Last week, he used his expertise to assess firefighting efforts and fielded calls from USA Today and the Associated Press, among others.

Government agencies did a better job than in 2003, he said. But resources were once again scarce. Officials should have flown in firefighters and equipment by Monday morning, when they had their best shot at stopping the blazes, Carson argued. By Sunday night, they knew the fires were headed for the coast, he added. The state's Office of Emergency Services should have put out a call to schools and universities, asking them to shut down, Carson also said. UCSD closed, but it also became a safe heaven for roughly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students who live on campus.

Life on Campus

“Our top priority in Student Affairs was responding to the needs of individual students,” said Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Penny Rue. “We wanted to provide both students and parents with high quality information as quickly as possible.”

Students played pingpong last week at the Price Center game room.

The university made sure that one dining facility was open at each college, said Mark Cunningham, director of Housing and Dining Services. Staff members and resident advisors kept students updated by holding meetings and posting fliers. “We felt it was really important that someone tell the students what was going on,” Cunningham said. Students were encouraged to stay indoors and the campus provided many activities to keep them busy. RIMAC remained open, but aerobic activities were prohibited, said Vice Chancellor Rue. Students could take yoga classes. The campus also offered stress management workshops. The Price Center game room, dotted with ping-pong and pool tables, remained open. “We wanted them to relax a bit,” Cunningham said.

By Friday, 2,700 graduate students and 2,700 undergraduates remained on campus, he said. Jennifer Allen, a resident advisor at Muir, was one of them.

“It feels surreal,” she said about being on campus.

The experience allowed her to get to know residents better, she said. She added she never thought the campus was in danger. Undergraduate students having lunch with Allen Thursday said they felt the university took good care of them during this emergency. “We just spent time socializing,” Allen said.  

Parents

Vice Chancellor Penny Rue

She kept her mother and father updated by phone. More than 400 calls came to the school's parent help line Monday, Rue said. The calls tapered off after the university canceled classes. Many other parents turned to UCSD’s Web sites for information. They said the campus kept them well informed. Margie Sanders, from Portland, Ore., checked the main page for updates. Her son, Ted Sanders, is an engineering major at Warren College. Sanders said she was pleased to see Chancellor Fox’s letter. She also liked all the links provided, which led to more information and phone numbers.

“I can’t say enough how pleased I was,” Sanders said. “I just got the impression that you guys were on top of it.”