With 16 separate fires raging over seven Southern California counties and thousands evacuated from their homes, some ASU students have been left worried about the safety of their friends and families.
The fires, which mostly began Sunday, have driven out 300,000 people across the region, especially in San Diego County, said MaryAnn Aldrich, a spokesperson for the Office of Emergency Services, a joint center that provides information and services regarding the fires.
The fires have burned more than 300,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,000 homes, Aldrich said.
The seven counties affected by the fires are: Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura. Many evacuees are currently being housed at the Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, but there are 12 other evacuation centers across San Diego as well, she said.
Journalism sophomore Erin Landry, who is from Oceanside in San Diego County, said her family was evacuated Monday as a precautionary measure.
"I didn't want to lose my home, I grew up there," Landry said. "I'm just glad that none of my family or friends were injured."
Landry called her parents Tuesday, who said the sky was black and the air quality was bad.
"When I first heard about the fire, I couldn't sleep all night," Landry said.
Laurie Adams, a communications senior who is from Irvine in Orange County, said while her family in California is not in danger from the fires, the effects are still visible from their home.
"My mom called me th other day to tell me that an ember actually fell into our backyard," Adams said. "She asked me if there's one thing I wanted them to grab for me if they had to evacuate."
Numbers from other media outlets show injury numbers in the forties.
In 2003, a similar large fire raged across Southern California, prompting the San Diego Chargers football team to play their Monday night game at Sun Devil Stadium.
While this may again be a possibility, no one has contacted ASU regarding a similar move this year, said Doug Tammaro, a spokesman for the athletic department at ASU.
So far, none of the fires have been fully contained. Only one fire comes close, the McCoy fire in San Diego County, at 50 percent containment, Aldrich said.
Strike teams of firefighters from Arizona, Oregon, Nevada and Washington have gone to California to help with the fire efforts, Aldrich said.
The Rural Metro Fire Department in Arizona deployed two brush trucks Tuesday morning, and a third truck was deployed Tuesday evening, said Allison Cooper, a spokesperson for the Rural Metro Fire Department in the Maricopa and Pinal counties.
Classes at a number of schools and universities in Southern California were canceled due to the pollution in the air from the fires. California State University, Fullerton, was closed Monday and Pepperdine University in Malibu was closed Monday and Tuesday, according to the schools' Web sites. The University of California, San Diego, will be closed until next Monday, according to the school's Web site.
Katherine Borchart, a senior at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, said even though she is currently out of danger from the fires, she can still see the effects from her home in Santa Barbara.
"You can't really see anything except a haze and ash," Borchart said. "When the sun is setting or you're at higher elevations, you can see the smoke specifically from the fire."
San Diego County is a big place, and for officials to cancel school and not let people leave their homes, the fires must be a pretty big deal, she said.
Sam Padilla, the inspector at the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said that he hasn't seen so many incidences at one time before.
"Every department is being utilized to fight these fires," he said.
Reach the reporter at amanda.chan@asu.edu.
