Recently in areas of Northern California and Southern Oregon, fires have raged. This has resulted in residents having to evacuate those areas. It also is affecting Californians all the way to Delano due to drift smoke.
On Wednesday August 30th, Purple Air showed areas near Eureka, CA suffering from air quality ratings in the 200s. Further south, Berkeley and Oakland have experienced ratings in the 150s. After school sports had to be adjusted. For instance, Campo’s cross country team’s planned workout was altered from hill sprints on the nearby Rim Trial to an easy effort run.
Decisions concerning student sports and activities are made by administrative staff based on “air quality updates [we receive] throughout the day…[informing us about] where we’re at and…what we need to keep in mind,” according to Associate Principal Robyn Harrison.
The news reporting stories on these fires along with the noticeable sight and smell of smoke in Moraga, Campo students began to be affected as well.
Senior Katie Feldman had been experiencing a cold the week of August 30th and had to leave school early due to the smoke in the area. “I was sick so it was definitely affecting me and making it hard to breathe. I can’t imagine what it must be like for people with asthma,” said Feldman.
Senior Allie Castro, member of the Global Action Club, said, “I remember moving here from New Jersey and the summer I came was when the biggest fires were taking place. I had never had to deal with something like that before…I feel like it [has] gotten progressively worse over the years.”
Castro continued, “It’s really terrifying for me because I live near a huge hill and it’s super dry, so if a fire were to happen it would trap our whole neighborhood easily.”
For those in California and Oregon who have had to evacuate, Castro said she wants the Global Action Club to “do a fundraiser for them or educational activity once [they] start having club meetings.”
The devastating history of wildfires in California, especially in recent years, has led to students “feeling anxious,” according to Feldman. Sophomore Colbie Freese said, “it’s worrying because we live in an area so prone to fires and the smoke happening now is really scary.”
Last summer Moraga experienced an intense heat wave featuring temperatures around 110 degrees Fahrenheit which is something students haven’t forgotten. Freese said, “last summer was terrible with it being over 100 degrees some weeks and I remember it was really hard to go outside or workout and I had headaches all the time. Going into fire season this year I’m worried that there will be similar conditions.”
“It’s concerning for people who have family members in California who may have their houses burned down or people with family members that are immunocompromised and having more issues with the smoke,” Freese added.
Associate Principal Robyn Harrison is new to Campolindo this year, coming from a school in Napa that experienced severe fire consequences such as student homes being burned. In comparison, the recent smoke in Moraga is much less drastic, however, Harrison said students can still be “100 percent distracted because even though we might be [at school] now there’s other things [students] are worried about…and if you’re sensitive to the quality of the air that can really impact a kid and their ability to fully focus on what’s going on in the classroom.”
Students are grateful for the lack of close proximity fires this summer and are keeping in mind those suffering from the fires in Northern California and Southern Oregon.
