LBCC sent texts, emails and phone calls to students and staff, warning them to wear masks due to the poor air quality caused by California wildfires that began on Tuesday, Jan. 7, but both TTC and LAC remain open.
A public safety alert was also sent by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) warning people to stay inside.
“I got the safety alert around 7 a.m. and then the text from the school about 10 a.m,” LBCC student Elaine Pouvi said.
Between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. warning calls, texts, and emails were sent to Long Beach students and staff from LBCC’s public relations department saying to wear masks and limit outdoor activity due to the poor air quality.
“I didn’t know about the fire and stuff, but I wasn’t too worried, I thought it would be perfectly fine,” Pouvi said.
Pouvi was one of the many students and professors who chose not to wear a mask despite the warnings.
“I got the message about 9 a.m. but I wasn’t too worried. I did think it was a good message for the school to send out, it was very responsible.” Professor Jeff Douglas said.
Although most didn’t wear masks, some staff members did take precautions like LBCC matriculation assistant, Mirna Enriquez.
“I’ve been wearing a mask before COVID-19 and it helps with my allergies quite a bit,” Enriquez said.
“I wasn’t too worried about myself and I felt bad regardless of when I got the text because I was more worried about the people it has affected and what they are going through and saying “pray for us,” they are losing their homes,” Enriquez said.
Airbnb has partnered up with https://211la.org offering temporary homes for anyone who has been forced to evacuate from their homes due to the wildfire.
The Big Blue Bus is offering free transportation every hour to Westwood Recreation center and the pick up location is Lincoln Boulevard and Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.
The skies were clear in Long Beach and were not as thick with smoke as some of the surrounding cities were.
According to fire.ca.gov, in 2024, there were 8,024 wildfires which burnt up approximately 1,050,012 acres and caused one fatality.
There are multiple fires burning in the Los Angeles county areas which include Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Woodley, Olivas, and Sunset.
Five people are known to have died and an estimated 15,000 homes have been in serious risk of being destroyed.
Many evacuations took place in Malibu, Santa Monica, Altadena, and Santa Ana, where the winds got up to 65 miles to 100 miles per hour.
The California forestry and fire detection department has programs to prevent california wildfires called vegetation management, which focuses on the uses of controlled fires to burn excess vegetation.
The program has been in existence since 1982 and has averaged 25,000 acres saved since its inception.
For more information about the vegetation management program and wildfires visit https://www.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/natural-resource-management/vegetation-management-program.
If anyone affected by the wildfire needs emergency shelter or resources visit https://news.caloes.ca.gov/shelters-available-for-communities-impacted-by-wildfires-in-los-angeles-county-2/.
If you have any animals that have been affected by the wildfire and need shelter you can visit https://animalcare.lacounty.gov/emergency-animal-shelter-information-los-angeles-county-fires/.