Fire Forces Evacuation of Mount Baldy Students
By Jeff Horwitz
News Editor

A raging wildfire in the San Gabriel Mountains has burned over 32,000 acres of Angeles National Forest, imperiled homes in Baldy Village and unincorporated areas to the north of Claremont and prompted the Claremont City Council to declare a state of emergency Monday. Sizzling through dry brush, the inferno engulfed 14,000 acres and 71 structures in the 24 hours Tuesday, despite the efforts of 2,500 firefighters to battle the blaze.

The fire began on Sunday in the hills outside of Azuza, and quickly spread, aided by the wind, consistently high temperatures and parched hillsides that have not burned in forty years. Currently only 10 percent contained, the fire remains unchecked on three fronts, forcing the mandatory evacuation of the Baldy Village residential area.

At least five Pomona students and an unknown number of students from the rest of the five-college community are temporarily homeless as a result of the evacuation.

Shortly before midnight on Wednesday, the future of 70 houses in Baldy Village was still in doubt. All but a handful of residents had evacuated their homes and the fire had reached within two miles of the area, but had not yet crossed Mt. Baldy Road.

On the southeast front of the fire, firefighters are focusing their efforts on a line three-fourths of a mile north of Claremont’s Via Padova area, according to Captain Ed Broomfield of the Claremont Fire Department.

Over 180 fire trucks in addition to 16 helicopters, 10 bulldozers and 67 hand crews are stationed in and around the city, defending against an expansion of the blaze toward the South East.
On campus, the fire has sparked concern. The billowing plumes of gray smoke over Claremont Wilderness Park have reduced air quality around campus to such an extent that various sports practices have been cancelled indefinitely. Members of the administration met today to assess the degree of threat posed by the fires to the Colleges, and the administration scrambled to meet the needs of its evacuated students.

“I think we have enough beds for all the people we know of so far,” said Dean of Campus Life Matt Taylor, “We’re trying to keep an eye on the situation.”

No one at the colleges, however, is keeping a closer eye on the fire than the five students evacuated from their two homes in Baldy Village. Marshall Clyde ’03 and Alex Smith ’03 received word of the coming evacuation Tuesday afternoon, and had left by 6 p.m. that night, well ahead of the 8 p.m. mandatory evacuation deadline for Baldy Village. While Clyde couldn’t pack all of his possessions, he at least was able to take “all the stuff I couldn’t replace.”

Other Pomona students were not so lucky. Sarah Trefethen ’03 learned about the evacuation while on campus, and had to rely on one of her housemates to go through her belongings for photos and personal documents.

“The vast majority of my possessions are still up there,” she said.

With all the confusion, Sarah has only one way to see if her home is still okay, “I can call up the house and see if the answering machine still picks up,” she said, figuring that the connection means her house is still standing.

Both of the homes inhabited by Pomona students were leased for the school year, alleviating much of the financial risk. “Our situation isn’t as bad as it could be,” noted Clyde. “The people I really feel bad for are our neighbors. Some of them don’t have fire insurance.”