The Rocky Mountain Collegian | Thursday, June 28, 2012
“These people are heroes. To be able to do one small, tiny part by giving them hot meals feels incredible.” Kelsey King | senior natural resources major
pingree | Continued from Page 1
Focusing on service
education major at the University of Northern Colorado and member of the kitchen staff. “It’s cool just seeing the smiles they give to us at the end of a very long work day.” For many of the students working at Pingree, it’s being able to make this kind of difference that matters. They are being paid for their time, but made the volunteer effort to return out of want to help in any way possible. “It was really frustrating being in town and feeling like there was nothing you could do about [the fire]. You could drive five minutes to the West and
watch the flames take over the mountain, feeling so insignificant like there was nothing you could do,” Lorenz said. “We’re not out there with the hoses, but we’re here waiting with food and beds for the people who are out there doing that. We share that attitude as a staff and it’s a really amazing thing.” The staff of Pingree Park came back with the goal of helping firefighters, and the administrative staff beams with pride at their effort and enthusiasm. “It’s been extremely impressive to see how they’ve stepped up into this role. They volunteered for a big adventure with a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity,”
said Seth Webb, assistant director and CSU alumni. “They have operated under demanding, intense conditions in unusual circumstances. It confirms for us that we have an excellent staff for this season.” Working long and busy hours has made the staff grow closer together with the feeling of a collective purpose. “These people are heroes. To be able to do one small, tiny part by giving them hot meals feels incredible,” King said. “It’s something that is a once in a life opportunity and I’m really grateful to have the feeling of doing my part.” Producer Kyle Grabowski can be reached at news@ collegian.com.
science |
5
Fickle nature of fires
Continued from Page 1 Weather forecasts through the weekend predict a continuance of these temperatures as well as afternoon thunderstorms. The summer months also bring storms. However, these storms are unlikely to provide the needed amount of rain but rather provide powerful winds, according to Schranz. Schranz is currently researching the feedback effects a fire such as the High Park might have on the local weather conditions. According to Schranz, satellite imaging indicates that the smoke from the fire has prevented clouds from forming overhead. This could potentially have an effect on the overall atmospheric temperature in the area; however, this is still being looked into, according to Schranz. High Park firefighters also have access to the FX-
Net technology, according to Schranz, which allows them to receive live weather updates. This will allow them to better predict the fire’s behavior in the presence of abnormal weather conditions. Though the fire has torched much of the landscape, it has left other places, such as Gateway Park, untouched. “You can see a lot of the property was saved. What we were trying to show is the fickle nature of fires that they can go through an area, burn certain things for some reason for a number of factors and then not even touch other items,” said Patrick Love, of Poudre Fire Authority while escorting a group of journalists into the burn area. Rocca said these islands of unburned vegetation will aid in the regrowth of the forest. “It all depends on how severely and to what ex-
tent the trees have been burned,” Rocca said. Trees growing in the higher elevations of the mountains can actually benefit from the burn, according to Rocca. Fires in this area release seeds from these trees which can then begin regrowth of the forest. However, lower elevation trees such as the ponderosa pine will not re-seed if burned too severely. At a press conference during the beginning days of the fire, Larimer Sheriff Justin Smith told the media, “Mother Nature is running this fire.” While much of the fire can be explained by science, an even higher percentage remains unknown to fire scientists. While tragic for those involved, for the landscape, a wildfire is a natural process. Content Managing Editor Kaitie Huss can be reached at news@collegian.com
mosquito | Preventing
bites and infection
Continued from Page 3
Michael Sakas | Collegian
Fly, a one-year-old Border Collie, sits in his kennel at the CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. His owner, Ashley Mueller, works as a technician at the Hospital and has been evacuated twice since the fire began.
vet |
Students gain emergency experience
Continued from Page 1 Currently, every animal at the CSU vet hospital has been matched with their owners, including the one bearded dragon. “He’s quite the character,” Scalf said. 2008 CSU alumna Ashley Mueller is a technician at the teaching hospital. Living in the Hewlett Gulch sub-division, she has been evacuated from the High Park Fire twice. Her pets are being housed at the hospital. Once put on pre-evacuation, Mueller and her husband understood how quickly they would have to leave their home if the orders to vacate were given. “As soon as we got the pre-evac, we brought the chickens, the cats and the dogs down,” Mueller said.“And then while we were on pre-evac I’d bring them down during the day while I was working and I’d leave them in the kennel. And then I’d bring them home at night, and then bring them
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down the next morning for fear that if I was in town and 45 minutes away I couldn’t get them out.” Mueller has experienced emergency evacuations before, but the High Park Fire is still shocking. “I’ve never seen anything this extreme...You could just see it jumping from ridge to ridge to ridge to ridge,” Mueller said. “We pretty much assumed that our house was gone, but somehow the firefighters were amazing and they saved it.” Scalf also has past experience with animal evacuations, working in Missouri during the 2011 Joplin tornado, as well as at Louisiana State University during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “I never thought I’d be doing this in my own backyard,” Scalf said. The last time the teaching hospital experienced an event similar to the High Park Fire was the Spring Creek Flood in 1997. “We did a very rapid intake for one night, and then it was resolved pretty quickly
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and things could go back,” Scalf said. “So this is a much longer situation. We know we’re in this for another week or two at least.” While the teaching hospital has been taking in smaller pets, the Ranch in Loveland has been supplying medical attention and boarding for llamas, donkeys, goats, sheep and more than 200 horses. CSU students and faculty have been working at the Ranch as well. “We had the large animal ambulatory team from CSU go out and help with any medical issues there,” Scalf said. Dr. Brian Miller, head of Equine Field Service at CSU, has been working at the Ranch along with four fourth year veterinary students. “It’s been good to see them work and letting them be veterinarians,” Dr. Miller said. “They get to react to emergency cases… interact with the owners, which is pretty important from that standpoint I think. I think they’ve really enjoyed mak-
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ing some decisions, and it’s been good for them.” Lundgreen, who is one of the four vet students working at the Ranch, agrees. “The biggest help has been what I learned in class and having the experience,” Lundgreen said, “and really I have to give a lot of credit to Dr. Miller and Dr. [Brittany] Bell because they were just awesome… they let us do a ton and actually do the veterinary work instead of just watching.” Animals being held at the Ranch will be moved to different locations by June 30. The largest intake the teaching hospital has seen in a single day was 26 animals, which was this past Saturday when the fire grew. “A lot of [the animals] were really hard to see when they came in really beat up...” Lundgreen said. “It’s amazing how these animals can actually survive. They have an ability to survive, and did really great.” Editor-in-Chief Michael Elizabeth Sakas can be reached at news@collegian.com
A provisional patent has been filed with CSU Ventures so that the technology may be commercialized and mass produced when it is ready. But until the new drug is further developed it is vital to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes that may be carrying West Nile Virus. “There are many things we can do to avoid infection: avoid being out after sunset in areas where mosquitoes are likely to be found; use repellents to prevent biting; wear longsleeved shirts and long pants; wear lighter colors rather than darker colors; make sure door and window screens are in good
condition so mosquitoes can’t enter the house,” Moore said. The research being done by Geiss and Keenan is supported by the Rocky Mountain Regional Center of Excellence at Colorado State University, one of only 10 centers supported by the National Institutes of Health nationwide that focuses on developing diagnostics and treatment against emerging infectious diseases. The research that has been performed by Geiss and Keenan will appear online this month is the peer-reviewed Journal of Virology. Visual Managing Editor John Sheesley can be reached at news@collegian.com