6 oct. 12, 2017
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wildfires Mitchell’s home is located directly next to a major power line, which Mitchell thinks may be why her home survived. She said firefighters may have put extra protections on the power line. She said her parents told her the drive up to their house was “insane” because there wasn’t one house standing. When her parents arrived at their house, only four houses were left. She added that a lot of her yard was burnt, but the house is OK. Mitchell’s parents are working on putting out small fires around the property, she said. A tennis court on her property was not burned. For Alba, whose family moved to Sonoma, California, about one year ago, the main fires are close, and the smoke in the area has worsened. His father is away on a business trip, so his mother and two dogs were home when the fires began. She waited until Wednesday night to leave her house even though “the whole house was filled with smoke” the day before, Alba said. Alba’s mother, Terri, could see the fire a short drive from her home, he said. She packed some clothes in a bag and from page 3
diversity from 2014 to 2015, the number of people employed as logging workers declined 12.12 percent, from 51,351 people nationwide to 45,129. “It’s a very rural industry. It happens on the back roads, the places where you just don’t see and most people don’t go … (The industry workforce) is indicative of the population that’s there existing,” Gerow said. People do not typically move from a city to work in the logging industry just to create diversity, he added.
grabbed a few key documents. “It’s hard for me to think about it and just be unable to do anything,” Alba said. “I try to push it out of my mind. It’s pretty constant for me, checking my phone all day, texting my mom, making sure everything is OK.”
It’s hard for me to think about it and just be unable to do anything. Elias Alba junior television, radio, and film major at su
Alba said Terri wears a continuous positive airway pressure mask because she has asthma. She has made the decision to leave her home and stay at a hotel. “It’s been a tense time,” Alba said. If you are a Syracuse community member who has been affected by the California wildfires, please email news@ dailyorange.com to share your story with The Daily Orange. mguti100@syr.edu | @Matthewgut21
Glazier said he believes current demographics in the local logging industry are not reflective of the community the industry serves. The Office of the Environment personally invited the 12 participants to the course. They will earn their certification by felling a few of the previously marked trees and will be compensated for the day’s labor. “We’ve been working for the better part of the year to try and figure out how we can put something like this together,” Glazier said. “There’s nothing like this out there.” akharfor@syr.edu