Tuesday August 28, 2018
Volume 104 Issue 1
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Wildfire devastation envelopes state
JOSHUA ARIEF HALIM / DAILY TITAN
LeeAnne Mullins, a 63-year-old resident of Horsethief Canyon, at Cleveland National Forest, behind her home. The Holy Fire recently burned down the oak trees that surrounded her property.
Firefighters deployed throughout California. CAIITLIN BARTUSICK Managing Editor
As an aircraft unloaded its crimson flame retardant contents on the oak trees behind her house, LeeAnne Mullins, a 63- year-old resident of Horsethief Canyon in Riverside county, stood in her backyard, filling up her hummingbird
feeder, preparing to evacuate her home of 13 years. Following wildfire evacuation warnings from the Holy Fire, Mullins and her husband faced the possibility of never seeing their home again. “Our house, the side and the back, back up to the Cleveland National Forest and now it looks like we live on the moon,” Mullins said, looking off into the distance at the ashy grounds that now surround her home. Spanning 22,986 acres of scorched land, the Holy Fire encompassed Orange and
Riverside counties and has been determined by authorities to be the result of arson. Due to the intensity in the fire, which started in August, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for the two counties. No fatalities have been reported and the fire is 100 percent contained as of print time. After three days of evacuation orders, Mullins returned to see that the fire had been contained just feet away from the edge of her house, and after seeing everything intact she described feeling overcome with emotion.
“It was a real mixed emotion, hard to describe. It was elation, it was joy, it was sorrow, it was sadness all wrapped up into this. Happy sad tears, everything. It was just everything all at once,” she said, crediting the Cal Fire Indio firefighters who camped overnight in their front yard to protect their home. The Holy Fire is only one out of many wildfires that have recently spread across California, and the state’s fire season has barely begun to take full swing. SEE FIRE PAGE 3
Titans hope new team will turn page Women’s volleyball brought in 12 new players in order to change the program’s culture. JARED EPREM Sports Editor
In its season opener against Akron on Friday, Cal State Fullerton volleyball came up short in the fifth set 15-13. The experience is not new. Since head coach Ashley Preston took the helm of the program in 2015, the Titans have secured one five-set victory in thirteen attempts. The ghosts of the past did not haunt the team postgame. Instead, the Titans exited the locker room confident, a confidence foreign to a program that has lost nearly seven times the amount of games that it has won over the last three seasons. “I feel good about my team. As far as losses go, it was good to have that first loss be a 13-15 fifth set,” said sophomore right side Tyler Fezzey. Why would a team that struggled with five-set matches be thankful for that opportunity in the first game of the season? Freshman defensive specialist Neena Dimas said the program has begun to value the importance of the journey more than the destination. “You don’t really need to worry about the score if you’re focused on making sure you’re doing well. If you’re playing well, it doesn’t matter what the score is, you’re getting better,” Dimas said. The Titans believed they played well against the Zips. After dropping the first two sets by a combined 18 points, they won the next two by a combined 17. Although the outcome was not favorable, every player was convinced they improved. That conviction held true over the next two matches. Fullerton swept University of Massachusetts Lowell later that night and University of Montana the next day. As junior transfer and starting outside Felicia Marshall began to explain FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @THEDAILYTITAN
RILEY MCDOUGALL / DAILY TITAN
Summer Kerins (left) is one of four seniors on the 22-player volleyball roster.
her emotions after her first 10-kill outing as a Titan, senior outside Maddie Schneider interrupted Marshall to share her excitement. “It feels fricken awesome. We have a winning record right now. It feels good, it’s a great start,” Schneider said. Schneider has played for CSUF since her sophomore year. In her two prior seasons
in orange and blue, the team started 2-1 as well. Along with many outsiders, she believes there is something distinct about the way this team achieved that start. “Everything is different. One of our administrators told Coach Preston about how our bench vibe is different. There are a lot more of us so there’s a lot more positivity,”
Schneider said. “A lot more” is an understatement. The Titans have 22 players on their roster, which is the largest team in program history. Of those 22, 12 of them are newcomers. SEE REFRESH
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