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Campus Chronicle
College Assists Evacuees from Valley Fire In the weeks before students returned to campus from summer break, multiple fires spread through local counties, one coming close enough to Pacific Union College to force some Angwin residents to evacuate as a precaution. With the start of the Valley Fire in nearby Lake County Sept. 12, national news outlets focused their attention on local communities Middletown, Hidden Valley and Cobb Mountain. With the help of rain and cooler temperatures starting Sept. 13, the fire turned away from Angwin. All advisory evacuations for Angwin were lifted before noon Sept. 15. With the fire no longer a threat to Angwin, PUC’s new goal is to provide assistance to the students, faculty and staff who lost homes during the fire. From after midnight Sept. 13 until afternoon Sept. 14, mandatory evacuations were in place for residents in the northern parts of Angwin: Ink Grade Road, Summit Lake Drive, and Howell Mountain Road North from White Cottage Road to Pope Valley. Some local students, college faculty and staff were evacuated from their homes. Also evacuated was one of the main coordinators for PUC’s response to the fire, Dr. Lisa Bissell Paulson, Vice President for Student Services — along with her horses and burro. A few evacuees stayed in Winning Hall, which opened rooms for evacuees, while others stayed with other community members who were not evacuated. PUC’s response to the fire was an all-college effort. College staff, including CFO and Vice President for Financial Administration Dave Lawrence, jumped into action to open the Chevron gas station and College Market so evacuees and community members could stock up on groceries and other necessities. A breakfast was prepared for all evacuees in the Fireside Room on Sept. 13. During the weekend community members also brought food and snacks to evacuees finding refuge at PUC. Desk workers in Winning served an im-
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By Tara Hattendorf
Image depicts spread of the Valley Fire as of Sept. 17. Although the fire did not directly threaten Angwin, those closest to the fire were evacuated as fires are unpredictable and can spread quickly. portant role in aiding evacuees who arrived on campus from Sept. 12 to 13. Evacuees in the residence hall included some of PUC’s own faculty, such as Jon Carstens, Associate Professor of Art. With the RAs and deans at Albion for their beginning-of-the-year retreat, the remaining desk workers helped check in evacuees, answered the calls of concerned people and relayed information to students on campus. Evacuees, including their pets, occupied a total of 11 rooms in Winning the night of Sept. 12. Winning desk worker Ariana Casiano, se-
nior, described what she saw driving back to campus from Santa Rosa the night of Sept. 12. “When I looked up to the mountains there was an orange glow,” she said. “Going into Calistoga I saw so many shuttles, lines of cars at all the gas stations. They were packed with people who had packed their cars and were ready to go.” The few students remaining on campus were advised to prepare a bag in case the school had to evacuate. While there were plans ready to evacuate students to Calistoga, the college never needed to evacuate.