False Start for SMC Students Due to Getty Fire
Motes of ash from the nearby Getty fire peppered Santa Monica College (SMC) students flooding towards main campus exits on the morning of Oct. 28. Shouts of “California snow day!” circulated through the crowd, while the surrounding air grew hazy. Traffic backed up inside campus parking structures as students, faculty, and staff heeded evacuation announcements from the college.
The fire began at about 1:30 a.m. Monday morning near Getty Center Drive, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), and had burned through over five hundred acres by the time SMC imposed evacuation orders around 9:30 a.m.
At 6:50 a.m, SMC tweeted “For most, SMC is accessible. Current air quality is not in the unhealthy range. As long as the college is accessible & air quality does not present a health risk, normal operations continue.”
Less than twenty minutes later, however, they announced that outdoor activities were cancelled and urged students to stay indoors. Students received a text reiterating the information at 7:55 a.m.
Barely an hour and a half later, more text alerts, phone calls, emails, and in-person announcements were used to broadcast evacuation directions to those on campus as air quality worsened, and winds moved smoke westward into Santa Monica.
Smoke from the Getty Fire is visible in the sky. In the distance, a cloud of black smoke is visible near Westwood, where large parts of the area have lost power on Monday, Oct. 28, 2019 in Los Angeles, Calif. (Randy Martinez / The Corsair)
While University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) also announced mandatory evacuations around 9:30 a.m., Los Angeles Unified School District and Santa Monica Unified School District announced school closures hours before classes began Monday morning, through press releases and social media.
The twitter account #ShameOnSMC emerged Monday morning in response to SMC’s late evacuation orders and a perceived lack of concern for student health. Their page includes responses to announcements from the college, updates on closures and evacuations, and retweets of student complaints.
The creator of the account, who wished to remain anonymous, explained the idea behind the profile: “I believed that SMC’s initial decision to keep classes open was extremely inconsiderate to low income students who walk or commute outside, to get to school. I believe it was inconsiderate to all students who live on the other side of the hill.”
“Their indecision caused students to be held up in the parking lot, wandering campus, unsure of what they should be doing," the account's creator added. "Their quick decision to close campus, two hours after we started this account was great, but also showed that SMC was not prepared to analyze the facts and protect their students health accordingly.”
Emma Byron and Alyssa Parker were waiting for a class to begin when they caught wind of the evacuation. According to Byron, “We were standing in front of our theater history class, and a girl was running around yelling that classes were cancelled. I think she works here.”
Some students had already received emails about class cancellations from faculty, before the school-wide announcements. “I got a message from our counseling teacher telling us her class was cancelled, and I don’t even have her class today,” said Parker.
One of Giselle Irigoyen’s professors also cancelled a Monday class. However, Irigoyen had just arrived on the main campus when she heard about the evacuation. “I got an alert from the school saying that, you know, they might be closed. But they didn’t [close] until I got here and sat down in my first class.”
While Irigoyen’s commute wasn’t directly affected by the fire, she expressed frustration about having to spend time in the polluted air. “It’s horrible,” stated Irogoyen, “as soon as I got out of the train, it started smelling really bad. You could see ash falling down. It makes me feel bad, you know, I start coughing, I just can’t stand the air quality like this.”
Student Lee Kaedan was flagged down by a classmate and told to leave as he approached the school. “They cancelled class right as I was going in,” said Kaedan. “I’m down 20th Street, it’s like a ten minute walk, but it’s starting to get a little smokey.”
“I’ve had a house fire before, that stuff can get caught in your lungs,” continued Kaeden. “It’s probably a good call getting everyone to go home, I can definitely see the smoke starting to deplete the air a bit.”
According to predictions from the National Weather Service, “conditions are expected to improve by mid-late afternoon as the pressure gradient relaxes and winds weaken.” A 12:00 p.m. press release by LAFD seconds that authorities are “anticipating a favorable change in wind conditions as the day progresses.”
At 4:17, Interim Executive Vice President Elaine Polachek announced in an email to students, faculty, and staff that school officials will meet at 5:00 p.m. to “reassess the situation.” Updates will be posted through email, the SMC website, and social media.