As the residents of Santa Barbara County prepared for festivities in the early afternoon of July 4, the smell of smoke and the low drone of fire trucks disturbed their merrymaking.
Humboldt State University student Chris Braden, a resident of the Santa Barbara area, witnessed what has been categorized as the second-largest fire in California's history. He was in Santa Barbara from day 14 to day 28 of the fire.
"The smoke and ash being dropped onto the Goleta and Santa Barbara area was intense," he said.
Firefighters such as Kyle Luker, a wildland firefighter from the Santa Barbara Fire Department, spent more than a month taming the blaze that consumed more than 240,000 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Several Humboldt State students helped control the burn. Jenifer Muha, a forestry student in her second year, assisted firefighters from the air as a Geographic Information System (GIS) operator for two weeks in July and August.
"Please don't call me a firefighter. I'm not," Muha said. "I'm a GIS technician. Firefighters work on the ground fighting fire. I'm a nerd who tracks the fire."
It is typical, both Luker and Muha said, for a fire technician to travel large distances to assist other fire departments in taming major blazes. Luker, who is going into his fifth season with the Santa Barbara Fire Department, has traveled to Arizona to assist in the control of a blaze, but spoke of comrades who have fought fires in nearly all fifty states.
"One is more likely to go out-of-state when they work for the U.S. Forest Service since it is a nationally run agency," Luker said.
When Luker worked for the forestry service, he was able to fight fires in Arizona, but that same crew has gone to many other states as well. Now that he works for a county municipality, his main job is responding to fires within the Santa Barbara County.
Student firefighters make the choice to go to school full-time during the school year and fight fires only in the summer or only attend school during the spring semester when it is no longer fire season. Muha, on the other hand, remains active with her unit while she attends classes.
"I am still working weekends with my crew," Muha said. "I have the ability to work a few days and give one of the other GIS techs a few days off."
The opportunity to go out and help firefighters as a GIS technician has strengthened Muha's faith in her career choice. "I love my job. It is the best job I have ever had," she said. "I hope next summer is even better."
printed 9-19-07
Friday, September 21, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Excitement, concern stir new PE building
[DISCLAIMER: Until I can get some work writing about music or until I find some gigs to attend, I'm afraid some of the content of this site will be non-music related. On the upside, this does show diversity.- The management]
The long-awaited addition to the Forbes Complex, which includes a six-lane swimming pool, will be open March 2008, said Humboldt State Senior Communications Officer, Paul Mann.
Previous plans to demolish the currently standing Forbes Complex have been broken upon gaining permission from the California State University Chancellor Charles Reed to preserve the building and allow it to house offices and classrooms for the ever-expanding campus, Mann said.
Jan Henry, a member of Humboldt State's physical education staff and member of the building committee is pleased with the news that both gymnasiums will be available to her program.
While some areas are expanding, others are shrinking. The locker rooms, which are being moved to the new building, will house fewer lockers than before.
"This shouldn't be a problem," Henry said. She is looking forward to having brand new lockers for students to use.
The new building is called the Physical Education and Athletics Facility and features an additional gymnasium, natatorium (indoor pool) and an expansive picture window that looks down onto Union Street. The building will also house a dance studio, classrooms, locker rooms and staff and faculty offices and costs Humboldt State $42.8 million.
While there is an air of excitement among students toward the new facility and all it has to offer, there are concerns about whether or not the facility will address all of the needs of the students.
Humboldt State student Bri Georgi believes that it would be a waste for the school to spend such great amounts of money and in the end, find that the students have not gained anything by it, and fears that the new gymnasium may lose some of the charms of the former gymnasium.
"I'm excited about the pool," Georgi said.
Chris Weingarten, Humboldt State alumnus and physical education intern, is both thrilled and concerned about the new facility. The former football player worries that the new basketball court will be too spread out and the gym will lose the intimacy that is crucial in creating an air of excitement during games. The echoing effect of the roar of the crowd in the smaller gym is what keeps the team in high spirits, and it would be a shame to lose that, he said.
Weingarten hopes the climate-control system is remodeled to make for more comfortable workout sessions. The current air input system leaves the building hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and does not make for comfortable work out sessions, he said.
While students are excited to see how the new facility will cater to the growing sports and athletics groups on campus, there is also a feeling of relief that the old facility will not be destroyed and can remain a reliable source of recreation and enjoyment as the campus grows and expands.
Published in The Lumberjack: 9-12-07
The long-awaited addition to the Forbes Complex, which includes a six-lane swimming pool, will be open March 2008, said Humboldt State Senior Communications Officer, Paul Mann.
Previous plans to demolish the currently standing Forbes Complex have been broken upon gaining permission from the California State University Chancellor Charles Reed to preserve the building and allow it to house offices and classrooms for the ever-expanding campus, Mann said.
Jan Henry, a member of Humboldt State's physical education staff and member of the building committee is pleased with the news that both gymnasiums will be available to her program.
While some areas are expanding, others are shrinking. The locker rooms, which are being moved to the new building, will house fewer lockers than before.
"This shouldn't be a problem," Henry said. She is looking forward to having brand new lockers for students to use.
The new building is called the Physical Education and Athletics Facility and features an additional gymnasium, natatorium (indoor pool) and an expansive picture window that looks down onto Union Street. The building will also house a dance studio, classrooms, locker rooms and staff and faculty offices and costs Humboldt State $42.8 million.
While there is an air of excitement among students toward the new facility and all it has to offer, there are concerns about whether or not the facility will address all of the needs of the students.
Humboldt State student Bri Georgi believes that it would be a waste for the school to spend such great amounts of money and in the end, find that the students have not gained anything by it, and fears that the new gymnasium may lose some of the charms of the former gymnasium.
"I'm excited about the pool," Georgi said.
Chris Weingarten, Humboldt State alumnus and physical education intern, is both thrilled and concerned about the new facility. The former football player worries that the new basketball court will be too spread out and the gym will lose the intimacy that is crucial in creating an air of excitement during games. The echoing effect of the roar of the crowd in the smaller gym is what keeps the team in high spirits, and it would be a shame to lose that, he said.
Weingarten hopes the climate-control system is remodeled to make for more comfortable workout sessions. The current air input system leaves the building hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and does not make for comfortable work out sessions, he said.
While students are excited to see how the new facility will cater to the growing sports and athletics groups on campus, there is also a feeling of relief that the old facility will not be destroyed and can remain a reliable source of recreation and enjoyment as the campus grows and expands.
Published in The Lumberjack: 9-12-07
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