At 6:26 p.m. on Dec. 4, the Thomas fire, the second largest wildfire in California history, ignited in Santa Paula. Having now destroyed over 1,000 family residences, according to the Ventura County Fire Department, the fire continues in its blaze at 55 percent containment.

Santa Ana winds picked up speeds nearing 80 miles per hour over the first week of the wildfire breakouts, which also included the Rye and Creek fires that broke out on Dec. 5, the Skirball fire on Dec. 6, and the Lilac and Liberty fires on Dec. 7. As of now, all of the fires are reported to be 100 percent contained, except for the Thomas fire. Spanning 272,000 acres of land, the Thomas fire rages on and is expected to be fully contained by Jan. 8. CNN reported that around 100,000 individuals have evacuated their homes since the fires started on Dec. 4.

At 6:26 p.m. on Dec. 4, the Thomas Fire, as the third largest wildfire in California history, ignited in Santa Paula. Having now destroyed over 756 family residents, according to the Ventura County Fire Department, the fire continues in its blaze at a 55 percent containment.

“The Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties has taken at least one life, burned hundreds of homes, and devastated communities and it’s not over yet. We in Oak Park have been fortunate not to be affected by the recent fires,” superintendent Tony Knight wrote in a district-wide email.

Oak Park High School remained in session since the fires broke out, relying upon the resources provided by the Southern California Air Quality Management District Air Quality Index and AirNow for whether or not to proceed with school. The Oak Park Unified School District has met several times over the past few weeks, according to Principal Kevin Buchanan, to deliberate the current state of Oak Park’s air quality and how it’s affecting schools in and around the Ventura County and Santa Barbara County areas.

“We are also paying attention to the releases of the Ventura County Office of Education and the fire department briefs and from local emergency response agencies. We’re monitoring the [SC]AQMD,” Buchanan said. “We’re going outside and sniffing the air and looking at the sky and taking other precautions like opening up our gyms. We feel like the kids are in a really good place with air conditioned rooms where they can still learn. They’re safe.”

By the evening of Dec. 15, Oak Park’s air quality was reported by the AQI to be “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” ranging in the 101-150 AQI values, taking Oak Park’s AQI up from a “moderate” state with a previous 81 AQI.

“Although general public is not likely to be affected at this AQI range, people with lung disease, older adults and children are at a greater risk from exposure to ozone, whereas persons with heart and lung disease, older adults and children are at greater risk from the presence of particles in the air,” the AQI wrote on their website.

During the morning of Dec 16, Oak Park’s AQI receded back to a “moderate” air quality state with an AQI of 68 ––“‘moderate’ is considered acceptable in the AQI range of 51 to 100. As of Dec. 19, Oak Park’s AQI has dropped to 62, still in the “moderate” range.

Immunologist Dr. Krithika Ramadas said that students with asthma, already prone to inflammation in their bronchial tubes, are at a higher risk of being impacted by the air quality.

“When there is fire there is smoke of course, but smoke can irritate the lungs even without [the visual presence of] smoke. For example, the sky may look clear after a few days [but] there is something called fine particulate matter in the air after the fires, and also all these chemicals that are [released] off the [fires] that [are] burning,” Ramadas said. “In other words, there are two things visible smoke and invisible smoke and toxicity and the pollutants.”

OPUSD initially cancelled outdoor Physical Education classes and outdoor sports practices, also opening the OPHS pavilion and gym for students to eat in during lunch and nutrition. However, they have restarted P.E. classes and practices as of Dec. 11.

Pulmonologist and critical care specialist Dr. Cesar Chavarria said that, combined with any “predisposed vulnerabilities” students may have, they can also be affected from the byproduct of indecent weather conditions.

“There are chemicals released from the combustion of different substances and all of these irritants can have short irritation effects in the lungs and we also have some long-term, potentially injurious characteristics to allergic people and animals,” Chavarria said. “Some of the most dangerous chemicals include cyanide that is released when a house catches on fire and certain plastics are ignited during combustion, and carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and particular fine and coarse matters in various amounts.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that over 8,500 firefighters are working against the fires. The process of combating fires can become increasingly difficult when spotting occurs, which is defined by the National Park Service as the creation of spot fires through flying embers that descend to the ground.

“Oftentimes because the air is hot, the embers get caught in the hot air rising and they stay burning while they’re in the air, then the wind catches them and they land catching something else on fire,” Buchanan said. “They spread ahead of the wind, and that’s why firefighters are trying to get in front of it and that’s really dangerous.”

Buchanan said that the Rye fire was the initial concern of the district. But with an air quality index of approximately 38 from Dec. 4-12 and a sustaining ozone quality of 40 AQI, which is qualified as “good” by the AQI, administrators decided it was safe for school to remain in session.

“We’re surrounded, but we’re in the clear. Everything is coming from the East and blowing West,” said Buchanan.

Buchanan said that OPHS is a designated Red Cross Disaster Shelter, so even if students were evacuated, they would most likely take refuge in the school because it provides the necessary facilities like showers, large spaces for cots to sleep on, food services and toilets, while also maintaining buildings with more stringent regulations than homes and businesses.

“This is as good a place as any. They stay busy and lessons go on. Business as usual. If parents feel it’s not safe for their child to come to school, then they have the right to keep them home if they want,” Buchanan said.

Addressing concerns over complaints about the district’s intention to keep students in school for attendance rates ––  sophomore Michael Parisi even started a Change.org petition for those reasons, gaining 592 supporters with no resolution. Buchanan said that if the governor of California declares a state of emergency, state agencies can recoup any expenses lost over the break period. However, there are other factors at hand.

“There is a childcare issue. If we shut down the schools on a very short notice, it would throw a lot of parents into issues where they have no childcare while they have to go to work. Not so much at the high school level –– you guys can take care of yourselves. But we have three elementary schools, a preschool and a middle school,” Buchanan said.

Las Virgenes Unified School District also remained in session during the past few weeks. However, schools in Conejo Valley, Ventura, Moorpark and Simi Valley cancelled school on the reasoning that they felt the air quality was poor.

“Conejo’s making us all look bad because I don’t believe anyone in Conejo needed to actually close because there’s no danger up there,” Buchanan said. “Just because everybody else closes down, doesn’t mean we should close down. Oak Park has never been a follower, we’ve always made decisions based off the needs of our community.”

Relief effort

“I think if you are in a position where you can help people then you have the obligation to at least try to help to whatever extent you can,” senior and OPHS Thomas fire relief organizer Ava Farriday said.

Farriday and senior Katy Gaspar organized the Thomas Fire Relief Drive alongside the Associated Student Body and Oak Park High School administration on Dec. 11 once they recognized people on social media wanting to donate for the relief effort, but not knowing where to donate to.

Each OPHS classroom received a plastic bag and flyer with a list of items to donate. Additionally, other community members could contribute by dropping off donations like non-perishable food items, water, personal and feminine hygiene products, clothing, blankets, pillows, clean sheets, board games, card games, children’s toys, baby formula, disinfectant wipes and diapers. Farriday and Gaspar transported the donations directly to the American Red Cross relief effort at the Ventura County Fairgrounds Dec. 15, which they will repeat on Dec. 21.

“We kind of figured Oak Park is an amazing community of people in general and people are usually willing to help out with this kind of stuff in this area,” Gaspar said. “That’s kind of why we wanted to do it, we just wanted to help.”

Help the Homeless club, run by juniors Kimia Ranjbar and Sydney Flamm, also held a donation drive for the collection of blankets and socks, which they donated to the Oxnard College where another Red Cross relief team was set up. Ranjbar and Flamm placed donation boxes in a few teachers’ classrooms before donating Dec. 9.

“My car was filled with donations. We had, I would say, out of the cardboard boxes, around 18 to 20 blankets, 25 pairs of socks and other items [filling] all of the boxes,” Flamm said.

Ranjbar and Flamm originally planned to donate those materials to the Lighthouse for Women and Children Emergency Shelter, but decided to donate most of their items to the fire relief instead.

“Our club is very based on the community, and we saw what was happening in Ventura was very close to us, and we know other people don’t get this opportunity to help such a big disaster that was going on, and we knew that a lot of people were going to help anyways, so why not just give it to people who need it more,” Ranjbar said.

Fatima Ward, a Public Information Officer for the American Red Cross, was stationed at Oxnard College Dec. 9. Ward said there are 12 Red Cross shelters with over 430 disaster workers providing over 630 people with cots, blankets, food, water, medical attention and mental health services. The Oxnard shelter opened to the public Dec. 5 and has served over 8,600 meals from community caterers like J Wolf Catering and Barbeque and Luna Grill.

“We help the with anything that they need. If it’s food, shelter or comfort, or just if people want to talk or play with the kids,” Ward said. “Anything that is related to residents’ well-being. They are our number one priority.”

Gaspar said that donating is the best way to help evacuees. Donating supplies to the school or money through numerous sources all go toward helping those whose houses were in the fires’ path of destruction.

“People are losing their entire houses and everything they have ever ever had or collected: paintings, family memorabilia, literally everything and if we can do something about it then let’s do something about it,” Gaspar said. “Let’s be the community that tries to make a change.”

Sidebar: In the know

• Fires at 100 percent containment:
  • Coast Fire
  • Drum Fire
  • Liberty Fire
  • Lilac Fire
  • Little Mountain Fire
  • Longhorn Fire
  • Meyers Fire
  • Riverdale Fire
  • Rye Fire
  • Skirball Fire
  • Wilson Fire

• Thomas Fire:
  • Started 6:26 p.m. Dec 4. in Santa Paula
  • 55 percent contained
  • 272,000 acre span
  • 18,000 structures threatened, 1,024 destroyed, 250 damaged
  • 6,581 personnel combatting the fire

• Ways you can help:
  • Donate to the American Red Cross relief centers
  • Donate to the Salvation Army
  • Start a Thomas Fire relief fund or donate to an already existing one

• Numbers to call:
  • Thomas Fire information lines:
    • (805) 465-6650
    • (805) 681-5542
  • Ventura County Fire Department: 805-389-9710

Sources for sidebar: Cal Fire, VCFD