The Los Angeles wildfires are affecting the IU Media School’s Semester in L.A.program, but smoke from the fires will not reach Indiana.
The fires have wreaked havoc across Los Angeles County, with over 9,000 structures damaged or destroyed. Windy and dry conditions have made it difficult for officials to contain the fires.
The Semester in L.A. program involves students interested in the entertainment industry taking classes and doing internships in film, television and public relations.
Audrie Osterman, director of communication and marketing for the Media School, said plans are for the program to continue this semester, but staff are monitoring the situation. There are 21 students, three instructors and one staff member in the program.
Osterman said this week’s orientation was moved to online and students have been asked to stay in their apartments. Students’ housing and classrooms are outside the evacuation zone, and they were able to move into their apartments this week.
IU student Shelby Brown is in Los Angeles for the program. She said she and a few other students stayed in a hotel for a few nights because they were close to the Sunset Fire. That is now contained, and Brown felt more comfortable sleeping at her Hollywood apartment for the first time last night.
"We left our area just to be safe, but last night we came back and everything is all good this morning,” she said. “But I know a lot of people have lost a lot in the fire. ... We went to a restaurant last night as well where people brought their pets and their stuff with them because they didn’t really have anywhere else to go at the moment.”
It is difficult to predict the long-term effects of the fires, Osterman said.
“The students intern all over the city,” she said. “If their internship sites are affected, our staff will work with the students and employers on solutions.”
Events scheduled for this weekend have been postponed. But classes Monday remain scheduled.
“We really came out here at the worst time,” Brown said.
Smoke from the fires won’t reach Indiana, said Gabriel Filipelli, executive director of IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute. The Santa Ana winds are moving west over L.A. and into the Pacific Ocean. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a map showing the smoke’s likely path.
“All of the smoke in the first stages were going right out over the ocean, so not impacting a lot of people, the fires were,” he said. “Now, some of the smoke is sweeping around toward the south, but it still won't impact Indiana or the Midwest at all.”
Filipelli said the fires are restricted geographically to the LA region. While the steepness and increased wind flow of the valleys make it easier for the fires to spread, they likely won’t spread much further.
“There's a lot of mountains there, and the mountains often aren't heavily vegetated, so they can't actually catch on fire,” he said.
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