Hey, I stumbled on this thread. I'm in NorCal, near Stanford.

I'm also on the PLC for Mudd and had another kid attend CMC.

From our many years at the Claremont schools, I fully trust the colleges to be smart. The leadership is savvy and profs at the Claremont colleges care so much about the kids.

Just my opinion. I feel odd putting my email here, but you can reach out to me on LinkedIn. I am Giselle Galper.

I think we can all benefit from demonstrating grace and compassion toward one another. For people who are not familiar with wildfires, this feels very scary. We all want to ensure the safety of our children and just being told that there’s no or little threat doesn’t help ease everyone’s mind. For those who know more about how wildfires work, educating seems to be a more loving tool than name calling. Similarly, the schools should understand that they have students from across the globe and provide some basic education on safety and best practices when it comes to wildfires. I’ve found The City of Claremont social media to be helpful in this regard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The city has been texting students to get out, while the campuses themselves say everything is fine! DC sent a picture of the fires that were visibly near her dorm!

How does the city know student phone numbers?

Often cities have a service you can opt into for these sorts of warnings (Montgomery County MD does and we get emergency messages).

But also - when we spend time in LA to visit family - we receive text messages related to emergencies that they must blast to anyone with a cell phone (as we have never chosen to opt into their local emergency system). We have gotten warning messages related to fires, earthquakes, torrential rain events (flooding, mud slides). The messages are often targeted (relating to specific evacuation info) to differ based on your location - so they must have a way to vary the message based on your distance from the closest cell tower.

OK, but the reality is that students (and Claremont residents) have NOT received any such messages. My kid shares a house with 3 other students and none of them have. Our friends in Claremont also haven’t.

Wildfire smoke is common occurrence in the southwest. In SF, we just run air purifiers in our room (you can get them on amazon) and pop an 1-95 mask if we have to be outdoors (also available on amazon).

for those not in the direct fire zone (eg CMC currently is Not) the other safety factor that is high priority is air quality. So even as the fire may be on north side of Hwy 210 (pray for folks and businesses there), smoke/air quality is part of the equation regarding campus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The city has been texting students to get out, while the campuses themselves say everything is fine! DC sent a picture of the fires that were visibly near her dorm!

How does the city know student phone numbers?

Often cities have a service you can opt into for these sorts of warnings (Montgomery County MD does and we get emergency messages).

But also - when we spend time in LA to visit family - we receive text messages related to emergencies that they must blast to anyone with a cell phone (as we have never chosen to opt into their local emergency system). We have gotten warning messages related to fires, earthquakes, torrential rain events (flooding, mud slides). The messages are often targeted (relating to specific evacuation info) to differ based on your location - so they must have a way to vary the message based on your distance from the closest cell tower.

It’s a California thing. They have to alert you of the information by law as long as you have a cellphone.

To ops point, the closest the fire is getting is 3 miles north of campus, which is uncomfortable but will be fine. Plus the campuses are pretty fire proof

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The city has been texting students to get out, while the campuses themselves say everything is fine! DC sent a picture of the fires that were visibly near her dorm!

How does the city know student phone numbers?

Often cities have a service you can opt into for these sorts of warnings (Montgomery County MD does and we get emergency messages).

But also - when we spend time in LA to visit family - we receive text messages related to emergencies that they must blast to anyone with a cell phone (as we have never chosen to opt into their local emergency system). We have gotten warning messages related to fires, earthquakes, torrential rain events (flooding, mud slides). The messages are often targeted (relating to specific evacuation info) to differ based on your location - so they must have a way to vary the message based on your distance from the closest cell tower.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no ash raining down on the University of Redlands, which also is in no current danger from forest fires. All you are revealing is how little you know or understand about fires and their mgt in CA. There are plenty of things to worry about in this world without scaremongering about currently non-existents threats. Air quality in Claremont, Ca today is “normal.” People on this site are ridiculous.

The air quality everyday before today was unhealthy. The students got a message from the city of Claremont saying to consider evac. The schools are telling them to stay…
You seem to be the ignorant one, or at least the avoidant
type.

My student doesn’t know anyone who got such a message.

Yes, advisory at link above proves OP is full of s*#t. It states, as of noon (Pacific Time) on 9/11: "Currently there is no immediate threat to any foothill cities in LA County, with San Dimas, LaVerne and Claremont having one or two Genasys Zones indicating an Evacuation Warning. Claremont has two zones (CLA-E003 and CLA-E006a) under Evacuation Warning (Prepare to Evacuate) in the northern section around Fergus Falls and Mt. Baldy Road (Stone Canyon area). Claremont Police Department is closely monitoring the situation and will update the community if/when conditions change." I.e., as others noted, there is NO ORDER to evacuate the town of Claremont, and the only Evacuation Warning (i.e., a "watch" for a possible future evacuation) is for two zones "in the northern section"--i.e. up in the hills, miles from campus. And if there WERE a town order to evacuate, then obviously the Colleges would follow it. This entire post began with a lie and absurd premise--that the town was telling students to evacuate and the Colleges were resisting that order, which would never, ever happen. There is enough trouble and sorrow in this world (including for those actually affected by this horrible fire) without people like the OP posting wild misinformation about serious matters.

https://www.ci.claremont.ca.us/living/wildfire-information

City has not evacuated the college.

Anonymous wrote:The city has been texting students to get out, while the campuses themselves say everything is fine! DC sent a picture of the fires that were visibly near her dorm!

How does the city know student phone numbers?

Anonymous wrote:OP is implying the colleges are somehow being negligent while the town is telling people to evaporate. This is demonstrably not happening, as the evacuation map posted above and Air quality maps clearly show. Yet OP is saying kids should ignore the actual advice of officials on the ground and flee the area. And go where exactly? To a shelter needed by those actually in harm’s way? The OP is a troll. There are all sorts of warning systems in SoCal monitoring fires and evacuation warnings and orders in real time. Just cuz a fire is visible in the distance (a common occurrence in LA) doesn’t mean your neighborhood is in danger. The last thing firefighters need is people like the OP causing needless mayhem. And the idea the colleges aren’t on this is absurd. OP could look up this info, which shows the campus is totally fine. But no, they rather come on here and spout nonsense.

Right - it's like saying American University is negligent for not telling students to shelter in place for the tornado that hit Germantown over the summer. They may get a tornado watch if they are in the cone - but never be told to shelter in place because there was no reported tornado in NW DC.

Oops, typed evaporate instead of evacuate. Ha ha! Needless to say, the town isn’t telling students to do either, lol!

OP - or maybe you could also worry about the (harmless) daily 1.0-1.8 earthquakes near Claremont over the past week.

OP is implying the colleges are somehow being negligent while the town is telling people to evaporate. This is demonstrably not happening, as the evacuation map posted above and Air quality maps clearly show. Yet OP is saying kids should ignore the actual advice of officials on the ground and flee the area. And go where exactly? To a shelter needed by those actually in harm’s way? The OP is a troll. There are all sorts of warning systems in SoCal monitoring fires and evacuation warnings and orders in real time. Just cuz a fire is visible in the distance (a common occurrence in LA) doesn’t mean your neighborhood is in danger. The last thing firefighters need is people like the OP causing needless mayhem. And the idea the colleges aren’t on this is absurd. OP could look up this info, which shows the campus is totally fine. But no, they rather come on here and spout nonsense.