On Monday, Aug. 24, many students living on-campus and commuters attended their classes as usual. On the other hand, several couldn’t come to the first day of school as the Hawk Fire continues to burn in northwest Reno.
Throughout the campus, there have been mixed feelings on the University’s decision to continue school operations.
Simon Ish, a sophomore majoring in secondary education and history, said the decision feels a little careless.
“I feel as though a lot of people are forced to have evacuated already anyways, and, depending on how these people are getting to work or what other things are going on in their lives, or if they even have a place to stay,” Ish said, “what makes you expect them to come to class as something to be on their top priority?”
Ish said the situation is literally life or death for some people.
According to Watch Duty, as of Monday evening, the fire has destroyed at least 15,000 acres and is at 27% containment. The University of Nevada, Reno still lies just on the edge of surrounding areas with “Get Set” evacuation warnings. Although students living on campus didn’t have to leave their homes, commuters in the red zone or “Go Now” areas did.
Oshione Garuba, a junior majoring in political science, said a student in her class couldn’t bring any of her school things with her other than her iPad because she had to evacuate her house.
“It’s the only school in Reno that’s open,” Garuba said. “So, it’s not the best idea. So long as they have a plan to safely evacuate the students if something does happen.”
All Washoe County School District (WCSD) schools except Incline Village and Gerlack K-12 cancelled their classes for Monday. Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) also cancelled in-person and online classes.
For some of the on-campus students living in the residence halls and apartments, clearly seeing the fire and clouds of smoke on the night of Saturday, Aug. 22 was scary.
Scarlett Valdes, a sophomore majoring in political science and history, said she had a Go Bag packed just in case she had to evacuate.
“It was just a little annoying because I’m from Sacramento too, so I had nowhere to go,” Valdes said.
Valdes said the fire puts out-of-state students like her in a difficult situation. She said she feels for all of the commuter students who were evacuated and still expected to come to class.
As fire personnel continue to fight the Hawk Fire, evacuees can go to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center located at 4590 S Virginia St. Small animals can go to Washoe County Regional Animal Services at 2825 Longley Ln, and the larger animal shelter is Ironwood Event Center at 5600 Whiskey Springs Rd. For live evacuation updates, check out https://perimetermap.com/.
The University recently announced classes will continue as scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 25.
WCSD schools except Incline and Gerlack K-12 remain closed, along with TMCC.
