California wildfires affect Hoosiers

The Southern California wildfires made their journey to Indiana this weekend not by flame, but by flight. \nIU student travelers were stuck in airports across the country as smoke and quick-spreading fires raged from San Diego to San Bernardino, Calif. Many planes arriving and departing from area airports were not allowed to continue their flight paths, thus causing air traffic delays in other areas of the country.\nBy 4 p.m. Monday, 152 Southwest Airline flights were canceled, according to a statement. A Southwest spokesperson said that although the numbers of canceled flights have decreased since Monday, flights are still being delayed because of the shutdown of a southern California air traffic control center.\nContinental Airlines also suffered from delays and cancellations.\n"The main problem that we have faced is delays in flights, which we then try to reroute the customers with another flight that will suit their needs," said a spokesman from Continental Airlines.\nThe spokesman said Continental does not compensate travelers in cases like these. Instead, they will reroute or reissue the customers' tickets. A Southwest spokesman also said it does not routinely compensate customers, but it will consider everyone's situation.\nTravelers heading to Indiana felt the fury of flame. Freshman Rishi Patel was scheduled to depart on a Southwest flight from Chicago's Midway International Airport at 6:55 p.m. Sunday. His flight was delayed for six hours before finally being canceled at 1 a.m.\n"Diwali, the Hindu New Year, was on Sunday so I got absolutely no sleep the night before, which made it difficult to deal with the stress and hassle of all the cancellations and delays," Patel said. "I spent a total of 22 hours waiting for my flight to get me back to school."\nPatel missed two classes, but he was able to make them up with documentation of his flight. In situations like these, students often miss classes. It is under the professor's discretion as to whether a student can make up the missed work.\n"It depends on the circumstances of each individual student," said Jon Dilts, a journalism professor. "It also depends on the students' reason for traveling, like a vacation or a family emergency."\nWhile some students spent time talking with professors in order to reschedule assignments, others were focused on their families and friends who live in Southern California.\n"Many friends of mine go to school in the San Diego area, which is scary," sophomore Brittany Porter said. "The fires encircled San Diego and no one could get out. Luckily I don't know anyone who was injured." \nAs of Thursday, 20 people have died from fire-related injuries. The American Red Cross opened 37 shelters in southern California by Wednesday, housing 6,000 people, said Ryan Todd of the Monroe County Chapter of the Red Cross. \nTodd, a graduate student and captain of the Red Cross Disaster Action Team, said the Monroe County Chapter is contributing to families in Bloomington by providing immediate disaster relief and financial support. \n"Right now it's basically a family reunification program, so if people from Bloomington, including students, are having difficulty contacting family members in California, we try to reunite them through our different channels of communication," Todd said.\nTo inquire about a missing family member or friend in southern California, call the Monroe County Chapter at 332-7292. For more information about the American Red Cross's efforts in southern California, visit its Web site at www.redcross.org.\n-- Contact staff writer Rebecca Rutherford at rrutherf@indiana.edu.