(November 2, 2007) — “I was so worried,” said teacher Melanie Martin. “They told me that I had to go pick up my son from daycare right away.” Martin was at Clark teaching when the phone call came on Oct. 22, in the afternoon. One of the staff at her son’s daycare told her that the fires around the area were getting closer, and that she would have to come and pick up her two year old son right away. “I immediately called my sister, who lives very close to my son’s daycare,” Martin said. She was relieved to hear that he was all right and safe at her sister’s house. Martin said that the kids at the daycare were very calm, probably not even aware of what was going on around them. She said that the staff at the daycare center did an excellent job of keeping the kids calm and, most importantly, safe. Martin’s family was not asked to evacuate, even though their home was “in between two fires.” No homes were damaged around her area. However, she said, “My son was mad because I wouldn’t take him to the park.” Due to the poor air quality, Martin did not allow her son to play outside for about a week. Martin is not the only teacher that has been affected by brush fires around her home. Teacher Fred Blattner was also affected by a brush fire near his home a couple of years ago. In September of 2005, Blattner’s family was asked to evacuate. “The fire was very close,” Blattner said. “In fact, it came within a few hundred yards of our home.” The night they were told to evacuate was Back to School Night at Clark. By the time Blattner’s family returned home, the firefighters had fought down most of the flames that were threatening so many peoples’ homes. “It was kind of miraculous, all through the West Valley where I lived, you’d see these black hills, and these homes with green lawns,” Blattner said. Blattner wasn’t very surprised to hear about the fire, because every autumn there is a brush fire somewhere in California, so he said that they were ready.