Andrew Woodward, a third-year biology student, said he was notified about the fire by his father, who worried about it affecting UCLA.

“If the wind did push it in, and it started getting pretty smoky, then I feel it would be pretty bad,” Woodward said.

Woodward, from Northern California, said he is no stranger to these climate conditions as a few summers back, the wind carried a nearby fire into his town. But he said he didn’t expect to be close to a similar scenario at university.

“Hopefully it stops. Hopefully they contain it,” Woodward said. “It’s a sad thing to see.”