Combining an opportunity to apply their studies to a real-world situation with a desire to help a struggling community, students from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo have come to study the aftermath of the Eaton fire in Altadena and to share their expertise.

Last weekend, about 20 students and professors from both the architecture and city and regional planning departments set up an information tent in the parking lot at Fair Oaks Burger, answering questions from fire survivors about rebuilding and sharing pamphlets and information geared toward the unique needs of the town.

“Altadena has a very specific character,” explained Professor Beate von Bischopinck, as it’s both a tight-knit group of residents and a diverse one with a lot of unique history.

“That has to be protected,” she said. “We will try to do everything that we can in our academic approach to bring that back.”

The fire, which destroyed more than 9,000 structures and left 18 dead, has prompted many to dive into what has become a massive recovery effort, from studying the environment to reviving the business district to creating a vision for building back.

Alongside Professor Barry Williams, who came out of retirement to help with this initiative, the team is working with city and county officials as an enthusiastic resource to help guide and influence new development plans and ideas.

“What we’re trying to do is find all the information that we can to help people build back,” Williams said, with the students having prepared four separate brochures on fire code compliance, temporary housing, accessory dwelling units and like-for-like rebuild, based on their research.

“What we’ve been looking at (are) ways to get people back onto their sites quickly, through temporary housing, through ADUs, and through also like-for-like rebuild, which is a fast-track process,” he said.

Other points of research focus on ready-made plans and how to obtain them, as well as temporary options, such as trailers or RVs placed on people’s property so that people can return as soon as possible.

“That’s our first focus,” Williams said. “From here, we’re going to start looking at redesigning those blocks to what they could be, and also the main corridors.”

Kim Watkins, who has called Altadena home since the turn of the century, lost her home in the fire and is now trying to figure out how to rebuild.

“Any additional information I can get is helpful,” she said.

“I’ve never built anything before and there’s a lot of things you need to do before you start building,” Watkins said, with a range of unknowns impacting the process.

Watkins said, however, that she received information from the students that she hadn’t known before, which relates to the footprint of a new building and how it certain changes can help increase the value of her new home.

“We’ve done a lot of studio projects that are mock-up projects (but) this is kind of a step further,” explained student Brianna Smith, a city & regional planning major. “It’s definitely more of an impactful project.”

“It’s a lot more meaningful when you come out and you’re interacting with the community members and they’re telling you stories of their homes, the things that they’ve learned living in the community, their favorite places,” she said. “All of that is really important information that you can’t get when you’re doing research online and you’re just walking around a site.”

“That human connection and the interaction is that driving factor to understand how to best redevelop a community,” Smith said.

She said that, based on in-person discussions she was able to have with residents, many feel that the people leading the redevelopment are out of touch with what the community really wants.

“I think that’s why community outreach is so very important,” Smith said.

Student Charles Schooner, another C&RP major, stressed that same point.

“Being out here in the community, I think, is one of the most important steps in the process in terms of creating any long-term plan,” he said. “I think it’s really important for us to just truly understand (and) we’re really just grateful to get any comments, any input, about how people want to see Altadena come back.”

Along with touring the region on Friday, the team’s weekend visit included numerous conversations with residents.

“People have been very candid,” Schooner said. “They’ve been very appreciative of the work that we’ve done (and) it’s been wonderful to see.”

Schooner said he had been concerned that the group would have nothing new to offer residents, as they may have already been inundated with information and not want to hear another “broken record.”

“It’s been reassuring knowing that we are making a difference,” he said. “For me, that’s the number one goal. I want to help in any way we can.”

Jarret Liotta is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and photographer.