Using NewsHour Extra Feature Stories

Overview: NewsHour Extra feature stories can help students identify and interpret key issues in current events. This activity anticipates one class period, but the follow-up essay might be assigned as homework or in another period.

Warm Up: Use initiating questions to introduce the topic and find out how much your students know.

Main Activity: Have students read NewsHour Extra's feature story and answer the questions on the reading comprehension handout.

Discussion: Use discussion questions to encourage students to think about how the issues outlined in the story affect their lives and express and debate different opinions.

Follow-up: Students can write a 500-word editorial on the topic expressing their views and send it to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org] for possible publication.

Evaluation: Students are graded on their answers to reading comprehension questions and/or their editorial.

Story: California Battles Devastating Wildfires, 10/24/07
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec07/fire_10-24.html

Initiating Questions:

1. What are some of the ways a wildfire can start?

2. What conditions would make a fire spread quickly?

3. What are some natural disasters that have made headlines over the past few years?

Reading Comprehension Questions: (click here for printout)

1. What is happening in southern California?

Fierce winds and no rain in California continue to fuel wildfires that have destroyed more than 1,400 homes or businesses, leading authorities to urge over half a million people to evacuate.

2. Why are the Santa Ana winds important?

The winds, caused by pressure differences on the eastern side of the San Gabriel Mountains, rush down the mountains, typically raising the air temperature on the coast by 10 degrees.

Local firefighters are counting on the winds to die down so they can send up more aircraft to drop water on the flames.

3. Do firefighters think they can stop the fire?

""If it's this big and blowing with as much wind as it's got, it'll go all the way to the ocean before it stops," San Diego Fire Capt. Kirk Humphries told CBS News. "We can save some stuff but we can't stop it."

4. What happened in 2003?

The last major blaze in 2003 killed 16 people and destroyed about 2,000 homes.

5. Where are families in the evacuation areas going?

People in the fire zone are finding shelter with family and friends or public shelters such as Qualcomm Stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers football team. Local businesses, non-profit organizations and private citizens have rushed to the shelters to help those whose homes were destroyed.

6. What was President Bush's response to the fires?

President Bush, who is scheduled to travel to the region Thursday, declared a state of emergency, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.

7. What event was the federal government criticized for responding too slow to?

Mindful of the embarrassment his administration suffered after Hurricane Katrina two years ago, the president quickly dispatched his Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff to assess the damage.

8. How are surrounding states helping?

Additional fire crews from neighboring western states arrived Tuesday to help the worn-out local crews.

Discussion Activity (more research might be needed):

1. What would you do if your home was threatened by a wildfire?

2. How can you prevent wildfires from starting?

3. How is this crisis similar to what happened during Hurricane Katrina? How is it different? Was the government more prepared to deal with an evacuation this time?

4. What do you think of Sen. Boxer's statement that the ability of the state's National Guard has been compromised because too much of their equipment and personnel is in Iraq? Other officials have said there is plenty of equipment, but the winds are making it impossible to get the planes up in the air. How would you figure out who is right? Do you think it was fair of Sen. Boxer to use the fires to criticize President Bush or was it a cheap shot?

Write a 300-500 word essay on any of the topics in this exercise providing clear examples. Send your completed editorial to NewsHour Extra (extra@newshour.org). Exceptional essays might be published on our Web site.