OES engine and crew en route home

A UC Davis fire crew was en route home today (Sept. 25) from Southern California, after working a couple of days on the Guiberson widfire in Ventura County.

The firefighters are assigned to state Office of Emergency Services fire engine 251. The truck is normally housed and used by the campus Fire Department; in return, the university provides a crew whenever the state needs the truck for an emergency.

OES 251 set out for the Guilberson fire at 9:30 p.m. Sept. 22. It was the truck's second assignment this month in Southern California.

For the latest assignment, Capt. Nate Hartinger is the crew leader, and he is joined by engineer John Hodge and firefighters Jen Nilsson and Dave Anderson.

The Guilberson fire began the morning of Sept. 22, and by 8 a.m. Sept. 25 had covered some 17,500 acres in Guiberson Canyon between the cities of Fillmore and Moorpark. A fireline had been established around three-quarters of the acreage.

Nine injuries had been reported. One outbuilding had been destroyed, and flames were threatening 25 homes and two commercial properties. At one time, the fire threatened some 1,000 homes. The cause of the fire remained under investigation.

Coffee, bagels, donuts and graduate students

The Graduate Student Association today (Sept. 25) begins its weekly mixers, with coffee, bagels and donuts, from 9 to 11 a.m. Fridays in 253 South Silo.

“Drop by for a free cup of coffee and a bagel or donut while you meet new people and socialize with your fellow graduate students,” a GSA statement reads.

More information on this and other Graduate Student Association activities is available online: gsa.ucdavis.edu.

Free privacy software available to students

Starting this fall, UC Davis students can obtain a free copy of Identity Finder Home Edition to help them find and protect personal identity data stored on their computers.

Protecting or removing personal information stored in computers discourages identity theft. But finding Social Security numbers and other sensitive data can be tricky, especially when the information is buried in forgotten files or old e-mails. Identity Finder searches for you.

Copies of the software usually cost $50, but are free to students — thanks to a campus partnership with Identity Finder. More information (for students only) is available online: software.ucdavis.edu; click on “Security Tools,” then “Identity Finder for Students.”

UC Davis already licenses the company’s identity search software for technical staff to use with faculty and staff computers.

The free software offer is an example of the campus’s effort, despite budget cuts, to work with outside partners to help students.

UC idea 50 years ago changed world farming

Fifty years ago in October, four imaginative UC scientists established a new way of thinking about pest control, creating a pest management framework that changed the way the world farms.

The scientists recognized that combining an array of pest control methods would be more effective and safer than using harsh chemicals.

Vernon M. Stern, Ray F. Smith, Robert van den Bosch and Kenneth S. Hagen presented their ideas in a landmark and often-cited article published in the October 1959 agricultural science journal Hilgardia, published by UC’s Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The 20-page paper clearly and concisely described the consequences of pesticide overuse and detailed their vision of a sustainable pest control system, laying the foundation for what is now called integrated pest management.

Three UC IPM advisers discuss the 50th anniversary of IPM in a three-minute video: ucanr.org/anniversary.