ORANGE COUNTY — When wildfires rip through an area, what happens to the wildlife?

A graduate student at Cal State Long Beach said she hopes to figure out which animals return to the area and why.

Erin Weiner, who’s a part of the Mammal Lab at the university, said she also hopes to help conservationists figure out how to best bring back wildlife to habitats.

Weiner is using images captured on almost 100 motion-sensor cameras to figure out how wildfires affect wildlife in eastern Orange County and the Santa Cruz Mountains.