By Lisa Richwine
PASADENA, California (Reuters) – Members of the St. Helena Fire Department have battled devastating fires in Northern California. Last Thursday, they rolled into Los Angeles at 2 a.m. to assist in the southern part of the state.
One of their white fire trucks stood out among the many red ones parked in the shadow of the famous Rose Bowl football stadium, which has become a base camp that provides support and camaraderie for hundreds of firefighters and emergency workers helping combat the Palisades and Eaton fires.
“They come for us,” said St. Helena fire engineer Martin Macias. “All of these departments came up for our fires.”
Macias and colleague Joshua Wilmoth fought the Glass Fire that decimated vineyards in Napa Valley in 2020 and the 2017 Tubbs Fire, which swept through Santa Rosa and at the time was the most destructive wildfire in California history.
In Los Angeles, the St. Helena team helped homeowners near the Eaton Fire remove furniture and flammable objects from porches and backyards in case the flames spread, Wilmoth said. They were prepared to respond in case high winds stirred new outbreaks.
Asked how they cope with such disasters, the pair said they found support from their colleagues and their shared mission.
“We have a good group of guys,” Wilmoth said, and Macias nodded.
“We all got into this as a service, to make somebody’s day better at the worst time,” Macias said.
“You just get up and go,” he added. “The only hard part is leaving the family.”At the Rose Bowl, firefighters shared meals and slept in tents, mobile trailers or their rigs. Teams work for 24 hours straight and then have 24 hours to rest before going out again.
Crews from the Lathrop Manteca Fire District, also in Northern California, were assigned to scour for hot spots in Altadena, the community hit hard by the Eaton fire.
“Some members in our force had family members’ houses burn down in that area,” said firefighter Cory Vaughn. “We were going through the rubble to see if there was anything we could salvage.”
They found “just a few sentimental coffee mugs and stuff like that,” Vaughn said. “Everything was melted and ash. It was very sad to see.”
“We all rely on each other and kind of lift each other up emotionally,” Vaughn added. “We kind of just carry on and try to accomplish the goals we are here to maintain.”
The firefighters also were encouraged by public support. People have brought food, toiletries, sweatpants and other clothing, and offered handshakes and hugs, said Lathrop Manteca firefighter Justin Hayes.
“To have community members offer support and tell us ‘thank you’ when they’re the ones who lost their house is incredible,” Hayes said. “We’re here to help everybody else and they’re telling us thank you.”
Ben Orrock came to Los Angeles from Lake Tahoe with members of the California Conservation Corps, an organization that provides job training for future firefighters and others.
On their first night, Corps members were staffed on Mount Wilson near vital communications towers when a “slopover” fire started, sending flames across a containment line. His crew, many of them on their first fire, jumped out of their bus to chop down vegetation to create a new barrier.
“It was so exciting and motivating and encouraging to see them just get out there and get after it like they’ve done it a thousand times before,” he said.
Orrock said he was overwhelmed by the generosity he has seen.
“So many donations are being given, food they cooked themselves” he said. “Mom-and-pop restaurants are giving burritos, giving tamales, giving banh mis.”
“That just blows my mind,” he said.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Mary Milliken and Sandra Maler)
Comments