Camera snaps 'Thanks' from La Cañada

About 200 La Cañadans turned out Thursday evening to participate in a community photo shoot at Memorial Park. The photo will be printed and sent to firefighters across the country who aided in the fight against the Station fire.

The fire, which began on Aug. 26 near a United States Forest Service ranger station on Angeles Crest Highway just north of La Cañada, is the 10th largest fire in California since 1933. It has claimed two lives, destroyed homes in other communities and burned more than 250 square miles of land within the Angeles National Forest.

According to La Cañada High School PTA President Kathy Hernandez, the idea for a community thank-you photograph was the result of a Sept. 4 meeting of community leaders, during which La Cañada Flintridge Mayor Laura Olhasso and school officials, PTA members, business owners and residents brainstormed about ways to express the town’s gratitude for having been kept safe from harm.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the firefighters and other emergency workers that helped keep our city safe,” Hernandez said. “I’m also proud to be a member of a community that makes such an effort to appreciate the sacrifices that these brave people made to do so.”

Bill Martin, senior vice president of the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies and a resident of La Cañada, arranged for his company to provide the photographer. West Coast Arborists provided a 50-foot boom to elevate the photographer.

Many of the participants were children. Paradise Canyon Elementary fourth-grader Jeremy Herron held a large, hand-painted banner that said, “Thank you for keeping us safe.” He was accompanied by his mother, Yvonne, and the family’s pet dog, a Maltese named Lindsay.

“We are safe,” said Jeremy, a Boy Scout who is also active in local youth sports programs. “I wanted to thank the firefighters.”

Darcy Brakeman, a Palm Crest Elementary fifth-grader and a member of Girl Scout Troop 427, came to the photo shoot because “they saved our house.” When the Brakeman family evacuated, first-grader Callan Brakeman was able to pack a few favorite toys, including a stuffed bunny from her early childhood. Their mother, Kristen, attended the photo shoot with her girls. “I am grateful,” she said.