Firefighters

U.S. Forest Service and Los Angeles County firefighters used teamwork on Sunday to quickly extinguish a small wildfire that broke out in the Angeles National Forest near the Horse Flats Campground, about 28 miles above La Cañada Flintridge. A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter spotted the blaze at 2:51 p.m. while responding to that day’s fatal motorcycle crash elsewhere on Angeles Crest Highway, said the Forest Service’s Nathan Judy, fire information officer for Angeles National Forest.

Residents began to shower firefighters and other emergency responders with thanks Monday as the Station fire continued to burn in the Angeles National Forest. Whether they had fled their homes to evacuation centers or watched the efforts of local crews on television, residents were quick to offer emotional outpourings of gratitude for what they saw as superhuman efforts. One Foothill Boulevard restaurant owner was so impressed he decided to offer free meals to all who had served on the fire.

As a somber procession Friday morning carried the body of fallen Fire Captain Tedmund “Ted” Hall from North Hollywood to his home in Victorville, firefighters and law enforcement officials lined overpasses along the eastbound 210 Freeway to offer a farewell salute. The Station fire, which started Aug. 26 and still burns in the Angeles National Forest, claimed the lives of Hall, 47, and Specialist Arnaldo Quinones, 34, on Sunday when their truck slid 800 feet off a road while protecting Fire Camp 16 in Palmdale.

Loressa Quinones, the widow of Los Angeles County Fire Specialist Arnaldo “Arnie” Quinones, gave birth to a girl at 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 22. The baby, who weighed just over 8 lbs., was named Sophia Grace, after her paternal and maternal grandmothers. Arnie Quinones, 34, was one of two firefighters killed on Aug. 30 while battling the Station fire, which has burned 250 square miles in Angeles National Forest. Quinones and Capt. Tedmund ‘Ted’ Hall were stationed at Fire Camp 16, one of six inmate fire camps in Los Angeles County run by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Firefighters lost containment of the Station fire above La Cañada Flintridge overnight as flames raged through more than 1,000 acres of brush and jumped the Angeles Crest Highway to move into the Arroyo Seco area, officials said. The blaze has so far burned through a total of 1,500 acres of park land and is 0% contained, the U.S. Forest Service said. It continues to threaten homes and voluntary evacuations have been “strongly advised” for 873 homes north and east of Vista del Valle Road and along Starlight Crest Drive near the La Cañada Flintridge Country Club, the Forest Service said.

Men and women of public safety, including law enforcement officers and firefighters who are at post during Thanksgiving, find a way to celebrate and work at the same time. It's Thanksgiving and families across the nation are sitting down to a meal with their loved ones. But what happens when the stove starts smoking or a burglar is nearby? Who are holiday vacationers going to call? Certainly not the ghost busters. Those with an emergency during Thanksgiving can, as usually, call for firefighters or police.

As the Station fire threatened hundreds of homes in the local foothills, Robyn Yoder, a La Cañada native now working as a brand manager for Microsoft in Seattle tracked the progress of the blaze. “I was following very closely, checking the La Cañada website for hourly updates,” Yoder said. “All the while just amazed that I kept seeing no structures lost, no structures lost. You start to think about the people behind that, and it was just great to see that nobody was hurt.

It was a smoky Sunday in the Foothills. The sun had burned through the inversion layer, an eerie muted-orange. Len and I sat on the porch, hoses at the ready. Watching. Waiting. Suddenly, there was the sound of a new helicopter circling overhead. The hatch opened. A rope extended and a yellow-clad figure began to descend. It was she. The Anonymous Source. The Anonymous Source is an an attractive lady in her 40s who keeps me supplied with long-hidden true accounts of locals.

Tuesday marked the sixth year since Americans watched in disbelief as passenger airplanes were used as weapons to fly into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and crash in a Pennsylvania field, on Sept. 11, 2001. The realization slowly came that terrorists piloted these planes, that thousands had died and nothing was ever going to be the same. Although that day wasengulfed in tragedy it was also a day that exemplified the true meaning of American hero. It was in honor of heroes that Los Angeles County firefighters and engineers from La Cañada Flintridge Station 82 and 19 joined together for a ceremony early Tuesday morning at Station 19 on Foothill Bouelvard.

U.S. Forest Service and Los Angeles County firefighters used teamwork on Sunday to quickly extinguish a small wildfire that broke out in the Angeles National Forest near the Horse Flats Campground, about 28 miles above La Cañada Flintridge. A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter spotted the blaze at 2:51 p.m. while responding to that day’s fatal motorcycle crash elsewhere on Angeles Crest Highway, said the Forest Service’s Nathan Judy, fire information officer for Angeles National Forest.

Local firefighters are lining Foothill Boulevard at Memorial Park this week to collect donations for the L.A. County Fire Department’s annual “Fill the Boot” fundraising campaign for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Firefighters from Station 19 in La Cañada and Station 63 in La Crescenta manned posts alongside MDA volunteers from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday near the corners of Verdugo and La Cañada boulevards. Other shifts will return to the park at those same times on Friday and Saturday, and passersby are encouraged to drop a buck or two in a firefighter’s work boot to support MDA research and family programs.

Firefighters in La Cañada Flintridge are urging homeowners to “harden” their homes against the threat of wildfires by complying with ongoing department brush clearance inspections and taking extra steps to secure their properties against the potential threat of free-flying embers. Since May 1, teams from L.A. County Fire Station 82 on the city's east side have been conducting annual brush clearance inspections at some 450 homes along the La Cañada's forest-adjacent northern perimeter as well as hilly and wooded areas to the south.

Crews quickly put out a 5-acre brush fire Monday afternoon in the hills near the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. More than 100 firefighters responded to the fire in light to medium brush after it was reported about 12:33 p.m. Water-dropping helicopters were brought in as firefighters worked to catch the blaze at a ridge, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Quvondo Johnson. No injuries were reported, and JPL facilities were not damaged, officials said. The fire was knocked down at 1:53 p.m. A spokeswoman for JPL said operations at the campus were unaffected.

Los Angeles County Firefighter Specialist Anthony Ramirez — better known by his middle name, Pete — returned to work Saturday at Fire Station 82 in La Cañada Flintridge after taking part last week in search-and-rescue missions along the tsunami-devastated coastline of Japan. Ramirez is a member of the elite California Task Force 2, one of only two wholly self-sufficient international disaster response teams in the country. The 74-member team of firefighters, doctors, paramedics, engineers, logisticians, hazmat technicians and other specialists carries tens of thousands of pounds of rescue and survival gear.

Two local firefighters who specialize in disaster response are part of an international team deploying to New Zealand, which was hit Tuesday with a 6.3-magnitude earthquake. Capt. Chris Swartz and Firefighter Specialist Anthony Ramirez, both of L.A. County Fire Station 82 in La Cañada Flintridge, are headed to Christchurch, the island nation’s second-largest city. Swartz and Ramirez are part of California Task Force 2, a self-sufficient 74-member urban search-and-rescue team that carries 55,000 pounds of equipment and can operate around the clock in split shifts, said L.A. County Fire Battalion Chief Ron Larriva.

Los Angeles County officials on Monday dedicated a section of the Angeles Forest Highway in honor of two firefighters who died last year while battling the Station fire. The 25-mile stretch of mountainous roadway, which cuts through the Angeles National Forest south of Sierra Highway near Acton before connecting to Angeles Crest Highway, is now known as the Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Ted Hall and Engineer Arnie Quinones Memorial Highway. The two veteran Los Angeles County firefighters were protecting an evacuation route for members of the remote Fire Camp 16 on Aug. 30, 2009, when their truck was overcome by the advancing fire, veered off a dirt roadway near Mt. Gleason and plunged hundreds of feet into a canyon.

With fire season bearing down, Los Angeles County firefighters from La Cañada's Station 82 and Station 19 are conducting daily property inspections to ensure hazards have been properly cleared from structures, fire officials said this week. The inspections, which began in May and will continue through this month, are concentrated along the city's northern perimeter where hundreds of homes are built into the foothills of the Angeles National Forest. Property owners are required to clear brush 200 feet from structures or to the property line, Capt.

Fallout surrounding firefighting tactics used during the Station fire intensified this week as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) joined Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich in calling for a federal investigation. “I think there have been sufficient questions raised about whether the early stages of the fire could have been handled differently that may have resulted in a much better outcome, and that a federal investigation is warranted,” Schiff said Tuesday. Inquiries center around whether the U.S. Forest Service was sufficiently aggressive in its tactics during the first 48 hours of the fire — specifically, whether a targeted aerial attack might have subdued the blaze before it grew out of control.

Letters to the Editor Oak tree should have been saved In regard to the article by Megan O’Neil in the Sept. 24 edition of the Valley Sun [“City Council votes to cut down dying oak”], the subject of the cutting down of the dying oak at 4341 Encinas Drive, I took it upon myself to visit this particular area and found how utterly ridiculous Mayor Laura Olhasso and Councilmembers Gregory Brown and David Spence were on suggesting the removal of a perfectly good oak tree, as sound as this tree is. It’s obvious that someone just wants to rid the area of this particular tree, maybe because it blocks his or her view or maybe other reasons to satisfy their own needs.