Delivering Hometown Attentiveness

It all began when a parched Southern California, suddenly became the victim of a monster rainstorm, the likes of which it had not seen in more than two years. Every community from the city to the "burbs" had its' own war stories of how the massive drenching took it's toll on their corner of the world. Traffic accidents, floodings, collapsed roofs, fallen trees and power lines; there was no shortage of personal accounts. But, the real damage would occur in a small enclave of about 54 homes, just north of the city of San Dimas, a foothill community about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. A giant wall of mud, about two feet deep, slid down, trapping residents from their comings and goings. San Dimas is no stranger to calamity. Less than six months ago, a huge wildland fire, blackened the hills above the city, and damaged or destroyed scores of homes. This mudslide is typically what happens in Los Angeles after a large brush fire.

As in most cases, the mission that caught national news attention, in both of these small disasters, was what we as firefighters are best known for: "Protection of life, property and the environment and providing for incident stabilization". You know