Chad was in the newspaper

On the front lines

Local strike team helped fight SoCal wildfires

By Robert S. Hong, Staff Writer

Posted: 11/19/2008 10:25:52 PM PST

PASADENA - Stepping out of his still-warm fire engine Wednesday afternoon, firefighter Kevin Ambler described the past six days battling wildfires around Southern California.

"I haven't seen that kind of devastation in a long time," Ambler said.

Led by Pasadena Fire Department Capt. Carlos Alderete, Ambler and his crew from a department "strike team" arrived at their station at Fair Oaks and Dayton Street still dusted with soot.

They had left Pasadena last Thursday evening to help fight the Montecito fire in Santa Barbara, then redeployed to Yorba Linda to assist in this past weekend's Triangle Complex Fire, where 259 homes were destroyed or damaged and 29,000 acres burned.

Working long shifts, the local crew had slept only a couple of hours a night.

"It was really smoky in Montecito - air support had done a lot of work," Alderete said. "In Yorba Linda, there was a lot of fire still burning, and it was sad because a lot of people lost their homes."

Ambler, who lives near the Yorba Linda fire, described walking through a deserted, ashy wasteland at night and noticing how some homes were completely intact, while others had burned to the ground.

"It was very fast-paced," said firefighter AC, pulling his pillow and sleeping gear from a storage compartment on his rig.

Pasadena sent two strike teams, comprised of nine firefighters, to aid in the battle.

Firefighter Manuel White joined the department only three months ago; it was his second time on a strike team.

"It's an adrenaline rush, knowing it's such a large incident," he said. "It was a great experience because you learn while you're out there and build relationships with different fire departments."

Pasadena firefighters also helped residents recover personal items from the rubble of their homes. One pregnant woman was desperate to find her wedding ring and an urn holding her father's ashes, the strike team members said.

As it turned out, the Pasadena crew was able to locate the ashes.

"She was very happy, very emotional," Alderete said.

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