The Cats Can Take the Heat : South Central Panthers Show They Have the Skills and Guts to Fight Southland Firestorms

Helping douse some of the Southland’s worst conflagrations in years, the newly formed South Central Panthers have been baptized by fire--literally.

“It’s been an adventure,” Maurice White, 24, said recently as he helped dig a firebreak, sweating profusely in thick khaki pants and shirt. To combat the intense heat, his face was heavily swathed in a veil, breathing mask and bandanna.

Nineteen of the South Central Panthers, an on-call firefighting unit largely consisting of ex-gang members from rival sets, were called out to battle the Sierra Madre blaze 1 1/2 weeks ago.

As of late last week, the crew had returned to South-Central but is standing by in case other fires flare up.

“It looks like they may be on call out (in the Malibu area) for at least another two weeks,” said Ron Lamount, executive director of the Unemployed Council and manager of the Panthers. “It’s good for them in terms of experience.”

The crew has put in grueling hours and suffered some injuries, but overall has lived up to its biggest challenge to date, Lamount said. Among the firefighters, Jeffrey Williams suffered a swollen knee, Paul Johnson sprained an ankle and Myke Gammage came down with the flu.

But Lamount said that, for the most part, the crew has been in good spirits and glad for the work, which pays $9 to $11.30 per hour.

Upon arriving by bus at Oak Crest Drive in Sierra Madre, the group wasted no time in digging a firebreak along the Mt. Wilson trail, a task that continued through the night, said U. S. Forest Service Capt. Mark Gloss. Panthers worked around the clock securing fire lines, clearing brush and putting out hot spots whenever flames threatened homes.

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Former enemies from such housing projects as Nickerson Gardens, Mar Vista Gardens, Jordan Downs and Imperial Courts were suddenly thrown together on the neutral turf of the forest. Gloss said they worked as a team under pressure-cooker conditions with one goal in mind: putting out fires.

Since forming through a two-week summer job-training program sponsored by the U. S. Forest Service and the Crenshaw-based Unemployed Council, the Panthers have steadily gained media attention for their firefighting efforts.

They were told by the Forest Service that the work they qualified for would come sporadically. They didn’t have to wait long. To date, the Panthers have faced at least a dozen fires and many hope to land permanent firefighting jobs.

For 27-year-old Panther Wallace Bedford, the homecoming was doubly sweet:

He saw his brand-new son, born four days after he left for the Altadena fires, for the first time.