Offering Thanks for the Work of Firefighters

The opening prayer will be Catholic. The benediction will be Jewish. And in between are Episcopal, Lutheran, Baptist and other Protestant prayers. But the message is the same in any religion: Thanks.

The service, “After the Altadena Fire: A Community Gathering of Thanks and Appreciation For Those Who Served,” is scheduled at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Altadena on Sunday. Dedicated to the firefighters and others who helped save homes or lives during the fire that swept through the community in late October, it is organized by ACTS (Altadena Congregations Together Serving), a group representing eight Catholic, Jewish and Protestant congregations.

Heroes and the victims they saved will be on hand along with the mayors of Pasadena and Sierra Madre, Sheriff’s Department officials and politicians at the service and reception, said the Rev. Gordon Gibbs of the Altadena Congregational Church.

The community “has an emotional and spiritual need to give thanks,” he said. “And at the same time, it’s to say, ‘We got through it.’ ”

A commemorative plaque of the fire and the community’s healing, commissioned and presented by Gregory Norden, Altadena Town Council chairman, will also be unveiled and eventually affixed at the town hall.

Members of ACTS used funds from their stipends as volunteers at St. Luke Medical Center to host the service, Norden said.

St. Elizabeth Catholic Church is at Lake Avenue and Woodbury Road in Altadena. The service is from 2 to 3 p.m. and the reception is from 3 to 4 p.m. Information: (818) 798-6747.