Vulnerable Agua Dulce Braces for the Big One

With the San Andreas fault running right through town, Agua Dulce residents have a lot to be concerned about in the event of the Big One.

“We are sitting ducks out here,” said Stewart Aleshire, who has started up a volunteer disaster-preparedness program at the Agua Dulce Airpark.

After the Jan. 17 quake wrecked local freeways and cut off Agua Dulce from Los Angeles, radios and small planes at the airpark--nestled in the canyons north of the Antelope Valley Freeway--provided much of the emergency transportation and communication.

To expand disaster response efforts, Aleshire teamed up with two Agua Dulce pilots to form the Agua Dulce Airpark Center for Emergency Services. With a volunteer corps of radio operators, trained nurses and rescue workers, the center can provide a range of emergency services.

To spread the word on the disaster relief center, the airpark held an open house--or open hangar--to demonstrate how the radios can be used to call Los Angeles County officials for help and send messages to relatives and loved ones. Small planes took off to show how they will scout the area for fires, crumbled buildings and injured people.

All 23 hangar owners at the airpark have agreed to operate radios or fly aircraft in the event of a major disaster, said Gary Hart-shorn, a pilot and disaster center organizer. Hartshorn also wants each resident of Agua Dulce to buy a citizens-band radio that can be plugged into a car cigarette lighter.

“Then you know someone will hear you,” Hartshorn said.

Pointing to a ranch-style house next to the runway, Hartshorn said, “I live there and if I need to, I can hike it down the hill to my plane.” He said he flew to work in Glendale while the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways were being repaired.

Although the fault line is only half a mile from the end of the airpark, Hartshorn says he believes the paved runway will be usable no matter what happens to it.

“Even if we really get trashed, the planes can land and take off,” Hartshorn said. The runway is 4,600 feet long, and all the small planes that operate from the airpark can land on a strip of only 2,300 feet, he said.