COMMUNITY WATCH : Fired-Up Volunteers

As we hold our breath in waiting to see how much of the Los Angeles Basin makes it through this year’s fire season uncharred, we cannot help but appreciate those who put their lives on the line to protect our communities. A special group of these valued men and women is to be found in Sierra Madre, a tiny city between Pasadena and Arcadia that has the only all-volunteer fire department in Los Angeles County.

Since 1921 Sierra Madre residents have sacrificed time and effort to maintain the volunteer department’s vital equipment, fight fires and deal with other emergencies. Today 44 men and women carry on that tradition in this San Gabriel Mountains community of 10,000.

Besides being on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the volunteers spend at least 20 or more hours a week in training sessions, field drills, fund raising and meetings. They do all while holding down jobs that range from being a Paramount Pictures executive to working for the Postal Service. Their families too must sacrifice, for home life is disrupted whenever the beeping of phone paging devices sends the firefighters racing to the station house.

Other L.A. County cities--La Habra Heights, Avalon and La Verne--have fire departments whose rosters are partly filled by volunteers. In fact, about half of California’s 522 departments are primarily volunteer, especially those in rural parts of the state.

Our hats are off to all these volunteers and their families. Their sacrifice truly reflects community pride and the spirit of volunteerism.