Mac Neil Honored for Volunteer Work
Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Sheila Kuehl has selected Patricia Ann Mac Neil of Topanga as the 41st Assembly District’s Woman of the Year for Mac Neil’s volunteer work after last fall’s wildfires.
“She is a real hero,” said Kuehl, a Santa Monica Democrat whose district includes some southwest San Fernando Valley communities. “She saw a need, moved quickly to find a solution by locating the supplies and training the volunteers, and then she put herself on the line when the crisis occurred.”
Mac Neil’s efforts were made more efficient by the nonprofit Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness, which she created in response to the 1993 fires in Calabasas, Topanga and Malibu.
“There was such chaos, with people not knowing what roads were closed or what to do about their animals or what direction the fire was moving in,” Mac Neil recalled.
To avoid such confusion in 1996, Mac Neil and other volunteers communicated via ham radio, telephone and fax and maintained a headquarters at a trailer donated by the Christian Science church. The volunteers staffed the trailer for nearly 48 consecutive hours, answering more than 800 calls from concerned residents.
Mac Neil is a 19-year Topanga resident.
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