La Cañada salutes Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew, which helped during massive Station fire
In 2009, when La Cañada Flintridge was on the frontline of the massive Station fire, Eldon Horst, recalled thinking how impossible it would be to clear the brush from a nearby canyon in time.
But members of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew, who were there to assist with the massive inter-agency firefighting effort, did just that. His hillside neighborhood home near Angeles National Forest was saved.
Fallen Arizona firefighters: Who they were
“Their work saved our neighborhood, possibly our city,” Horst said during a City Council meeting on Monday night. “Tonight, I want to publicly thank the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshots for their work here in La Cañada and I want their family and friends to know that every time I see ground crews doing wildfire work, they will always be remembered.”
The recognition came as the nation mourned the loss of 19 members of the elite Hotshot Crew who died Sunday when they were overtaken by a fast moving wildfire in Arizona.
La Cañada Mayor Laura Olhasso adjourned the meeting in memory of the firefighters.
“They’ll be in our hearts and our prayers,” she said.
-- Tiffany Kelly, tiffany.kelly@latimes.com
Follow on Google+ and on Twitter: @LATiffanyKelly.
RELATED:
Obama on Arizona firefighter deaths: ‘They were heroes’
Arizona wildfire: ‘We could lose everything’ is a shared fear