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Firefighters return from battling blazes
Burbank and Glendale battalion chiefs recall the recent fires that they helped fight in Montecito, Sylmar and Yorba Linda.
By Jeremy Oberstein
Burbank and Glendale fire department Battalion Chiefs Kenet Robertson and Corey Creasey did not get much rest after helping to extinguish more than 45,000 acres of fire in three counties.
Robertson and Creasey, who led dozens of firefighters through the hills of Montecito, Yorba Linda and Sylmar last week, returned to work Wednesday where both were asked to pick up their normal pace.
A week ago, however, their job was anything but normal.
At about 11:30 p.m. Nov. 14, Creasey’s team was dispatched to the hills above Sylmar, where a mobile home park was burning at an alarming rate.
Creasey’s Glendale squad arrived at the staging grounds of Olive View Hospital, at the foot of Angeles National Forest, quickly taking stock of the rapidly deteriorating situation.
“All [400] homes around that area were burned down,” he said. “They were done.”
They regrouped three streets below, where the Glendale crew joined a Ventura County strike team to salvage what homes were left standing amid intense heat and wind that whipped up to 75 mph, he said.
But the teams were running dangerously low on water, which was drying up from the hundreds of firefighters tapping into the hydrants in the region.
“When the sun hit the hardest, we ran out of water,” he said. “We had to ask ourselves, how long do we stay in this? Without water we can’t hold it. At that point, all the homes we were protecting were hit on the north side of the street. It burned through houses on Sequoia [Street], and 10 spot fires erupted in other homes. We did well for a little while, but we had to abandon.”
Intense flames complicated their exit as the uncontrollable blaze made it difficult to collect supplies that had been used to fight the fires, Creasey said.
He and his team positioned the fire truck in front of the burning homes to shield themselves from powerful flames as they picked up what remaining materials they had.
The getaway plane, however, was foiled by flames that had reached 200 feet high and choked off exits at every possible point.
“The fire was closing in on us, and the escape route at the bottom was taken out by the fire,” he said. “We went back up the street from where we left and saw the fire burned through Sequoia [Street].”
His team backed the fire truck into a parking lot in the hills to wait out the worst of the fire. Thirty minutes later, they were able to leave the area and returned to help other firefighters shuttle water back up the hill.
Creasey’s crew escaped relatively unharmed.
“I’ve never seen that much fire and that much coordination to save these people’s homes,” he said.
“I don’t think anybody was afraid of their mission,” Creasey said of his firefighters. “They were putting everything on the line to fight these things. All your senses are working, and you’re falling back on your experience and praying that God gives you guidance.”
Burbank Battalion Chief Robertson Robertson’s teams never made it to Sylmar. His strike team, which included Glendale and Pasadena firefighters, was instead heavily engaged in fires that burned Santa Barbara and Orange counties.
At 7:41 p.m. Nov. 13, Robertson led his crew to Montecito, just outside Santa Barbara.
The team was met with strong gusts of wind in the dead of night that whipped smoke and embers around Lower Manning Park, where his crew was assigned.
“At that time of night it was dark,” he said. “Structures were falling down and burning.”
But the worst of the fire had apparently been extinguished by first-response crews, he said. His crew was assigned “mopping up” duties as others moved water hoses and trucks ahead to combat more serious risks posed by what has been called the Tea Fire, which is now 100% contained.
Crews worked through the night, battling danger and fatigue by sleeping on cots and in engines a couple of hours at a time while students from nearby Westmont College slept in their school’s gym, Robertson said.
“The students seemed pretty calm that night,” he said. “Things had settled down by then — just lots of dust and small fires.”
The next morning, things had cooled down from simmering temperatures that had fanned flames through the hills. Crews worked to put out small fires and prevent new blazes from flaring up.
At 5:30 a.m. Nov. 15, Robertson’s crew left the scene, planning to return to their respective home bases.
En route to Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena, however, crews were called to help in the newly ignited fire in Yorba Regional Park, the so-called Freeway Complex Incident.
Robertson’s team went to Yorba Linda, watering down fires in the hills that were close to homes as day turned into night and winds began to swirl.
Unlike in Santa Barbara, the gusts worked with the firefighters to blow away from residential areas and toward the hills, Robertson said.
“It was really shifty that night,” he said.
The fire was fed by natural gas as hundreds of teams descended on the area to prevent further damage.
A total of 1,633 personnel, including 156 engines and 48 crews, responded to the freeway fire that is now completely contained, leaving $16.1 million of damage in its wake.
After helping to contain the fire, Robertson’s crew was sent to Anaheim Hills, where they worked a 24-hour shift before returning Wednesday to Los Angeles County.
In all, his crew was out for six days but sustained no injuries while on the front lines of one of the region’s most devastating fires in recent memory.
“It gets long,” he said. “When things wind down, that’s when families start to miss you. They worry about you because they don’t know. But it’s part of the process.”
JEREMY OBERSTEIN covers business, politics and the foothills. He may be reached at (818) 637-3215 or by e-mail at jeremy.oberstein@ latimes.com.
Robertson and Creasey, who led dozens of firefighters through the hills of Montecito, Yorba Linda and Sylmar last week, returned to work Wednesday where both were asked to pick up their normal pace.
A week ago, however, their job was anything but normal.
At about 11:30 p.m. Nov. 14, Creasey’s team was dispatched to the hills above Sylmar, where a mobile home park was burning at an alarming rate.
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“All [400] homes around that area were burned down,” he said. “They were done.”
They regrouped three streets below, where the Glendale crew joined a Ventura County strike team to salvage what homes were left standing amid intense heat and wind that whipped up to 75 mph, he said.
But the teams were running dangerously low on water, which was drying up from the hundreds of firefighters tapping into the hydrants in the region.
“When the sun hit the hardest, we ran out of water,” he said. “We had to ask ourselves, how long do we stay in this? Without water we can’t hold it. At that point, all the homes we were protecting were hit on the north side of the street. It burned through houses on Sequoia [Street], and 10 spot fires erupted in other homes. We did well for a little while, but we had to abandon.”
Intense flames complicated their exit as the uncontrollable blaze made it difficult to collect supplies that had been used to fight the fires, Creasey said.
He and his team positioned the fire truck in front of the burning homes to shield themselves from powerful flames as they picked up what remaining materials they had.
The getaway plane, however, was foiled by flames that had reached 200 feet high and choked off exits at every possible point.
“The fire was closing in on us, and the escape route at the bottom was taken out by the fire,” he said. “We went back up the street from where we left and saw the fire burned through Sequoia [Street].”
His team backed the fire truck into a parking lot in the hills to wait out the worst of the fire. Thirty minutes later, they were able to leave the area and returned to help other firefighters shuttle water back up the hill.
Creasey’s crew escaped relatively unharmed.
“I’ve never seen that much fire and that much coordination to save these people’s homes,” he said.
“I don’t think anybody was afraid of their mission,” Creasey said of his firefighters. “They were putting everything on the line to fight these things. All your senses are working, and you’re falling back on your experience and praying that God gives you guidance.”
Burbank Battalion Chief Robertson Robertson’s teams never made it to Sylmar. His strike team, which included Glendale and Pasadena firefighters, was instead heavily engaged in fires that burned Santa Barbara and Orange counties.
At 7:41 p.m. Nov. 13, Robertson led his crew to Montecito, just outside Santa Barbara.
The team was met with strong gusts of wind in the dead of night that whipped smoke and embers around Lower Manning Park, where his crew was assigned.
“At that time of night it was dark,” he said. “Structures were falling down and burning.”
But the worst of the fire had apparently been extinguished by first-response crews, he said. His crew was assigned “mopping up” duties as others moved water hoses and trucks ahead to combat more serious risks posed by what has been called the Tea Fire, which is now 100% contained.
Crews worked through the night, battling danger and fatigue by sleeping on cots and in engines a couple of hours at a time while students from nearby Westmont College slept in their school’s gym, Robertson said.
“The students seemed pretty calm that night,” he said. “Things had settled down by then — just lots of dust and small fires.”
The next morning, things had cooled down from simmering temperatures that had fanned flames through the hills. Crews worked to put out small fires and prevent new blazes from flaring up.
At 5:30 a.m. Nov. 15, Robertson’s crew left the scene, planning to return to their respective home bases.
En route to Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena, however, crews were called to help in the newly ignited fire in Yorba Regional Park, the so-called Freeway Complex Incident.
Robertson’s team went to Yorba Linda, watering down fires in the hills that were close to homes as day turned into night and winds began to swirl.
Unlike in Santa Barbara, the gusts worked with the firefighters to blow away from residential areas and toward the hills, Robertson said.
“It was really shifty that night,” he said.
The fire was fed by natural gas as hundreds of teams descended on the area to prevent further damage.
A total of 1,633 personnel, including 156 engines and 48 crews, responded to the freeway fire that is now completely contained, leaving $16.1 million of damage in its wake.
After helping to contain the fire, Robertson’s crew was sent to Anaheim Hills, where they worked a 24-hour shift before returning Wednesday to Los Angeles County.
In all, his crew was out for six days but sustained no injuries while on the front lines of one of the region’s most devastating fires in recent memory.
“It gets long,” he said. “When things wind down, that’s when families start to miss you. They worry about you because they don’t know. But it’s part of the process.”
JEREMY OBERSTEIN covers business, politics and the foothills. He may be reached at (818) 637-3215 or by e-mail at jeremy.oberstein@ latimes.com.
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