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Hey, humans. How's it going? Susan Ruth here.

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Thanks for listening to another episode

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of Hey Human podcast.

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This is episode 446,

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and my guest

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is Garrett Clancy.

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Garrett is the chief of the Bell Canyon

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volunteer

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wildfire

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fire department.

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In that capacity, he's a type one firefighter

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and EMT,

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and they're public information

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officer.

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He's also an army veteran,

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served in the national guard.

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He was a military police officer, and he's

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a filmmaker.

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So but we concentrate on the firefighting part

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because

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we just had all those fires, and he

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was the head of his

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team to keep his area of LA, Bell

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Canyon,

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protected from the recent

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craziness of wildfires.

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And

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are they wildfires when one fire starts another

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fire? I don't I'm not sure, but

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it was wild. So I'm just gonna go

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with it. I have a bit of a

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head cold, so

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excuse my

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schnozzles,

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my schnozzie schnozz sounds.

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And a lot of chaotic right now. I'm

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moving out of Santa Monica into a different

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part of LA,

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And,

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so there's just lots going on.

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I did see a funny movie. My friend

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George Gallo, who I interviewed on this podcast,

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and it's a great episode.

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Of course, if I were smart, I would

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know which episode number it is. And I

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do know it off the top of my

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head, but it's a really good one if

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you wanna go back and listen.

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Anyway, his film,

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The Comeback Trail,

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that he wrote with a guy named Josh

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and he directed, and it stars Morgan Freeman

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and Tommy Lee Jones

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and

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Robert De Niro and Zach Braff, and,

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it is so funny. Oh my gosh.

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It's hilarious. I I had a great time.

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The whole audience cracked up, which is always

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fun because things are so stressful these days

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with just the world.

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It was good to laugh for an hour

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and a half. I think it's on

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Apple TV and Amazon

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Prime,

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although I'm trying not to do anything with

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Amazon right now. I feel like it's somewhere

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else. Oh, it's gonna be in select theaters

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too. Anyway, he's a friend of mine. Don't

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get paid to say it, but it was

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a really fun movie.

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And if you're into funny

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I recommend it. George is the guy that,

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did

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Midnight Run, which if you've never seen Midnight

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Run, oh my gosh. That is a great

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movie.

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But I digress. Oh, he also did Bad

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Boys.

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That's a whole other thing. Anyway,

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yeah.

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So check out heyhumanpodcast.com

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for links and to learn more about my

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guests and the show. Hey Human Podcast is

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on YouTube under official Susan Ruth. I'm on

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Patreon at Susan Ruthism,

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though I admit I have been woeful about

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Patreon.

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And my TikTok and Instagram is Susan Ruthism.

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Been woeful about that too. Check out susanruth.com

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to learn more about me and my other

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artistic endeavors and find my albums on Spotify,

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Apple Music, Amazon Music, wherever you get your

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music. Rate, review, and subscribe to Hey Human

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podcast on Apple, iHeart, Spotify, wherever you get

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your podcasts.

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Thank you.

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Be well.

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Thank you for listening.

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Take care of each other. Take care of

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yourself.

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And

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here we go.

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Derek Clancy, welcome to Hey Human.

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Thank you. Let's jump right in. Where did

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you grow up? Are you from California?

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No. I'm not from California, but I have

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lived here more than half my life now.

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I'm from a little town North Of Boston

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called Georgetown,

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and so I mainly grew up in Massachusetts.

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But

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the thing about my town is they have

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the oldest

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continuously

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operating,

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private slash volunteer fire department in the country.

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My neighbors were the guys that were the

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volunteer fire fire department in the town and,

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you know,

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had whatever job they had, working at the

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local hardware store, getting a call, and and

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then becoming the becoming a fireman instantly.

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So I saw that and I I thought

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that was pretty cool and,

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I wanted to do that. What's the big

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difference between the volunteer firefighting groups and the

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and and a regular firefighting

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team?

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Pay.

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I I mean, in terms of,

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knowledge or or requirements.

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I figured you probably were doing it for

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free. Yeah. Yeah.

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Somewhere between 7882%

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of of all departments in America are fully

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volunteer.

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Here in California, we have 450

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volunteer fire departments,

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and across the country, 18,000.

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So they make up the bulk of, you

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know, first responders.

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Now in some

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small cities where they have a volunteer fire

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department, they're always gonna have, you know, maybe

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a paid chief and, one or two, maybe

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a captain that that that's also paid in

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full time. But those folks are doing the

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same thing that, you know, the LA City

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Firefighters or the LA County Firefighters are doing.

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In the smaller towns, there's, you know, less

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of that and less frequency of

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structure fires or hazmat incidences.

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But, you know, for the most part, the

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volunteer firefighters in in across the country are

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are are well trained, but just, you know,

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they're not doing it all the time. But

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in in even in the middle of nowhere,

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which is a lot of the country,

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rather than waiting an hour for the local

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city ambulance or fire department to come, folks

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have put together

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volunteer fire departments so they can get quicker

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help. I guess it's it's a pretty noble

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I always viewed it as that, as a

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noble service, I guess, community service. It's definitely

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a noble service. I think running toward fire

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is not something the average person would do.

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I imagine, especially in California, that

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communities

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are more and more leaning toward having their

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own private

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forces that are separate. Is that also part

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of the the main firefighters, or is that

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part of the volunteer firefighters? Because I I

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think they're hired guns.

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Some insurance companies, big ones, like, they'll send

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in a truck, a small

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what's it called? The type six truck, like

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a pickup truck that has a tank on

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the back and and water flowing capabilities. We

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have two of those in our department. But

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they'll come in, and they'll go to one

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or two houses that have the insurance carrier,

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the same insurance carrier, and they'll spray foam

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on the house, protect that house, but they're

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not there to fight

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the the general fire.

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What's happened since the pallet now the reform

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because of the Woolsey fire in in 02/2018,

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a direct result of that. We lost 40

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homes in my community in Bell Canyon. Since

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then, because of the Palisades

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fire and the Eaton fire, I think five

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communities have reached out to us

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saying that they wanna form

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brigades, you know, for the most part, or

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or volunteer fire pumps in their community, and

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could we advise them?

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So it's gonna be I believe it's gonna

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be the new norm, especially in California. And

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the reason is, listen, during,

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you know, the the recent huge

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fires, bigger than we've ever had, seven states

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and three countries sent,

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resources, fire resources. So,

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I I mean, on on

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the simplest level, there's just not enough firefighters

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and resources

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to cover

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those type of incidents.

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And if you got everybody on those big

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incidents, that was our fear at Bell Canyon,

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because there were so many resources dedicated to

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the Palisades fire and and so many more

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dedicated to the Eaton fire and even a

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couple of other small fires. We felt vulnerable

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like we're gonna be on our own here.

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And our mission by the way, my department

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mission is we don't leave Belle Canyon, we

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stay. And I I'll talk about why, afterwards.

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But

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we did have a fire breakout. We had

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the, Kenneth fire breakout right on the edge

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of our our our community. And so we

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were you know, we had 24 members of

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our department up there,

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and we were the only department on this

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side of the fire. Had the fire come

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closer, I know that we would have gotten

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resources from LA City, Ventura County Fire, because

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we're in Ventura County. But in those moments,

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while we were watching the fire moving, we

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were alone. And there were a couple of

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sheriff's deputies with us, but that's it.

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So we knew that, we were the front

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line. So the reason we, have a mission

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of

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not providing mutual aid,

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not that we wouldn't help, you know, somebody

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right outside our our our gate or whatever,

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is

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because we felt that

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the reason we lost homes in the Woolsey

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Fire is because the agencies left. They went

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somewhere else, which is which is what happened.

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Now knowing what I know from

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the firefighter training I've been involved in over

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the past five years,

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they made the call that they felt they

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needed to make given the the weather

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behavior at the time, the fire weather behavior.

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They they couldn't know that the winds were

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gonna shift

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overnight and then come to the other side

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of Bell Canyon and take out those homes.

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And also we had a water main break

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and so there was no hydrant pressure

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for much of the canyon.

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Now we've actually adapted a secondary firefighting plan

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with our department to address an issue like

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that if it were to happen again, and

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that's a pool fighting firefighting component.

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We have a lot of swimming pools in

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there, a a ton. And we have pumps

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that we have on the department. We've encouraged

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residents to buy their own pumps, and a

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lot of them have. And so we can,

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in essence, fill fire trucks

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all day long. We'll never run out of

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water. You know, it's a little bit

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less convenient than hooking up to a hydrant.

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It takes a little bit more time, but

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we could fill fire trucks, and we can

274
00:09:45,664 --> 00:09:48,000
also fight fires from those pools. I feel

275
00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:49,139
like moving forward

276
00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:51,440
for those who don't know, and I'm sure

277
00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:53,600
most people who are listening do know, when

278
00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:54,259
the fires

279
00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:58,399
there were seven active fires happening at the

280
00:09:58,399 --> 00:10:01,485
same time, which along with these incredible

281
00:10:02,585 --> 00:10:03,804
gale force winds

282
00:10:04,424 --> 00:10:04,924
and

283
00:10:05,465 --> 00:10:07,304
I mean, I remember standing in my yard

284
00:10:07,304 --> 00:10:07,804
watching.

285
00:10:08,105 --> 00:10:09,625
It was like being in the middle of

286
00:10:09,625 --> 00:10:11,245
some crazy movie set.

287
00:10:11,625 --> 00:10:14,264
I'm wondering if moving forward, it wouldn't be

288
00:10:14,264 --> 00:10:14,764
hoof

289
00:10:15,289 --> 00:10:17,709
all Californias and all

290
00:10:18,730 --> 00:10:19,230
people

291
00:10:19,610 --> 00:10:22,169
in areas where fires could happen. I mean,

292
00:10:22,169 --> 00:10:23,769
fire can happen anywhere. But if you have

293
00:10:23,769 --> 00:10:24,429
a pool,

294
00:10:24,809 --> 00:10:27,370
it seems like a no brainer. Have something

295
00:10:27,370 --> 00:10:29,289
that will pump it out. I I feel

296
00:10:29,289 --> 00:10:31,315
like moving forward, that's going to be

297
00:10:31,695 --> 00:10:32,274
the thing.

298
00:10:32,815 --> 00:10:35,054
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. It is. And it's

299
00:10:35,054 --> 00:10:37,455
funny because we've been pushing residents to do

300
00:10:37,455 --> 00:10:38,195
that for

301
00:10:38,654 --> 00:10:41,134
a couple of years. And then during the

302
00:10:41,134 --> 00:10:43,375
the week of the fire, everybody suddenly finally

303
00:10:43,375 --> 00:10:44,815
decided that that's when they were gonna get

304
00:10:44,815 --> 00:10:47,129
one. So we were running around, you know,

305
00:10:47,129 --> 00:10:49,450
we were on full fire watch, but running

306
00:10:49,450 --> 00:10:50,809
around to folks,

307
00:10:51,210 --> 00:10:53,050
residents' homes and and helping them set up

308
00:10:53,050 --> 00:10:55,210
these pumps. We couldn't say no at that

309
00:10:55,210 --> 00:10:57,210
point. Right? Yeah. Are you geared up in

310
00:10:57,210 --> 00:10:59,129
this case when you are getting ready to

311
00:10:59,129 --> 00:11:01,544
face the line? Do you have the same

312
00:11:01,684 --> 00:11:03,764
safety? We have the same we do. Yeah.

313
00:11:03,764 --> 00:11:06,884
So we're we're wildland we're we're called the

314
00:11:06,884 --> 00:11:09,284
the Bell Canyon Volunteer Wildland Fire Department. The

315
00:11:09,284 --> 00:11:10,964
reason we have the word wildland is to

316
00:11:10,964 --> 00:11:12,345
make the distinction between

317
00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:16,079
city structural firefighters and what wildland firefighters do,

318
00:11:16,079 --> 00:11:18,799
but we're not even really wildland firefighters because

319
00:11:18,799 --> 00:11:20,480
what we live in is something called the

320
00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:20,980
urban

321
00:11:21,519 --> 00:11:22,740
wildland interface.

322
00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:25,440
So it's the home, we have our homes

323
00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:29,054
and surrounding the homes is, the wilderness, right?

324
00:11:29,115 --> 00:11:32,735
So we're not doing what traditional wildland firefighters

325
00:11:32,955 --> 00:11:34,634
do, which is to trek in with a

326
00:11:34,634 --> 00:11:36,715
bunch of gear, sometimes miles to fight a

327
00:11:36,715 --> 00:11:37,215
fire.

328
00:11:37,595 --> 00:11:40,180
You know, we don't we're here, right? And

329
00:11:40,180 --> 00:11:42,820
we're wearing the PPE, protective gear that wildland

330
00:11:42,820 --> 00:11:44,899
firefighters wear the same stuff and using the

331
00:11:44,899 --> 00:11:47,700
same tools, but we're not having to go

332
00:11:47,700 --> 00:11:49,700
anywhere to do that. It's just it's here.

333
00:11:49,700 --> 00:11:51,000
And the reason we don't

334
00:11:51,300 --> 00:11:53,940
didn't bother to do this the interior structure

335
00:11:53,940 --> 00:11:54,440
training,

336
00:11:55,144 --> 00:11:58,285
It's very expensive. Just buying the, the SCBA

337
00:11:58,585 --> 00:12:01,544
masks would be prohibitively expensive for for our

338
00:12:01,544 --> 00:12:02,205
our department.

339
00:12:02,585 --> 00:12:04,184
We don't need to. We have it's very

340
00:12:04,184 --> 00:12:05,945
rare that we have an a fire in

341
00:12:05,945 --> 00:12:08,399
Bell Canyon in in a house, and we

342
00:12:08,399 --> 00:12:09,519
have 780

343
00:12:09,519 --> 00:12:11,759
homes approximately, and we have LA City Fire

344
00:12:11,759 --> 00:12:14,080
to do that. They're gonna take ten minutes

345
00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:16,480
to fifteen minutes longer than the normal response

346
00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,159
time. But in that period of time, it's

347
00:12:18,159 --> 00:12:20,080
happened already twice. We get there. We can

348
00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:21,440
set things up. We can make sure people

349
00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:23,240
are out of the house. We can make

350
00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:25,576
sure that the properties surrounding the house are

351
00:12:25,576 --> 00:12:28,203
protected. We can shut off utilities, and we

352
00:12:28,203 --> 00:12:30,831
can also give and the last time this

353
00:12:30,831 --> 00:12:33,166
happened, we were able to radio to LA

354
00:12:33,166 --> 00:12:35,502
City Fire as they were coming in where

355
00:12:35,502 --> 00:12:37,838
exactly the best entrance for this big house

356
00:12:37,838 --> 00:12:40,149
was because we had already assessed that.

357
00:12:40,529 --> 00:12:41,889
And I heard it go out over their

358
00:12:41,889 --> 00:12:44,450
radio, and they just took they they took

359
00:12:44,450 --> 00:12:45,889
our word. They took us out our word,

360
00:12:45,889 --> 00:12:46,789
which is which

361
00:12:47,410 --> 00:12:49,649
yeah. We're a new department, and we're not

362
00:12:49,649 --> 00:12:50,470
a full department.

363
00:12:51,144 --> 00:12:53,644
We're supplement, and there have been some

364
00:12:54,424 --> 00:12:56,264
it's taken a while for them, the bigger

365
00:12:56,264 --> 00:12:56,764
firefighter,

366
00:12:57,144 --> 00:12:59,705
the fire departments that serve us to accept

367
00:12:59,705 --> 00:13:00,445
us, and

368
00:13:00,904 --> 00:13:02,264
I don't know if they'll they'll ever accept

369
00:13:02,264 --> 00:13:03,705
us. And I don't expect that they they

370
00:13:03,705 --> 00:13:05,225
would. We're never gonna be their peers, and

371
00:13:05,225 --> 00:13:07,120
we're not in competition with them. We don't

372
00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:09,279
wanna be their peers. You know, now that

373
00:13:09,279 --> 00:13:11,439
they've seen on many, many occasions, because we've

374
00:13:11,439 --> 00:13:13,699
done 620 calls in four years,

375
00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:15,539
many occasions, they've

376
00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:18,639
they've worked with us, and there hasn't been

377
00:13:18,639 --> 00:13:20,654
an issue. There's never been an issue. They've

378
00:13:20,654 --> 00:13:22,414
never said, you know, you guys need to

379
00:13:22,414 --> 00:13:23,934
move or you need to you know, it's

380
00:13:24,575 --> 00:13:26,414
in fact, the the fire that we had

381
00:13:26,414 --> 00:13:28,495
on July 21 in here, the Brush Fire,

382
00:13:28,495 --> 00:13:30,654
we were on scene twelve minutes before the

383
00:13:30,654 --> 00:13:31,154
first

384
00:13:31,534 --> 00:13:32,914
outside agency came.

385
00:13:33,500 --> 00:13:35,820
We we essentially saved the house and we

386
00:13:35,820 --> 00:13:38,059
were in that backyard fighting the fire that

387
00:13:38,059 --> 00:13:40,299
was coming up the hill. And when the

388
00:13:40,299 --> 00:13:42,860
first agencies came on, on the scene, they

389
00:13:42,860 --> 00:13:44,940
came and saw what we were doing, all

390
00:13:44,940 --> 00:13:47,179
wearing the right gear, the safety gear. Our

391
00:13:47,179 --> 00:13:49,294
trucks were hooked up to hoses. We were

392
00:13:49,294 --> 00:13:50,654
putting water on the fire, and they just

393
00:13:50,654 --> 00:13:52,115
said, great. Fantastic.

394
00:13:52,575 --> 00:13:54,095
We're gonna go work up here. You guys,

395
00:13:54,095 --> 00:13:55,554
you have this area. And

396
00:13:56,174 --> 00:13:58,014
they just accepted us. And that was a

397
00:13:58,014 --> 00:13:59,695
big day for us because that was the

398
00:13:59,695 --> 00:14:01,980
first big fire that we had since we

399
00:14:01,980 --> 00:14:04,300
formed. Most of our calls are, just, you

400
00:14:04,300 --> 00:14:06,620
know, neighborhood type calls. We do a lot

401
00:14:06,620 --> 00:14:09,500
of rattlesnake removals, like a lot, 60 or

402
00:14:09,500 --> 00:14:11,860
70 a year. We relocate the rattlesnakes, we

403
00:14:11,860 --> 00:14:13,759
we don't kill them. You don't make boots.

404
00:14:14,054 --> 00:14:15,975
We don't make boots. No. And we and

405
00:14:15,975 --> 00:14:17,414
we just do a lot of okay. So

406
00:14:17,414 --> 00:14:18,934
I'll give you an example. We got a

407
00:14:18,934 --> 00:14:21,254
call on our emergency line 05:30 in the

408
00:14:21,254 --> 00:14:24,294
morning last week. A woman who lives up

409
00:14:24,294 --> 00:14:27,014
the street from me said, there's an animal

410
00:14:27,014 --> 00:14:28,134
in my pool. I can't see what it

411
00:14:28,134 --> 00:14:29,835
is, but it's splashing. It's big.

412
00:14:30,340 --> 00:14:32,659
So I called one of my captains who

413
00:14:32,659 --> 00:14:34,419
I knew would would would get up at

414
00:14:34,419 --> 00:14:36,019
that time in the morning. We went out

415
00:14:36,019 --> 00:14:37,480
there, and it happened to be a dog.

416
00:14:37,539 --> 00:14:39,539
A dog was drowning in the pool. And

417
00:14:39,539 --> 00:14:40,759
we saved the dog,

418
00:14:41,379 --> 00:14:43,559
and now he's he's up for adoption. But,

419
00:14:44,725 --> 00:14:46,324
so calls like that, you know. And we

420
00:14:46,324 --> 00:14:47,605
get a lot of calls like that in

421
00:14:47,605 --> 00:14:49,684
our community. You know, hey. My dog is

422
00:14:49,684 --> 00:14:52,164
lost. Hey. My tortoise is lost. That's four

423
00:14:52,164 --> 00:14:54,485
times we've had those calls. Or someone has

424
00:14:54,485 --> 00:14:55,924
found a tortoise and we've had to find

425
00:14:55,924 --> 00:14:56,584
the owner.

426
00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:59,279
So stuff like that, and just minor stuff.

427
00:14:59,279 --> 00:15:01,519
Many times the city fire department will come

428
00:15:01,519 --> 00:15:02,019
in

429
00:15:02,399 --> 00:15:04,160
to a minor traffic accident or something like

430
00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:05,279
that. They'll see that we have it under

431
00:15:05,279 --> 00:15:06,879
control. They'll literally wave and say, You guys

432
00:15:06,879 --> 00:15:08,240
got it? And they'll turn right around and

433
00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:08,740
leave.

434
00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:09,860
It's complimentary,

435
00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:10,740
you know?

436
00:15:11,075 --> 00:15:13,394
Absolutely. Las Torres is also a great name

437
00:15:13,394 --> 00:15:14,914
for a band, if anyone thinks Yeah. Yeah.

438
00:15:14,914 --> 00:15:17,154
There you go. For a band name. Yeah.

439
00:15:17,154 --> 00:15:18,215
Yeah. Yeah.

440
00:15:18,835 --> 00:15:19,975
What about emergency

441
00:15:20,434 --> 00:15:22,514
medical? Do you get called to that? Because

442
00:15:22,514 --> 00:15:24,274
I imagine you all have that kind of

443
00:15:24,274 --> 00:15:24,774
training.

444
00:15:25,709 --> 00:15:27,309
Yeah. All of us on the department have

445
00:15:27,309 --> 00:15:29,889
at least a standard Red Cross first aid,

446
00:15:30,589 --> 00:15:33,230
CPR AED training. We have seven EMTs. I'm

447
00:15:33,230 --> 00:15:34,990
one of those EMTs. So we can provide

448
00:15:34,990 --> 00:15:36,909
a higher level. What I've told the local

449
00:15:36,909 --> 00:15:37,409
agencies,

450
00:15:38,029 --> 00:15:39,089
because they've asked,

451
00:15:39,965 --> 00:15:40,465
because

452
00:15:41,565 --> 00:15:43,665
that's most calls that any fire department has.

453
00:15:43,804 --> 00:15:46,065
Like 80% of calls are medical calls.

454
00:15:47,165 --> 00:15:48,144
And if you have

455
00:15:49,004 --> 00:15:51,825
a certified EMS component to your department,

456
00:15:52,205 --> 00:15:52,945
it's a complicated,

457
00:15:53,325 --> 00:15:55,620
you know, program or system, you know, you

458
00:15:55,620 --> 00:15:57,620
gotta be in touch with doctors at the

459
00:15:57,620 --> 00:16:00,340
local hospitals. There's a medical director. We don't

460
00:16:00,340 --> 00:16:02,019
have that because we don't need it. What

461
00:16:02,019 --> 00:16:03,159
we do is

462
00:16:03,539 --> 00:16:05,700
essentially we're good Samaritans with better training and

463
00:16:05,700 --> 00:16:08,100
better equipment. And so we've responded to many

464
00:16:08,100 --> 00:16:09,000
medical calls,

465
00:16:09,595 --> 00:16:12,315
and we can stabilize a patient before, you

466
00:16:12,315 --> 00:16:14,735
know, LAFD rolls up with their paramedics

467
00:16:15,434 --> 00:16:16,975
or their BOS and

468
00:16:17,674 --> 00:16:20,075
it's worked out great. The more complicated calls

469
00:16:20,075 --> 00:16:22,634
where people have, you know, serious fractures, I'm

470
00:16:22,634 --> 00:16:24,269
more than happy to see them roll off

471
00:16:24,350 --> 00:16:25,490
with their better equipment

472
00:16:26,029 --> 00:16:28,269
and experience and and to take over. But,

473
00:16:28,269 --> 00:16:30,370
yeah, in a in a, like, a cardiac

474
00:16:30,429 --> 00:16:33,870
arrest situation or a a bleeding situation that

475
00:16:33,870 --> 00:16:35,790
could lead to to death because it's a

476
00:16:35,790 --> 00:16:37,490
significant bleed, that

477
00:16:38,075 --> 00:16:40,154
ten to twelve to fifteen minutes that we're

478
00:16:40,154 --> 00:16:40,654
shaving,

479
00:16:41,355 --> 00:16:43,434
it could really mean literally be life or

480
00:16:43,434 --> 00:16:45,514
death. Yeah. This is why also I think

481
00:16:45,514 --> 00:16:47,774
it's so important that every home should have

482
00:16:47,835 --> 00:16:51,054
the kind of emergency go bag that includes

483
00:16:51,115 --> 00:16:51,934
things like

484
00:16:52,549 --> 00:16:54,250
wound care, bleed stop,

485
00:16:54,629 --> 00:16:56,730
some basic things that can be used

486
00:16:57,269 --> 00:16:59,509
if help is going to be ten, fifteen

487
00:16:59,509 --> 00:17:02,089
minutes. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Exactly.

488
00:17:02,870 --> 00:17:04,009
We started out

489
00:17:04,549 --> 00:17:05,049
just

490
00:17:05,670 --> 00:17:06,809
as a way to

491
00:17:08,035 --> 00:17:09,955
fight the next fire, which we knew it

492
00:17:09,955 --> 00:17:11,955
would come, and it will. Right? But then

493
00:17:11,955 --> 00:17:14,035
we decided, you know what? We can do

494
00:17:14,035 --> 00:17:16,035
more. Folks are calling us for everything anyways.

495
00:17:16,035 --> 00:17:17,634
We might as well just make that part

496
00:17:17,634 --> 00:17:19,335
of our our system. Like, you know,

497
00:17:20,579 --> 00:17:22,500
a resident called and said, hey. My kid's,

498
00:17:22,900 --> 00:17:23,960
locked in the car.

499
00:17:24,819 --> 00:17:26,740
Like, we went over there. We couldn't really

500
00:17:26,740 --> 00:17:29,059
do anything other than smash a window with

501
00:17:29,059 --> 00:17:31,079
one of our axes. We didn't because

502
00:17:31,460 --> 00:17:34,325
AAA came. But then we saw what AAA

503
00:17:34,325 --> 00:17:36,085
had, the lockout kit, and we just bought

504
00:17:36,085 --> 00:17:38,085
one. So now we have one. The stuff

505
00:17:38,085 --> 00:17:39,365
like that, you know, that we've done to

506
00:17:39,365 --> 00:17:42,164
to build into a a more multi service

507
00:17:42,164 --> 00:17:42,664
department.

508
00:17:43,605 --> 00:17:45,444
I grew up in Washington state, and now

509
00:17:45,444 --> 00:17:46,424
I live in California.

510
00:17:46,804 --> 00:17:48,210
These are densely

511
00:17:49,230 --> 00:17:50,289
wilderness y

512
00:17:50,750 --> 00:17:51,250
brush,

513
00:17:51,549 --> 00:17:52,049
trees,

514
00:17:52,750 --> 00:17:55,890
life cycles of plants happening all the time.

515
00:17:57,070 --> 00:17:58,289
These things are

516
00:17:58,750 --> 00:17:59,970
fire magnets,

517
00:18:00,430 --> 00:18:01,090
I suppose.

518
00:18:01,549 --> 00:18:02,369
Do you think

519
00:18:02,815 --> 00:18:03,474
it would

520
00:18:04,095 --> 00:18:06,914
make sense that states like ours,

521
00:18:08,095 --> 00:18:11,295
instead of upon graduation or maybe it happens

522
00:18:11,295 --> 00:18:13,315
in high school that there'd be programs

523
00:18:14,255 --> 00:18:16,380
two years mandatory if you live in this

524
00:18:16,460 --> 00:18:18,460
state, you go and you clear brush and

525
00:18:18,460 --> 00:18:19,980
you go when I was a little girl,

526
00:18:19,980 --> 00:18:21,579
we had a cabin in the foothills of

527
00:18:21,579 --> 00:18:23,839
the Cascades. And twice a year,

528
00:18:24,140 --> 00:18:26,059
it was mandatory if you were a member

529
00:18:26,059 --> 00:18:26,720
of this

530
00:18:27,339 --> 00:18:27,839
cabin

531
00:18:28,220 --> 00:18:30,345
peep you know, the cabin people that you

532
00:18:30,345 --> 00:18:32,845
would go and you would spend a weekend

533
00:18:33,545 --> 00:18:35,384
and clear brush and get rid of it

534
00:18:35,384 --> 00:18:37,304
and all that. And it it helped keep

535
00:18:37,304 --> 00:18:39,625
these sorts of things from happening. You know,

536
00:18:39,625 --> 00:18:41,865
I've never heard that idea before. I'm not

537
00:18:41,865 --> 00:18:44,345
aware there's, you know, the the conservation corps

538
00:18:44,345 --> 00:18:45,980
where where younger people,

539
00:18:46,599 --> 00:18:48,440
do stuff like this. We actually helped train

540
00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:49,180
some recently,

541
00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:51,240
but that was like new training to them.

542
00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:53,180
It wasn't part of their program before.

543
00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:56,039
So it's a great idea. I mean, it's

544
00:18:56,039 --> 00:18:58,119
a great idea. I'll write my senators and

545
00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:00,985
my and my governor. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yes.

546
00:19:00,985 --> 00:19:03,225
And they're all definitely they want solutions to

547
00:19:03,225 --> 00:19:05,545
the wildfire. Yeah. So it does require some

548
00:19:05,545 --> 00:19:07,545
training, but it's training that that you could

549
00:19:07,545 --> 00:19:09,785
do if you were 16, 17, 18. I

550
00:19:09,785 --> 00:19:11,325
I I don't see why.

551
00:19:12,140 --> 00:19:14,140
Yeah. I I think folks that and and

552
00:19:14,140 --> 00:19:15,980
pretty much every, at least, public high school

553
00:19:15,980 --> 00:19:17,200
has a community service

554
00:19:17,500 --> 00:19:19,200
component. They have to, you know, you have

555
00:19:19,899 --> 00:19:22,059
to do so many hours. Right? Yeah. I

556
00:19:22,059 --> 00:19:24,174
think that's a great idea because that's see,

557
00:19:24,174 --> 00:19:25,535
that's the key and we work on that

558
00:19:25,535 --> 00:19:28,654
as well. We assess properties and, help clear

559
00:19:28,654 --> 00:19:29,315
up brush.

560
00:19:30,015 --> 00:19:30,515
That's

561
00:19:31,055 --> 00:19:33,295
that's the front line. If that's done well,

562
00:19:33,295 --> 00:19:34,974
then, you know, your home is gonna be

563
00:19:34,974 --> 00:19:36,990
safer. I mean, I was eight and nine,

564
00:19:37,069 --> 00:19:38,670
seven. I would there are pictures of me

565
00:19:38,670 --> 00:19:40,509
real little, and I loved it. The little

566
00:19:40,509 --> 00:19:41,789
ones, you know, we have our little work

567
00:19:41,789 --> 00:19:43,490
gloves, and we could pull the little underbrush,

568
00:19:43,549 --> 00:19:45,309
and it just felt good to be a

569
00:19:45,309 --> 00:19:48,029
part of something. And I think that something

570
00:19:48,029 --> 00:19:50,990
that this country specifically is really lacking these

571
00:19:50,990 --> 00:19:51,490
days

572
00:19:52,190 --> 00:19:52,690
is

573
00:19:52,994 --> 00:19:55,555
the community feeling and the the feeling like

574
00:19:55,555 --> 00:19:57,095
we are all in this together.

575
00:19:57,714 --> 00:19:58,214
And

576
00:19:58,674 --> 00:20:01,555
I'm a big believer in community service. I

577
00:20:01,555 --> 00:20:02,055
think

578
00:20:02,994 --> 00:20:05,690
a mandatory community service instead of, you know,

579
00:20:05,690 --> 00:20:07,369
other countries do military. And I've talked about

580
00:20:07,369 --> 00:20:09,069
this on the show before, but a mandatory

581
00:20:09,210 --> 00:20:10,829
community service upon graduation

582
00:20:11,369 --> 00:20:12,349
would do wonders

583
00:20:13,210 --> 00:20:15,450
to change Oh, yeah. I for sure. This

584
00:20:15,450 --> 00:20:15,950
course.

585
00:20:16,890 --> 00:20:18,730
Yeah. I I wish we had that. I

586
00:20:18,730 --> 00:20:20,250
I wish we did. But I I think

587
00:20:20,250 --> 00:20:21,105
that, you know,

588
00:20:22,144 --> 00:20:23,444
as time goes on,

589
00:20:24,384 --> 00:20:26,544
the the need for the need for that

590
00:20:26,544 --> 00:20:28,944
will grow and grow. Oh, yeah. I mean,

591
00:20:28,944 --> 00:20:31,924
Kentucky's underwater right now. So if they had

592
00:20:32,464 --> 00:20:34,384
a a huge group of people who have

593
00:20:34,384 --> 00:20:36,065
been trained to deal with that kind of

594
00:20:36,065 --> 00:20:36,565
thing,

595
00:20:37,180 --> 00:20:39,920
it could turn, no pun intended, the tides.

596
00:20:40,619 --> 00:20:43,740
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Even in a supplementary role.

597
00:20:43,740 --> 00:20:45,820
So rather than having workers that should be

598
00:20:45,820 --> 00:20:47,920
on the front line, trained workers

599
00:20:48,299 --> 00:20:50,240
in in floods or or fires,

600
00:20:50,994 --> 00:20:51,894
community service

601
00:20:52,275 --> 00:20:54,595
folks could be doing the stuff that takes

602
00:20:54,595 --> 00:20:56,294
them away from that, which is the logistical

603
00:20:56,355 --> 00:20:58,515
side, getting supplies to them and and whatnot.

604
00:20:58,515 --> 00:21:00,355
I mean, that's a huge, you know I

605
00:21:00,355 --> 00:21:02,849
mean, that's kinda what we do for the

606
00:21:02,849 --> 00:21:05,009
big city fire departments in here on big

607
00:21:05,009 --> 00:21:07,730
calls is we supplement them. Two members of

608
00:21:07,730 --> 00:21:10,049
our department are actually full times LA City

609
00:21:10,049 --> 00:21:10,549
Firefighters,

610
00:21:11,009 --> 00:21:12,690
and they, you know, they they help us

611
00:21:12,690 --> 00:21:14,849
on their days off. And invariably, there are

612
00:21:14,849 --> 00:21:16,769
calls when their days when they had days

613
00:21:16,769 --> 00:21:17,910
off and they're there.

614
00:21:18,565 --> 00:21:19,845
But, you know, we don't have the training

615
00:21:19,845 --> 00:21:22,485
to ventilate a roof. Right? So we don't

616
00:21:22,485 --> 00:21:24,265
need to. We just supplement,

617
00:21:24,644 --> 00:21:26,965
you know, so that the city firefighters can

618
00:21:26,965 --> 00:21:29,605
do that. Mhmm. Without having to move stuff

619
00:21:29,605 --> 00:21:31,429
out of the way, without having to ask

620
00:21:31,429 --> 00:21:33,269
people to move their cars because to park

621
00:21:33,269 --> 00:21:35,609
their ladder truck. We've already done that.

622
00:21:35,910 --> 00:21:37,109
Yeah. I mean, that was a big deal

623
00:21:37,109 --> 00:21:39,029
with the Palisades. Right? People just abandoned their

624
00:21:39,029 --> 00:21:40,710
cars, and then none of the trucks could

625
00:21:40,710 --> 00:21:42,390
get up the hill. There was a perfect

626
00:21:42,390 --> 00:21:44,515
storm. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

627
00:21:44,894 --> 00:21:46,275
Exactly. Tell me about

628
00:21:46,975 --> 00:21:47,555
your assessment

629
00:21:49,295 --> 00:21:49,795
protocols.

630
00:21:50,095 --> 00:21:50,835
So you

631
00:21:51,215 --> 00:21:53,455
you know a fire has has been a

632
00:21:53,615 --> 00:21:55,394
you've been alerted to a fire.

633
00:21:56,095 --> 00:21:58,549
What's next? How do you get everybody together?

634
00:21:58,549 --> 00:22:00,470
How do you decide what to do? Do

635
00:22:00,470 --> 00:22:02,230
you then start fires in front of the

636
00:22:02,230 --> 00:22:04,309
line of the fire to to stop it?

637
00:22:04,309 --> 00:22:06,630
What do you do? No. That controlled burn

638
00:22:06,630 --> 00:22:07,769
stuff is very

639
00:22:08,070 --> 00:22:08,570
tenuous.

640
00:22:10,309 --> 00:22:12,090
Several huge fires have have

641
00:22:12,904 --> 00:22:14,984
been the result of controlled burns that got

642
00:22:14,984 --> 00:22:15,724
out of control.

643
00:22:16,424 --> 00:22:18,025
So, no, we don't do any of that.

644
00:22:18,025 --> 00:22:19,724
It's not even done a lot,

645
00:22:20,904 --> 00:22:22,184
as much as it used to be done.

646
00:22:22,184 --> 00:22:24,345
Depends on the situation. If we if we're

647
00:22:24,345 --> 00:22:26,220
on call and we're already several of us

648
00:22:26,220 --> 00:22:27,900
are already dressed and ready to go, like

649
00:22:27,900 --> 00:22:29,740
we were for the whole week and a

650
00:22:29,740 --> 00:22:31,740
half of the Palisades and Eaton fire, then

651
00:22:31,740 --> 00:22:33,500
we're ready to go. And we've already set

652
00:22:33,500 --> 00:22:34,940
up who's going to be on this crew,

653
00:22:34,940 --> 00:22:36,240
who's going to be on that crew.

654
00:22:36,859 --> 00:22:39,920
It's very organized and communication is very,

655
00:22:41,345 --> 00:22:42,865
disciplined. But if it's a call that we

656
00:22:42,865 --> 00:22:44,325
just get, there's a fire.

657
00:22:44,705 --> 00:22:46,705
On the way to the call, we we

658
00:22:46,705 --> 00:22:48,625
organize the call. We don't know who's gonna

659
00:22:48,625 --> 00:22:50,305
show up. We don't know who's available, but

660
00:22:50,305 --> 00:22:52,545
we're on the radio and okay. You guys

661
00:22:52,545 --> 00:22:55,505
are in Brush 2, you know, and whatever

662
00:22:55,505 --> 00:22:57,400
the once we get to the scene and

663
00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,359
assess what the needs are and the size

664
00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:02,039
of it's called, then we figure out where

665
00:23:02,039 --> 00:23:02,859
to put people.

666
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:04,619
So far, it's worked out well.

667
00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:07,080
I don't know. In a huge fire, I

668
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:08,700
don't know how it's gonna work out, but

669
00:23:09,904 --> 00:23:11,444
we'll we'll we'll do our part.

670
00:23:11,904 --> 00:23:12,404
Absolutely.

671
00:23:13,265 --> 00:23:15,524
Well, I mean, one would hope that,

672
00:23:16,384 --> 00:23:18,304
as you mentioned, the fact that you're there

673
00:23:18,304 --> 00:23:18,804
before

674
00:23:19,105 --> 00:23:21,825
the quote unquote regular groups can get there,

675
00:23:21,825 --> 00:23:24,304
that you may that's that may make all

676
00:23:24,304 --> 00:23:26,650
the difference. Yeah. Because we're more remote. I

677
00:23:26,650 --> 00:23:28,650
I don't know if you visited here, but

678
00:23:28,650 --> 00:23:30,029
we're we're more remote.

679
00:23:30,330 --> 00:23:31,390
Are you up by Mike?

680
00:23:31,850 --> 00:23:34,090
My cousin? Yeah. Yeah. He's in the I

681
00:23:34,090 --> 00:23:36,350
know. I still don't know where the Calabasas

682
00:23:36,890 --> 00:23:40,188
versus Bell versus I'm that all confuses me.

683
00:23:40,188 --> 00:23:41,494
Matthew Piepenburg (3one forty three): Bell Canyon is

684
00:23:41,494 --> 00:23:44,295
Ventura County. It's like the easternmost part of

685
00:23:44,295 --> 00:23:45,195
Ventura County.

686
00:23:46,055 --> 00:23:47,654
There's only one way in and one way

687
00:23:47,654 --> 00:23:49,894
out of Bell Canyon, a long road that

688
00:23:49,894 --> 00:23:52,055
comes in, and it starts on the LA

689
00:23:52,055 --> 00:23:54,569
city line. So you can't you can't ever

690
00:23:54,569 --> 00:23:56,410
leave Bell Canyon without going through the city

691
00:23:56,410 --> 00:23:58,250
of LA. So that's where we are, but

692
00:23:58,250 --> 00:23:58,990
we're very,

693
00:23:59,369 --> 00:24:01,529
we're remote. Lots of land, lots of open

694
00:24:01,529 --> 00:24:04,410
space here, lots of wildlife. Again, a longer

695
00:24:04,410 --> 00:24:06,910
response time. And the back of our canyon

696
00:24:07,049 --> 00:24:07,710
is literally,

697
00:24:08,204 --> 00:24:09,644
because I've been there, I've been up there

698
00:24:09,644 --> 00:24:11,904
waiting and timing how long it takes for

699
00:24:12,125 --> 00:24:14,204
the other agencies to arrive. It's like twenty,

700
00:24:14,204 --> 00:24:15,884
twenty one, twenty two minutes. That's a long

701
00:24:15,884 --> 00:24:17,644
time. Especially if it has a long road

702
00:24:17,644 --> 00:24:20,044
to get to you. Yeah. And these aren't

703
00:24:20,044 --> 00:24:22,619
like straight roads. They're, like, hilly, curvy,

704
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,400
fire engines can only go so fast. We

705
00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:26,460
have challenging geography

706
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:28,059
and topography.

707
00:24:28,599 --> 00:24:29,099
So

708
00:24:29,559 --> 00:24:30,220
How do

709
00:24:30,599 --> 00:24:33,400
you convince your insurance company to insure you

710
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,085
medically when you all are volunteer fire fighters?

711
00:24:36,085 --> 00:24:37,884
I mean, I know that they when I

712
00:24:37,884 --> 00:24:39,585
got my my assessment,

713
00:24:40,045 --> 00:24:41,485
they asked things like, do you wear your

714
00:24:41,485 --> 00:24:42,845
seat belt? Do you ever jump out of

715
00:24:42,845 --> 00:24:45,565
an airplane? Imagine if I said, oh, but

716
00:24:45,565 --> 00:24:47,025
I do run into fire.

717
00:24:47,644 --> 00:24:49,485
It might change things. It just it hasn't

718
00:24:49,485 --> 00:24:51,329
been an issue. You know, our fire department

719
00:24:51,490 --> 00:24:52,309
insurance policy

720
00:24:52,929 --> 00:24:55,009
is with the company that they that's what

721
00:24:55,009 --> 00:24:57,569
they do. They insure volunteer fire departments. Sure.

722
00:24:57,569 --> 00:25:00,690
That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have

723
00:25:00,690 --> 00:25:01,190
children?

724
00:25:01,730 --> 00:25:02,789
I do. Yeah.

725
00:25:03,089 --> 00:25:03,829
Have they

726
00:25:04,275 --> 00:25:04,775
gotten

727
00:25:05,315 --> 00:25:06,615
into the family business?

728
00:25:06,994 --> 00:25:09,075
No. No. No. My son's older and lives

729
00:25:09,075 --> 00:25:10,994
back east. My daughter's 12. She doesn't really

730
00:25:10,994 --> 00:25:13,315
like when I in the beginning, because she

731
00:25:13,315 --> 00:25:15,315
was so still has some PTSD from the

732
00:25:15,315 --> 00:25:18,059
Woolsey fire and having to evacuate and seeing

733
00:25:18,059 --> 00:25:20,940
her neighbor's home's burned. She gets wearied when

734
00:25:20,940 --> 00:25:22,619
I go out on calls. Even when I

735
00:25:22,700 --> 00:25:24,619
we go to train, you know, she she

736
00:25:24,619 --> 00:25:26,460
gets she seems to get a little anxious.

737
00:25:26,779 --> 00:25:27,279
Normal.

738
00:25:27,579 --> 00:25:28,720
Yeah. Yeah.

739
00:25:29,579 --> 00:25:31,500
Listen, we wouldn't have formed this fire department

740
00:25:31,500 --> 00:25:33,119
had we not experienced a

741
00:25:34,454 --> 00:25:35,674
a traumatic wildfire.

742
00:25:37,095 --> 00:25:39,734
Had no homes burned, we wouldn't have had

743
00:25:39,734 --> 00:25:41,734
the incentive. We would have we would have

744
00:25:41,734 --> 00:25:44,134
felt safe, which is what Bell Canyon residents

745
00:25:44,134 --> 00:25:45,275
have said.

746
00:25:45,809 --> 00:25:47,890
You know, Bell Canyon was founded in '69

747
00:25:47,890 --> 00:25:49,809
and there have been several big fires. And

748
00:25:49,809 --> 00:25:51,430
when I moved in in 2015,

749
00:25:51,970 --> 00:25:53,410
you know, residents that had been here said

750
00:25:53,410 --> 00:25:55,250
the same thing. Oh, yeah. We have big

751
00:25:55,250 --> 00:25:56,930
fires, but you know what? We've never lost

752
00:25:56,930 --> 00:25:58,210
a home. We've never lost a home. We're

753
00:25:58,210 --> 00:26:00,549
fine. We're fine. And then we lost 40.

754
00:26:01,090 --> 00:26:03,305
So and most of us stayed. I stayed

755
00:26:03,305 --> 00:26:04,904
for most of that fire. We couldn't do

756
00:26:04,904 --> 00:26:07,465
anything. We couldn't really do anything worth, you

757
00:26:07,465 --> 00:26:07,965
know,

758
00:26:08,664 --> 00:26:11,065
that some homes were saved by by guys

759
00:26:11,065 --> 00:26:12,585
that ended up being on the fire department,

760
00:26:12,585 --> 00:26:15,144
but not to the level that we could

761
00:26:15,144 --> 00:26:16,904
have done with the equipment and the training

762
00:26:16,904 --> 00:26:18,740
and the, you know, what we have now.

763
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:21,539
It's incredibly traumatic to experience

764
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:22,820
that.

765
00:26:23,279 --> 00:26:24,500
Yeah. Yeah.

766
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:26,820
To watch your neighborhood that you've

767
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,839
loved and lived in and been a part

768
00:26:29,839 --> 00:26:31,539
of, that could watch the community

769
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:32,420
burn.

770
00:26:33,505 --> 00:26:35,904
It's a lot. It's a lot, and and

771
00:26:35,904 --> 00:26:37,585
it lasts for years. You know? So that

772
00:26:37,585 --> 00:26:39,105
fire was 02/2018,

773
00:26:39,105 --> 00:26:40,804
and I I think maybe

774
00:26:42,144 --> 00:26:44,224
60% of the homes have been rebuilt since

775
00:26:44,224 --> 00:26:46,164
then. Only 60%.

776
00:26:46,750 --> 00:26:49,390
In a weird way, the our fire department

777
00:26:49,390 --> 00:26:50,450
benefited from

778
00:26:50,990 --> 00:26:52,130
one of those losses,

779
00:26:52,990 --> 00:26:53,730
in that

780
00:26:54,429 --> 00:26:55,809
the property owner,

781
00:26:56,190 --> 00:26:58,049
he was older, so he didn't wanna rebuild.

782
00:26:58,109 --> 00:26:59,950
He tried to sell his his lot, his

783
00:26:59,950 --> 00:27:02,404
burned out lot, but he had had a

784
00:27:02,404 --> 00:27:02,904
bridge

785
00:27:03,765 --> 00:27:05,765
from the street to his lot which also

786
00:27:05,765 --> 00:27:06,265
burned

787
00:27:06,964 --> 00:27:09,625
over pretty, I think it's an 85 foot

788
00:27:11,285 --> 00:27:12,884
crevice or whatever you want to call it.

789
00:27:12,884 --> 00:27:15,045
And so he wasn't able to sell the

790
00:27:15,045 --> 00:27:17,549
lot for what he wanted to because there

791
00:27:17,549 --> 00:27:19,970
just aren't that many contractors out there willing

792
00:27:20,509 --> 00:27:22,269
and have the ability to build a bridge

793
00:27:22,269 --> 00:27:24,210
before they even begin building a house.

794
00:27:24,750 --> 00:27:25,789
So finally he said, You know what? I'm

795
00:27:25,789 --> 00:27:27,470
just going to I want to donate the

796
00:27:27,470 --> 00:27:28,690
property to you guys

797
00:27:28,990 --> 00:27:30,369
and you should sell it.

798
00:27:31,585 --> 00:27:33,585
Because whatever you get for it, that's going

799
00:27:33,585 --> 00:27:35,904
to be a great resource for you to

800
00:27:35,904 --> 00:27:36,884
continue operations.

801
00:27:37,505 --> 00:27:38,945
And that's what we did. We sold it

802
00:27:38,945 --> 00:27:41,345
right away to a contractor who knows how

803
00:27:41,345 --> 00:27:42,705
to build a bridge and wanted to build

804
00:27:42,705 --> 00:27:44,545
a bridge. And he got a great tax

805
00:27:44,545 --> 00:27:46,245
write off because we're a five zero one(three)

806
00:27:46,384 --> 00:27:46,884
nonprofit.

807
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:49,640
And by the way, we just, we survive

808
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:50,299
on donations,

809
00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:53,880
resident donations. That's how we survive. This, this

810
00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:55,400
is, this is going to help us operate

811
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:57,640
for, in theory, for, for years. And we

812
00:27:57,640 --> 00:27:59,400
have gotten a couple of small grants from

813
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:00,140
Cal Fire

814
00:28:00,525 --> 00:28:02,305
and one from Southern California Edison,

815
00:28:03,085 --> 00:28:03,825
but pretty small

816
00:28:04,205 --> 00:28:05,424
grants and helpful, but

817
00:28:06,765 --> 00:28:09,005
we still need to fundraise. Yeah, absolutely. I'm

818
00:28:09,005 --> 00:28:11,345
sure WatchDuty app got a lot of fundraising

819
00:28:11,484 --> 00:28:13,579
funds after this is a free app and

820
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:16,039
everyone I mean, I I was on that

821
00:28:16,039 --> 00:28:18,519
thing like crazy trying to figure out where

822
00:28:18,519 --> 00:28:20,119
the fire was. I I had to evacuate

823
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:22,279
a couple different places. It was just

824
00:28:22,599 --> 00:28:24,220
Yeah. That was insane.

825
00:28:25,005 --> 00:28:26,605
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a that's a really

826
00:28:26,605 --> 00:28:28,765
good app and a fairly new one. Speaking

827
00:28:28,765 --> 00:28:31,085
of apps, my department has been developing an

828
00:28:31,085 --> 00:28:31,585
app,

829
00:28:32,204 --> 00:28:34,365
specifically for our community. We already have an

830
00:28:34,365 --> 00:28:34,865
SMS

831
00:28:35,164 --> 00:28:36,845
messaging where we can send out a message

832
00:28:36,845 --> 00:28:37,904
to whoever subscribes,

833
00:28:38,299 --> 00:28:40,640
like evacuate now or whatever it is.

834
00:28:41,980 --> 00:28:43,819
But we have some folks in here who,

835
00:28:44,539 --> 00:28:46,059
have put together an app for us. That's

836
00:28:46,059 --> 00:28:48,140
great. Tech people. Tech people that do this

837
00:28:48,140 --> 00:28:49,679
and who live here, and so

838
00:28:50,220 --> 00:28:50,880
we wouldn't

839
00:28:51,234 --> 00:28:52,674
really have been able to afford to do

840
00:28:52,674 --> 00:28:54,855
it were they not donating their their time.

841
00:28:55,075 --> 00:28:55,575
Absolutely.

842
00:28:56,274 --> 00:28:58,294
What can people from your experience,

843
00:28:59,075 --> 00:29:01,714
what could people do in their own homes

844
00:29:01,714 --> 00:29:03,894
if they are in fire area

845
00:29:04,740 --> 00:29:07,619
to protect that much more aside from getting

846
00:29:07,619 --> 00:29:10,200
together groups of volunteer helpers?

847
00:29:10,660 --> 00:29:12,980
Working hard on keeping your property,

848
00:29:13,380 --> 00:29:14,839
fire safe, you know,

849
00:29:15,940 --> 00:29:17,000
getting an assessment.

850
00:29:17,735 --> 00:29:19,815
We have several people that that that assess

851
00:29:19,815 --> 00:29:21,654
properties in here. I am I have a

852
00:29:21,654 --> 00:29:22,154
certified

853
00:29:22,615 --> 00:29:23,115
DSA,

854
00:29:23,575 --> 00:29:25,914
defensive space assessor, through CAL FIRE.

855
00:29:26,535 --> 00:29:28,134
The thing is, when the onus is on

856
00:29:28,134 --> 00:29:28,795
the homeowner,

857
00:29:29,335 --> 00:29:30,394
we can go to properties,

858
00:29:31,309 --> 00:29:33,630
and very few homeowners actually ask for assessments,

859
00:29:33,630 --> 00:29:34,849
which is disappointing.

860
00:29:35,630 --> 00:29:37,549
They'll say, well, you know, maybe this tree's

861
00:29:37,549 --> 00:29:39,710
too close and, you know, you should probably

862
00:29:39,710 --> 00:29:41,230
think about getting rid of these these,

863
00:29:42,029 --> 00:29:44,029
dried up bushes that are against your your

864
00:29:44,029 --> 00:29:44,769
wall here.

865
00:29:45,274 --> 00:29:46,714
But the onus is on the homeowner. If

866
00:29:46,714 --> 00:29:48,954
they don't sometimes they'll say something like, oh,

867
00:29:48,954 --> 00:29:50,794
gosh. My grandfather gave me that tree. It's

868
00:29:50,794 --> 00:29:52,154
been growing for fifty years. I don't really

869
00:29:52,154 --> 00:29:54,875
wanna cut it. Okay. You know? But that's

870
00:29:54,875 --> 00:29:56,394
that's the way you you save your home

871
00:29:56,394 --> 00:29:57,835
and protect your family is is to have

872
00:29:57,835 --> 00:29:58,335
this

873
00:29:58,650 --> 00:30:01,609
defensive space around your property that's, you know,

874
00:30:01,609 --> 00:30:02,430
fairly significant.

875
00:30:02,890 --> 00:30:05,070
And, you know, clean gutters and and,

876
00:30:05,609 --> 00:30:07,070
vents that are one eighth

877
00:30:07,609 --> 00:30:09,849
inch vents rather than the traditional one quarter

878
00:30:09,849 --> 00:30:11,769
because embers can't really get into the one

879
00:30:11,769 --> 00:30:14,744
eighth inch vents. You know, double double paned

880
00:30:15,924 --> 00:30:17,684
glass, especially if you're very close to,

881
00:30:18,724 --> 00:30:20,884
brushy areas because the heat, just that the

882
00:30:20,884 --> 00:30:21,625
heat from

883
00:30:22,244 --> 00:30:24,585
without the flames even touching your house, that

884
00:30:24,644 --> 00:30:26,805
convective energy and that radiant heat can can

885
00:30:26,805 --> 00:30:29,759
break through single pane glass. And then

886
00:30:30,460 --> 00:30:32,299
that's an egress I mean, an ingress for

887
00:30:32,299 --> 00:30:32,940
your fire

888
00:30:33,579 --> 00:30:34,240
your emperors.

889
00:30:35,819 --> 00:30:37,980
So that's that's kind of, you know, the

890
00:30:37,980 --> 00:30:39,500
main thing that they can do. And also

891
00:30:39,500 --> 00:30:41,339
just have a a to go bag if

892
00:30:41,339 --> 00:30:42,319
you have to evacuate.

893
00:30:42,884 --> 00:30:43,384
Right?

894
00:30:43,684 --> 00:30:45,224
Important papers, medications,

895
00:30:47,125 --> 00:30:48,644
stuff like that. And and a plan and

896
00:30:48,644 --> 00:30:50,005
a plan with your family. This is what

897
00:30:50,005 --> 00:30:51,125
we're gonna do, and this is where we're

898
00:30:51,125 --> 00:30:53,445
gonna go. And you can't say we're gonna

899
00:30:53,445 --> 00:30:55,650
go to the local Holiday Inn. It's probably

900
00:30:55,650 --> 00:30:57,430
going to be booked up. If you're evacuating,

901
00:30:57,570 --> 00:30:58,710
other people are evacuating.

902
00:30:59,730 --> 00:31:00,630
Stuff like that.

903
00:31:01,970 --> 00:31:03,809
Pets, make sure you go in. I have

904
00:31:03,809 --> 00:31:06,130
a lot of pets. I have 14 rescue

905
00:31:06,130 --> 00:31:07,190
animals. And so

906
00:31:07,650 --> 00:31:08,764
how how do we get the pets out?

907
00:31:08,764 --> 00:31:10,944
You know? What do you have? Four dogs,

908
00:31:11,244 --> 00:31:12,144
three horses,

909
00:31:13,085 --> 00:31:16,464
five cats, two turtles. That's so the tortoise

910
00:31:17,005 --> 00:31:19,105
here, you've got the turtle situation.

911
00:31:19,644 --> 00:31:22,204
Yeah. They're they're inside. They're inside turtles, so

912
00:31:22,204 --> 00:31:24,710
they're smaller. But, but the horses, you know,

913
00:31:24,710 --> 00:31:26,230
actually, they're spread out now. We have one

914
00:31:26,230 --> 00:31:27,609
in Moore Park and one in Malibu.

915
00:31:28,309 --> 00:31:29,130
But during

916
00:31:29,430 --> 00:31:31,350
the fire, the the Palisades fire, we were

917
00:31:31,350 --> 00:31:33,850
very nervous about, our horse over in Malibu.

918
00:31:33,990 --> 00:31:35,130
He was okay, ultimately.

919
00:31:36,245 --> 00:31:38,644
There was a lot of activity around making

920
00:31:38,644 --> 00:31:40,725
sure the horses in and around the city

921
00:31:40,725 --> 00:31:42,565
were okay, that I saw a lot of

922
00:31:42,565 --> 00:31:44,404
that. I mean it's, it's so sad, and

923
00:31:44,404 --> 00:31:46,325
then to see the wildlife coming in trying,

924
00:31:46,325 --> 00:31:47,705
just trying to find water.

925
00:31:48,164 --> 00:31:50,480
Find water. Yeah. And my wife,

926
00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:53,039
up until recently ran our equestrian center. So

927
00:31:53,039 --> 00:31:54,659
she had been through two

928
00:31:55,039 --> 00:31:58,000
significant evacuations. And so she's you know, we

929
00:31:58,000 --> 00:31:59,759
had a plan in place and it worked

930
00:31:59,759 --> 00:32:02,019
out. It worked out. And

931
00:32:02,335 --> 00:32:04,015
that's what you hope. You hope that things

932
00:32:04,015 --> 00:32:05,615
are gonna you're gonna have enough time. It's

933
00:32:05,615 --> 00:32:07,055
nice to have enough time. Like the Woolsey

934
00:32:07,055 --> 00:32:08,575
fire, we we sort of had enough time

935
00:32:08,575 --> 00:32:10,174
to for at least a lot of folks

936
00:32:10,174 --> 00:32:11,934
to evacuate and get some of that stuff

937
00:32:11,934 --> 00:32:14,015
done. You don't always though. The poor people

938
00:32:14,015 --> 00:32:17,075
in the Palisades, that just exploded. It just

939
00:32:17,910 --> 00:32:19,430
exploded. It came on so fast. I have

940
00:32:19,430 --> 00:32:21,430
friends who lost homes. I have other friends

941
00:32:21,430 --> 00:32:23,670
who their homes are still standing, but they

942
00:32:23,670 --> 00:32:24,630
won't be able to get back for a

943
00:32:24,630 --> 00:32:26,869
year because of the smoke damage. Everything in

944
00:32:26,869 --> 00:32:28,250
the house has to be gutted.

945
00:32:28,789 --> 00:32:30,390
That's one of my friends. He he's in

946
00:32:30,390 --> 00:32:32,470
his neighborhood that was completely devastated. His home

947
00:32:32,470 --> 00:32:34,865
survived. It's like There's no rhyme or reason

948
00:32:34,865 --> 00:32:36,704
to it. No. There's no there's nothing here.

949
00:32:36,704 --> 00:32:38,304
There's no town left. And so he moved

950
00:32:38,304 --> 00:32:38,944
his family to,

951
00:32:39,505 --> 00:32:42,085
Orange County for at least a year. Yeah.

952
00:32:42,625 --> 00:32:44,085
So sad. How

953
00:32:45,345 --> 00:32:45,750
much

954
00:32:46,150 --> 00:32:48,569
weight do you, as volunteer firefighters,

955
00:32:48,950 --> 00:32:49,710
have with

956
00:32:50,150 --> 00:32:51,130
after assessing

957
00:32:51,589 --> 00:32:52,250
an experience

958
00:32:53,190 --> 00:32:55,430
that you've been through to go and say

959
00:32:55,430 --> 00:32:56,970
to the powers that be,

960
00:32:57,430 --> 00:32:59,045
look, there are a lot of holes in

961
00:32:59,045 --> 00:33:01,525
the system, or this went well. Do you

962
00:33:01,525 --> 00:33:02,664
have that kind of

963
00:33:03,285 --> 00:33:04,904
open door to be able to

964
00:33:05,445 --> 00:33:07,924
talk to the people that make those kinds

965
00:33:07,924 --> 00:33:10,404
of plans? We're starting to develop relationships with

966
00:33:10,404 --> 00:33:10,904
our

967
00:33:11,279 --> 00:33:13,600
three battalion chiefs from Sugar County Battalion Chiefs

968
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,000
because, you know, there there's a battalion chief

969
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:17,759
for each shift. And we know a lot

970
00:33:17,759 --> 00:33:20,000
of the LA City guys. Again, two of

971
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,400
our members are LA City Firefighters. Well, that's

972
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:23,840
never been an issue. I mean, we're we're

973
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,105
talking about, we're very lucky that I mean,

974
00:33:26,105 --> 00:33:27,164
LA City Fire

975
00:33:27,625 --> 00:33:29,144
and Cherry County Fire, they're they're some of

976
00:33:29,144 --> 00:33:31,484
the best agencies in the world, you know,

977
00:33:31,704 --> 00:33:33,164
equipment wise, training wise,

978
00:33:33,944 --> 00:33:35,404
the personnel. So

979
00:33:36,424 --> 00:33:38,490
far be it for us to criticize anything.

980
00:33:38,789 --> 00:33:41,029
I mean, well, they're great. We've seen them

981
00:33:41,029 --> 00:33:42,710
in in in operation. I mean, they're they're

982
00:33:42,710 --> 00:33:44,789
they're fantastic. But, yeah, I mean, sure. If

983
00:33:44,789 --> 00:33:46,089
if we had an issue,

984
00:33:46,710 --> 00:33:48,470
there's folks that higher up that we can

985
00:33:48,470 --> 00:33:50,055
reach out to. We just haven't had one.

986
00:33:50,215 --> 00:33:52,615
In your position, do you look at the

987
00:33:52,615 --> 00:33:55,335
world in a dystopian way, or are you

988
00:33:55,335 --> 00:33:55,835
optimistic?

989
00:33:56,375 --> 00:33:58,535
I mean, things are seem like they are

990
00:33:58,535 --> 00:33:59,434
more and more,

991
00:34:00,295 --> 00:34:03,035
rampant. Things are happening at a higher tick.

992
00:34:03,735 --> 00:34:05,515
How is that affecting your

993
00:34:06,259 --> 00:34:08,359
understanding of the world around you?

994
00:34:09,859 --> 00:34:12,179
I've grown more accepting. I guess I'm less

995
00:34:12,179 --> 00:34:14,440
shocked at things that happen, becoming desensitized.

996
00:34:15,059 --> 00:34:16,099
Well, I don't know if that's a good

997
00:34:16,099 --> 00:34:17,239
or a bad thing, but,

998
00:34:17,539 --> 00:34:19,619
yeah, just accepting, like, okay, these things are

999
00:34:19,619 --> 00:34:22,155
gonna happen. People are gonna do these terrible

1000
00:34:22,155 --> 00:34:23,454
things maybe. And and,

1001
00:34:24,315 --> 00:34:26,655
you know, if you look through history, other

1002
00:34:26,954 --> 00:34:29,695
other folks and generations have suffered some really

1003
00:34:30,074 --> 00:34:32,474
traumatic events. Right? We've been more or less

1004
00:34:32,474 --> 00:34:32,974
lucky

1005
00:34:33,355 --> 00:34:34,735
growing up, but

1006
00:34:35,460 --> 00:34:37,239
whatever happens, I'm just gonna

1007
00:34:37,619 --> 00:34:39,460
accept it. But I gotta tell you something,

1008
00:34:39,699 --> 00:34:41,460
about our fire department. You know, we're we're

1009
00:34:41,460 --> 00:34:43,380
all we've done tons of training and sort

1010
00:34:43,380 --> 00:34:45,300
of so we have certifications and the right

1011
00:34:45,300 --> 00:34:46,760
certifications and all that stuff

1012
00:34:47,059 --> 00:34:48,280
and all the right equipment.

1013
00:34:48,675 --> 00:34:50,434
We have over a mile of fire hose.

1014
00:34:50,434 --> 00:34:51,974
That's a lot of hose. Right?

1015
00:34:53,315 --> 00:34:55,954
What we also have and when we first

1016
00:34:55,954 --> 00:34:57,175
formed this fire department,

1017
00:34:58,594 --> 00:35:01,315
folks were in our our community were very,

1018
00:35:01,315 --> 00:35:04,369
very happy about it, very happy about it.

1019
00:35:04,909 --> 00:35:07,150
And thus, we were able to raise hundreds

1020
00:35:07,150 --> 00:35:09,069
of thousands of dollars in donations to build

1021
00:35:09,069 --> 00:35:11,630
the department. But like any community, there's a

1022
00:35:11,630 --> 00:35:12,369
small group

1023
00:35:12,909 --> 00:35:14,769
that is going to be critical

1024
00:35:15,150 --> 00:35:16,184
haters, right?

1025
00:35:17,144 --> 00:35:19,565
When we have that group, they are pretty

1026
00:35:19,864 --> 00:35:22,985
they seem obsessed with with, destroying our fire

1027
00:35:22,985 --> 00:35:24,585
department. And when I tell people this, they

1028
00:35:24,585 --> 00:35:25,644
can't they can't imagine

1029
00:35:26,105 --> 00:35:28,105
there there could be folks like this, but

1030
00:35:28,105 --> 00:35:30,045
in our community, there are. And unfortunately,

1031
00:35:30,425 --> 00:35:31,244
some of them

1032
00:35:31,910 --> 00:35:33,369
have some power in our community.

1033
00:35:34,390 --> 00:35:35,690
So we've been

1034
00:35:36,150 --> 00:35:37,829
I was just complaining about this this morning.

1035
00:35:37,829 --> 00:35:39,349
I'm like, I you know, had I known

1036
00:35:39,349 --> 00:35:41,110
that I'd just be writing letters in our

1037
00:35:41,110 --> 00:35:43,590
defense to the residents all the time, you

1038
00:35:43,590 --> 00:35:45,269
know, why I shouldn't have bothered getting all

1039
00:35:45,269 --> 00:35:46,954
the training, you know, that I

1040
00:35:47,255 --> 00:35:49,015
want. And and so it's, it's been a

1041
00:35:49,015 --> 00:35:51,815
battle. We, we've been battling just a small

1042
00:35:51,815 --> 00:35:53,914
group in our community, but they are relentless

1043
00:35:54,135 --> 00:35:56,155
in their attacks on us. And they just,

1044
00:35:56,215 --> 00:35:57,575
you know, they say, oh, they're not trained.

1045
00:35:57,575 --> 00:35:58,775
They haven't done AB. They tell a lot

1046
00:35:58,775 --> 00:36:00,155
of they put out a lot of misinformation

1047
00:36:00,295 --> 00:36:01,035
about us,

1048
00:36:01,550 --> 00:36:04,029
and it's all personal vendetta. There's a couple

1049
00:36:04,029 --> 00:36:05,170
of folks on the department

1050
00:36:05,710 --> 00:36:07,949
that this group really has had it out

1051
00:36:07,949 --> 00:36:08,929
for for years.

1052
00:36:09,630 --> 00:36:11,150
You know, they've been able to convince some

1053
00:36:11,150 --> 00:36:12,210
folks in the canyon,

1054
00:36:12,510 --> 00:36:13,789
we call it the canyon, that,

1055
00:36:14,909 --> 00:36:15,650
you know,

1056
00:36:16,925 --> 00:36:18,684
we shouldn't be here. Yeah. The vast majority

1057
00:36:18,684 --> 00:36:19,885
of folks want us here. In fact, we

1058
00:36:19,885 --> 00:36:20,864
had a meeting,

1059
00:36:21,405 --> 00:36:22,545
the other night after

1060
00:36:22,844 --> 00:36:25,025
we had been served with our second letter,

1061
00:36:25,324 --> 00:36:27,724
lawyer's letter from from our HOA telling us

1062
00:36:27,724 --> 00:36:29,820
to cease operations and, you know, we're we're

1063
00:36:29,820 --> 00:36:31,420
an independent five zero one c three. We're

1064
00:36:31,420 --> 00:36:32,940
not attached to the HOA. So we're like,

1065
00:36:32,940 --> 00:36:34,619
no. That's not happening. You know, we're not

1066
00:36:34,619 --> 00:36:35,360
going anywhere.

1067
00:36:35,660 --> 00:36:37,500
And a bunch of our supporters showed up

1068
00:36:37,500 --> 00:36:39,500
at the meeting and and voiced their concern

1069
00:36:39,500 --> 00:36:40,239
rather loudly.

1070
00:36:40,700 --> 00:36:42,220
So we're still having to fight those battles.

1071
00:36:42,220 --> 00:36:44,324
We're gonna win those battles because it just

1072
00:36:44,324 --> 00:36:45,144
makes sense.

1073
00:36:45,684 --> 00:36:48,025
Of course it makes sense. It seems ridiculous

1074
00:36:48,085 --> 00:36:50,264
that anyone would be against y'all.

1075
00:36:50,965 --> 00:36:52,505
Yep. Yep. That's

1076
00:36:53,125 --> 00:36:54,905
nothing we could have ever anticipated.

1077
00:36:55,764 --> 00:36:58,940
Yeah. There's always gotta be the couple people

1078
00:36:59,159 --> 00:36:59,980
that just

1079
00:37:01,159 --> 00:37:02,780
have to try and ruin everything.

1080
00:37:03,559 --> 00:37:05,800
Right. Every community has a couple of those.

1081
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:07,980
Right? Absolutely. All gotten together

1082
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:09,019
in one

1083
00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:11,284
pack, you know.

1084
00:37:11,824 --> 00:37:13,585
So it's really been fighting that. It's not

1085
00:37:13,585 --> 00:37:15,824
been pleasant, but at the same time, we're

1086
00:37:15,824 --> 00:37:17,984
still responding to calls where people are still

1087
00:37:17,984 --> 00:37:20,224
calling us, using our services, and and, you

1088
00:37:20,224 --> 00:37:21,905
know, telling us, you know, we're we're so

1089
00:37:21,905 --> 00:37:23,929
glad you guys are here. You know, we

1090
00:37:23,929 --> 00:37:25,529
want you here. We always say at the

1091
00:37:25,529 --> 00:37:26,269
end of the day,

1092
00:37:26,730 --> 00:37:29,049
if everybody in this community decided they didn't

1093
00:37:29,049 --> 00:37:31,609
want us, except for the 34 members of

1094
00:37:31,609 --> 00:37:33,849
the fire department and our families, we'd still

1095
00:37:33,849 --> 00:37:35,069
be operating and,

1096
00:37:35,449 --> 00:37:36,190
you know,

1097
00:37:37,315 --> 00:37:38,454
protecting our families.

1098
00:37:38,914 --> 00:37:39,414
Absolutely.

1099
00:37:40,755 --> 00:37:41,974
How if I

1100
00:37:42,355 --> 00:37:45,394
am somewhere in This United States or anywhere

1101
00:37:45,394 --> 00:37:47,235
in the world, I suppose, because these these

1102
00:37:47,235 --> 00:37:49,074
issues are going to start cropping up in

1103
00:37:49,074 --> 00:37:50,855
lots of places all around the world,

1104
00:37:51,235 --> 00:37:52,454
how does one

1105
00:37:53,849 --> 00:37:56,650
begin this process to to start? If I

1106
00:37:56,650 --> 00:37:58,889
wanted to start, do you have online resources

1107
00:37:58,889 --> 00:37:59,549
for people

1108
00:37:59,929 --> 00:38:01,609
to go to saying, hey, if you wanna

1109
00:38:01,609 --> 00:38:04,269
start your own volunteer firefighters, do this stuff.

1110
00:38:04,650 --> 00:38:06,029
How would I go about it?

1111
00:38:06,585 --> 00:38:08,184
Do you mean do we or did we

1112
00:38:08,505 --> 00:38:10,344
Do you have that kind of access for

1113
00:38:10,344 --> 00:38:12,505
people that are looking to start their own

1114
00:38:12,505 --> 00:38:13,324
in their communities?

1115
00:38:13,784 --> 00:38:15,864
Most of the volunteer fire departments in America

1116
00:38:15,864 --> 00:38:17,804
have been around for a long time. Mhmm.

1117
00:38:17,864 --> 00:38:19,405
Very few new ones. We're

1118
00:38:20,170 --> 00:38:21,530
probably the newest one in the country, and

1119
00:38:21,530 --> 00:38:22,269
we've been around

1120
00:38:22,650 --> 00:38:24,409
for four and a half years. So going

1121
00:38:24,409 --> 00:38:25,610
back to what I said at the beginning

1122
00:38:25,610 --> 00:38:26,969
where I grew up in a town that

1123
00:38:26,969 --> 00:38:28,409
had one, I already sort of had an

1124
00:38:28,409 --> 00:38:29,469
idea of

1125
00:38:30,010 --> 00:38:32,489
what that meant. Also, I had, family members

1126
00:38:32,489 --> 00:38:34,250
in in the fire service in in cities

1127
00:38:34,250 --> 00:38:34,909
in Massachusetts.

1128
00:38:35,255 --> 00:38:36,695
So I mean, I had some idea. And

1129
00:38:36,695 --> 00:38:38,015
then, you know, I was in the When

1130
00:38:38,015 --> 00:38:39,755
I was in the army, I was, military

1131
00:38:39,974 --> 00:38:41,994
police. And so I had that first responder

1132
00:38:42,054 --> 00:38:43,195
experience, and

1133
00:38:43,494 --> 00:38:45,355
I was in the National Guard after that.

1134
00:38:45,414 --> 00:38:45,914
So

1135
00:38:46,295 --> 00:38:47,994
I had a lot of

1136
00:38:49,530 --> 00:38:50,429
that experience

1137
00:38:51,050 --> 00:38:51,550
to

1138
00:38:51,849 --> 00:38:53,150
to draw from, and

1139
00:38:53,530 --> 00:38:55,449
other guys that were in there at the

1140
00:38:55,449 --> 00:38:58,410
beginning were former police officers, or current police

1141
00:38:58,410 --> 00:38:58,910
officers.

1142
00:38:59,530 --> 00:39:00,269
We had

1143
00:39:00,809 --> 00:39:02,429
enough of that to

1144
00:39:02,905 --> 00:39:05,085
kind of know what we needed to do.

1145
00:39:05,144 --> 00:39:06,925
So, I mean, if if you're someone who

1146
00:39:06,985 --> 00:39:08,744
doesn't have any of that experience and doesn't

1147
00:39:08,744 --> 00:39:09,224
have any,

1148
00:39:09,785 --> 00:39:11,704
idea what fire departments do or how they

1149
00:39:11,704 --> 00:39:13,785
operate except seeing the fire trucks rolling down

1150
00:39:13,785 --> 00:39:15,465
the street and getting out of their way.

1151
00:39:15,465 --> 00:39:16,905
Yeah. I I don't know how easy it

1152
00:39:16,905 --> 00:39:19,410
would be. We did the the near impossible.

1153
00:39:19,469 --> 00:39:21,390
And folks have told us that. They're like,

1154
00:39:21,390 --> 00:39:22,829
how did you do that? How did you

1155
00:39:22,829 --> 00:39:24,349
build what you had built in such a

1156
00:39:24,349 --> 00:39:26,190
short period of time? There's a lot of

1157
00:39:26,190 --> 00:39:29,010
serendipity involved. We're very lucky because we're

1158
00:39:29,469 --> 00:39:31,070
a a community that has a lot of

1159
00:39:31,070 --> 00:39:31,570
professionals.

1160
00:39:32,054 --> 00:39:33,894
You know. So on our department alone, we

1161
00:39:33,894 --> 00:39:35,675
have two lawyers, four engineers,

1162
00:39:36,135 --> 00:39:36,954
four pilots,

1163
00:39:37,574 --> 00:39:39,994
a bunch of, contractors. We have

1164
00:39:40,295 --> 00:39:42,795
folks with various skills that were able to

1165
00:39:42,855 --> 00:39:44,394
get things done for us in

1166
00:39:44,930 --> 00:39:45,829
various areas.

1167
00:39:46,530 --> 00:39:49,090
Also as a film producer, and by the

1168
00:39:49,090 --> 00:39:50,610
way, putting together a firebomb is kind of

1169
00:39:50,610 --> 00:39:53,110
like producing a film. Sure. Yeah. I mean,

1170
00:39:53,570 --> 00:39:55,329
you're putting the right people into the right

1171
00:39:55,329 --> 00:39:58,550
roles, right, to get the bigger project completed.

1172
00:39:58,610 --> 00:40:00,875
And that's, so I drew from that experience

1173
00:40:00,934 --> 00:40:03,494
also. It wasn't easy. We formed it during

1174
00:40:03,494 --> 00:40:05,735
the COVID shutdown. So most of our guys

1175
00:40:05,735 --> 00:40:06,474
were home

1176
00:40:07,094 --> 00:40:08,855
and they hadn't been home. We just wouldn't

1177
00:40:08,855 --> 00:40:10,375
have been able to do what we did.

1178
00:40:10,375 --> 00:40:12,954
It was very, there's so much serendipity involved.

1179
00:40:13,690 --> 00:40:15,449
So it's hard to say, oh, I just

1180
00:40:15,449 --> 00:40:16,989
take step a, b, and c.

1181
00:40:17,530 --> 00:40:19,369
It's just not that easy. Right? Well, I

1182
00:40:19,369 --> 00:40:21,550
think there's a big message in that regardless

1183
00:40:21,690 --> 00:40:22,809
is whether or not they,

1184
00:40:23,449 --> 00:40:24,670
communities form

1185
00:40:25,210 --> 00:40:27,230
a fire brigade. They certainly

1186
00:40:27,699 --> 00:40:28,715
it who's

1187
00:40:29,175 --> 00:40:30,635
humanity and the community

1188
00:40:31,255 --> 00:40:31,755
to

1189
00:40:32,215 --> 00:40:33,114
form connection.

1190
00:40:33,575 --> 00:40:36,394
Yeah. Because as a group, if some tragedy

1191
00:40:36,535 --> 00:40:38,155
strikes, you can operate

1192
00:40:38,535 --> 00:40:40,535
as a team. Yeah. And we're, we're a

1193
00:40:40,535 --> 00:40:41,355
fully independent

1194
00:40:42,190 --> 00:40:44,289
fire department. We're not attached to any agency,

1195
00:40:44,349 --> 00:40:45,250
and we purposefully

1196
00:40:45,789 --> 00:40:47,789
formed that way because of of an incident

1197
00:40:47,789 --> 00:40:50,110
that happened during the Woolsey fire that we

1198
00:40:50,110 --> 00:40:51,550
didn't want to happen to us. But, you

1199
00:40:51,550 --> 00:40:53,070
know, the fire brigades over in Malibu that

1200
00:40:53,070 --> 00:40:54,750
have gotten so much press, they have an

1201
00:40:54,750 --> 00:40:56,849
attachment to LA County Fire. So

1202
00:40:57,724 --> 00:40:59,265
they've been able to get trained

1203
00:40:59,724 --> 00:41:00,125
and,

1204
00:41:00,525 --> 00:41:01,025
organized

1205
00:41:01,485 --> 00:41:03,965
to at some degree by, you know, the

1206
00:41:03,965 --> 00:41:06,045
LA County Fire Department. That's that's great. Right?

1207
00:41:06,045 --> 00:41:08,125
That's a huge resource that they have, and

1208
00:41:08,125 --> 00:41:10,684
they proved themselves during this fire. You know,

1209
00:41:10,684 --> 00:41:12,420
they they did what they were supposed to

1210
00:41:12,420 --> 00:41:12,920
do

1211
00:41:14,579 --> 00:41:16,440
and saved a lot of homes and and

1212
00:41:16,579 --> 00:41:17,480
stayed safe.

1213
00:41:17,859 --> 00:41:20,039
And, you know, I know the county supervisor,

1214
00:41:20,820 --> 00:41:21,940
Lindsay Horvath, gave,

1215
00:41:22,659 --> 00:41:24,099
an, you know, an award to a bunch

1216
00:41:24,099 --> 00:41:24,849
of them.

1217
00:41:25,414 --> 00:41:27,175
That's great. You know? And so that would

1218
00:41:27,175 --> 00:41:29,014
be a piece of advice I would in

1219
00:41:29,014 --> 00:41:30,614
fact, that's a piece of advice I gave

1220
00:41:30,614 --> 00:41:33,594
to a local community, in Calabasas. They called

1221
00:41:33,974 --> 00:41:36,135
to ask for our advice. So when you

1222
00:41:36,135 --> 00:41:38,530
guys are LA County, so maybe if you

1223
00:41:38,530 --> 00:41:40,369
just want a fire brigade, you should contact

1224
00:41:40,369 --> 00:41:41,990
LA County Fire and see,

1225
00:41:42,450 --> 00:41:44,690
how they can help you. Yeah. There are

1226
00:41:44,690 --> 00:41:46,610
resources. There has to be. There has to

1227
00:41:46,610 --> 00:41:47,970
be if this is going to be the

1228
00:41:47,970 --> 00:41:48,950
new norm in California,

1229
00:41:49,410 --> 00:41:50,160
you know,

1230
00:41:50,465 --> 00:41:51,204
it's going to

1231
00:41:51,585 --> 00:41:53,425
be nearly impossible for folks to just do

1232
00:41:53,425 --> 00:41:56,164
it on their own. They need help. Right?

1233
00:41:56,625 --> 00:41:59,105
Yeah. And I do think that clearing the

1234
00:41:59,105 --> 00:42:01,425
brush, getting some of the dead stuff out,

1235
00:42:01,425 --> 00:42:03,664
getting will help. I mean, all of that

1236
00:42:03,664 --> 00:42:04,164
helps.

1237
00:42:04,545 --> 00:42:05,605
It's huge. It's,

1238
00:42:06,989 --> 00:42:09,230
yeah. And there's a lot of a lot

1239
00:42:09,230 --> 00:42:09,969
of resources

1240
00:42:10,349 --> 00:42:12,349
in the state and and the and from

1241
00:42:12,349 --> 00:42:15,570
the federal government directed towards towards that education.

1242
00:42:16,030 --> 00:42:16,530
Yeah.

1243
00:42:16,909 --> 00:42:18,929
My experience, and and I've

1244
00:42:19,375 --> 00:42:21,315
had these conversations with many folks

1245
00:42:22,414 --> 00:42:23,555
doing the same thing,

1246
00:42:23,934 --> 00:42:26,434
you know, the brush mitigation is that,

1247
00:42:27,215 --> 00:42:29,215
you know, you educate people, maybe 20 people

1248
00:42:29,215 --> 00:42:30,355
show up to your workshop,

1249
00:42:30,894 --> 00:42:32,675
eight of those people call for an assessment,

1250
00:42:32,815 --> 00:42:34,675
three of those people actually do anything

1251
00:42:35,369 --> 00:42:36,409
on their properties. It's

1252
00:42:37,289 --> 00:42:40,670
Yeah. But every little bit gets gets somewhere.

1253
00:42:40,969 --> 00:42:42,730
You know, it's all it's all part of

1254
00:42:42,730 --> 00:42:45,309
the big cog. How might people

1255
00:42:46,010 --> 00:42:48,730
donate to you or or learn more about

1256
00:42:48,730 --> 00:42:50,724
your group? Oh, you can go to our

1257
00:42:50,724 --> 00:42:53,204
website, bcvwfd.org.

1258
00:42:53,204 --> 00:42:55,385
It's just ourinitials.org.

1259
00:42:55,445 --> 00:42:56,965
There's a lot of information on there and

1260
00:42:56,965 --> 00:42:58,885
a lot of, you know, pictures and our

1261
00:42:58,885 --> 00:43:01,065
story, list of our members, and

1262
00:43:01,525 --> 00:43:04,184
what their certifications are. It's been a interesting

1263
00:43:04,244 --> 00:43:05,909
journey, something I never planned

1264
00:43:07,409 --> 00:43:09,650
on doing. You know, I wanted to when

1265
00:43:09,650 --> 00:43:10,929
I was a kid, but, of course, as

1266
00:43:10,929 --> 00:43:12,690
as time went on and we're not a

1267
00:43:12,690 --> 00:43:14,369
young department by any means. We're,

1268
00:43:15,010 --> 00:43:17,170
our average age is just a bit bit

1269
00:43:17,170 --> 00:43:17,989
older than

1270
00:43:18,414 --> 00:43:20,494
the local fire departments just by necessity. I

1271
00:43:20,494 --> 00:43:21,934
mean, that that's you you get what you

1272
00:43:21,934 --> 00:43:23,694
get when you have volunteer fire. Whoever in

1273
00:43:23,694 --> 00:43:26,034
your community that that's that's what you get.

1274
00:43:26,255 --> 00:43:28,815
In cases like this, I would feel like

1275
00:43:28,815 --> 00:43:30,734
you would want people that have been around

1276
00:43:30,734 --> 00:43:32,260
a while. Yeah. I mean, it just comes

1277
00:43:32,260 --> 00:43:34,039
with another level of understanding

1278
00:43:34,339 --> 00:43:35,799
and intellect and

1279
00:43:36,179 --> 00:43:36,679
ability

1280
00:43:37,539 --> 00:43:40,039
to move quickly in a tense situation.

1281
00:43:40,420 --> 00:43:43,000
All that comes by a seasoned life.

1282
00:43:43,375 --> 00:43:44,434
And human interactions.

1283
00:43:44,735 --> 00:43:46,494
Right? We've all been through a lot, so

1284
00:43:46,494 --> 00:43:48,575
it's easier to deal with the public. The

1285
00:43:48,575 --> 00:43:51,474
public is right? So, yes, all of that.

1286
00:43:51,535 --> 00:43:53,375
All of that. And clearly, you've lived a

1287
00:43:53,375 --> 00:43:55,295
life of service. I mean, you went down

1288
00:43:55,295 --> 00:43:57,055
the list of everything you've done, and I

1289
00:43:57,055 --> 00:43:59,159
I appreciate that you exist and that you're

1290
00:43:59,159 --> 00:44:00,859
on the planet, and you're doing

1291
00:44:01,559 --> 00:44:03,339
something outside of yourself

1292
00:44:03,639 --> 00:44:04,300
to make

1293
00:44:05,159 --> 00:44:07,239
the world better. And that's what you are

1294
00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:09,960
doing, and I think that that inspires others

1295
00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:12,585
as well. That's an example. Even if it's

1296
00:44:12,585 --> 00:44:13,324
an unintended

1297
00:44:13,704 --> 00:44:14,204
example,

1298
00:44:14,905 --> 00:44:17,324
you lead in that way. And I I

1299
00:44:17,385 --> 00:44:18,284
feel like

1300
00:44:18,744 --> 00:44:21,304
the more people like you that exist, the

1301
00:44:21,304 --> 00:44:23,885
better we're all gonna be. Well, thanks.

1302
00:44:24,425 --> 00:44:25,804
I I do appreciate that.

1303
00:44:27,630 --> 00:44:29,549
I I had really been wanting to find

1304
00:44:29,549 --> 00:44:31,789
a way to give back more before this

1305
00:44:31,789 --> 00:44:33,949
happened, before the fire broke out. I was

1306
00:44:33,949 --> 00:44:36,030
tutoring, and I I spent years as a

1307
00:44:36,030 --> 00:44:38,210
as a college professor. I was tutoring homeless

1308
00:44:38,670 --> 00:44:39,569
high school students

1309
00:44:40,030 --> 00:44:42,130
a little bit, and and then this happened.

1310
00:44:43,175 --> 00:44:45,894
And so there was my community service project

1311
00:44:45,894 --> 00:44:48,074
for the next several years, just continuing.

1312
00:44:48,534 --> 00:44:50,534
Yeah. But lucky that, you know, I I've

1313
00:44:50,534 --> 00:44:51,994
gotten this opportunity to,

1314
00:44:52,775 --> 00:44:53,835
to feel less

1315
00:44:54,869 --> 00:44:55,690
self absorbed.

1316
00:44:56,949 --> 00:44:58,549
Well, I feel like you could have five

1317
00:44:58,549 --> 00:45:00,869
Hey Human episodes, each one about the different

1318
00:45:00,869 --> 00:45:02,650
lifetimes you've lived in this lifetime.

1319
00:45:03,349 --> 00:45:06,389
Yeah. No doubt. No doubt. I really appreciate

1320
00:45:06,389 --> 00:45:09,194
your time. Thank you for listening, everybody, and

1321
00:45:09,194 --> 00:45:11,194
and thank you so much. Yeah. Well, thank

1322
00:45:11,194 --> 00:45:13,434
you, Susan, for having us. I I us.

1323
00:45:13,434 --> 00:45:15,114
I mean, me. I represent the department, of

1324
00:45:15,114 --> 00:45:15,775
course. But

1325
00:45:16,074 --> 00:45:17,514
it's it's we you know, we wanna get

1326
00:45:17,514 --> 00:45:19,034
the word out there that you can you

1327
00:45:19,034 --> 00:45:21,594
can do stuff in your own hood to

1328
00:45:21,594 --> 00:45:22,414
protect yourself.

1329
00:45:23,619 --> 00:45:25,460
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. And thank you, cousin

1330
00:45:25,460 --> 00:45:27,860
Mike, for introducing us. And, apparently, we're gonna

1331
00:45:27,860 --> 00:45:29,780
break bread at some point. Well Oh, good.

1332
00:45:29,780 --> 00:45:31,460
Yeah. Yeah. Mike's come on as one of

1333
00:45:31,460 --> 00:45:33,400
our PR folks, and he's been very helpful.

1334
00:45:33,539 --> 00:45:35,000
Yeah. That's good. Campaign

1335
00:45:35,539 --> 00:45:38,715
versus the the detractors, you know. So Oh,

1336
00:45:38,715 --> 00:45:40,795
yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's he's got a lot

1337
00:45:40,795 --> 00:45:42,255
of fighting in him, so I

1338
00:45:43,275 --> 00:45:44,954
I could see him being really good at

1339
00:45:44,954 --> 00:45:47,614
that, pushing back against the detractors. So,

1340
00:45:47,914 --> 00:45:49,994
yeah, thank you so much. Have a great

1341
00:45:49,994 --> 00:45:51,855
day. You too. Take care. Bye.

1342
00:45:55,940 --> 00:45:58,420
Rate, review, and subscribe to Hey Human Podcast

1343
00:45:58,420 --> 00:46:00,199
on Apple, iHeart, and Spotify

1344
00:46:00,500 --> 00:46:02,900
podcast places wherever you get your podcast. Do

1345
00:46:02,900 --> 00:46:05,000
it. Do it. Do it. Yay. Thanks. Bye.