Claremont first responders help at fire sites

Claremont Police Department officers aided with patrol and evacuation efforts in neighborhoods near the Eaton Fire on January 8. Photo/courtesy of Claremont Police Department

by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Claremont Police Department officers and firefighters from two area stations were among those helping with emergency efforts last week at the Eaton and Palisades fires.

As of Wednesday evening, fire engines and crews from stations 101 and 102 continued working on the Eaton Fire, where they have been since January 7. An additional crew from station 102 was assigned to the Santa Clarita Valley Wednesday in advance of a wind event.

Detectives Lauren Haynes and Matthew Morales were in Sierra Madre from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. January 10 at a command post observing the Eaton Fire.

“They brief you and kind of explain the situation that’s going on,” Haynes said. “It’s an emergency operation center that they have so they’ve got big maps of the area of concern that are up. Basically, the maps are just showing, hey, we need these various intersections that are closed right now to be staffed with police officers. They didn’t want anybody who wasn’t a resident going back into certain neighborhoods, so everything was blocked off.”

Haynes patrolled the area near Grand View Avenue and Grove Street in Sierra Madre. Morales patrolled Grand View and Lima Street.

“The homes there were all fine,” Haynes said. “I think there was probably one home about a block north of that location that had burned down completely I believe, as well as an electrical pole. That entire neighborhood there did not have power.

“Some folks chose to stay and some of those folks would kind of come out and talk to each other. Others had evacuated the day before and, or two days before, and they were coming back to check in on their homes. There were a lot of people coming back saying, ‘Hey, I need to get back in to get medications.’ A lot of them stopped to talk to each other and check on each other, which was really nice.”

Haynes said neighbors offered water, mobile phone chargers, and In-N-Out burgers to each other and officers.

The situation hit home for Haynes, who grew up in Pasadena and Temple City and attended high school nearby at Pasadena’s La Salle College Preparatory on East Sierra Madre Boulevard.

“It’s personal for me because a lot of people who I’m still in contact with … we all grew up in that area,” she said. “So those are my childhood friends’ parents’ homes. I had seen it just like everybody else watching it on TV, but having personal friends on different various social media platforms posting [that their] parents’ house burned down, or my uncle’s house burned down and just kind of seeing it that way and knowing so many people … It was shocking to see a place that I knew for so long. To have that happen there was just shocking to see.”

0 Comments

Submit a Comment



Share This