HEROES

By Debbie Bulloch



From the L.A. Times, November 16, 2008

Ruth Kamke, 84, had noticed the glow in the sky late Friday night and immediately started gathering her belongings -- clothes, cash and her husband's ashes -- and packing them into her 1973 mint-condition yellow-and-black Camaro. As she worked, the power flickered off and on. She used her cane to get around.

By 2 a.m., Kamke was ready to leave, but the electricity failed again and she couldn't open her garage door. Outside, a rain of glowing embers ignited the bushes around her mobile home.

She grabbed a hose and was spraying down her yard when three firefighters appeared and took her by both arms, leading her across the street to a lawn in front of the community clubhouse.

"As I sat there, I watched each house on my block catch fire in turn," Kamke said.

Desperate to save her car and belongings, she pleaded with firefighters, who eventually broke down the garage door and pulled the vehicle out. One police officer drove the Camaro out of the neighborhood to safety; another put Kamke in his patrol car and took her to the evacuation center. She peered out the rear window and watched the flames consume her home.

"Everything was fire," Kamke said. "I kept telling them as they were breaking down the garage door, 'You fight the fire. I'll take care of myself.' They said, 'No, we're gonna save your car, too.' "

Her eyes filled with tears as she recounted the firefighters' heroism.”What part of my life is left, they saved for me," she said.

For the past few days I have been literally glued to my television set as I watched several fires burn down large portions of Southern California. From Santa Barbara County south to Orange County wild fires fueled by brush, trees and homes, and driven by hurricane-like Santa Ana winds have consumed thousands of acres and destroyed hundreds of homes leaving a path of destruction and misery on their wake.

Anyone who has lived in Southern California for any length of time is by now familiar with the destructive power of these wind-driven wild fires. Every year, right around this time, the Santa Ana winds descend upon our area, heating up the air and creating conditions that are just ripe for wild fires. It is not just the air that heats up during the Santa Ana season; everything else just seems to get a little weird. Famed American novelist Raymond Chandler had this to say about the Santa Ana winds:

Those hot dry winds that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. Raymond Chandler, Red Wind

No amount of familiarity, however, can ever prepare one for the horrific scenes of destruction in the wake of the recent firestorm. Every photograph of a burned down building, every photograph of a blazing hillside, every photograph of a shelter full of people made homeless by the fires tells a part of the story of the devastation caused by the fires. Put all the pictures together and one begins to get the full measure of what thousands of Southern California families have endured over the past few days.

But perhaps the most striking images from the recent firestorms are the images of the individual acts of heroism displayed by the brave firefighters who do battle against these fires. These men and women think nothing about running into an area where a fire roars in order to save a home or to save a human life (or sometimes even an animal’s life). Their acts of bravery remind of the lines from The Impossible Dream, “…to be willing to march into Hell for a heavenly cause…” It will never cease to amaze me that there are people in this world who are willing to put their own lives at risk in order to save another’s life. I am personally thankful for the men and women of all the firefighting departments who have come to Southern California in our moment of need.

At Between Homes we are fortunate to have our very own firefighter hero. He is one of BH’s guardian angels. I could go on and on listing all the things that our firefighter hero has done for BH. His modesty, however, keeps me from mentioning all of his good deeds or even to mention him by name; he would just get upset with me for making such a fuss over him. I can, however, tell you that he is very near and dear to my heart. I can also tell you that I consider myself fortunate to know him.

The photos below are taken from the L.A. Times official website. Copyright fully reserved by the L.A. Times and the individual photographers.


Lone fireman battles a house fire.


The firestorms have left many people homeless.




Firemen pouring water on fire.




Fixed wing aircraft pouring fire retardant on hot spot.




Firemen battle flames.




Dangerous nighttime water dropping operations


Burned out area where more than 500 homes were lost resembles a war zone.


Vegetation destroyed by firestorms will return better and stronger!!!