Block Party Heroes

If your Pasadena neighborhood or block organization meets certain simple criteria, you can barricade your street for your block party. The kids love the wild freedom it gives them to ride their bikes in the street. Did you also know that members of the Pasadena Fire Department will come to your block party and mesmerize your children? That is, if they have time.

When the big truck pulled onto our block, the firefighters got a call and immediately had to leave.

A bit later the truck returned, greeted by cheering fans. The men of Station 33 were able to stop long enough to give most of the kids a tour of their gleaming truck but not long enough to get a plate of potluck before another call came in.

Our street was barricaded for the party, as I mentioned, so each time the men came and went they had to stop at the end of the block and move the barricades.

I didn't think they'd come back a third time but they did, this time with a rescue ambulance and a two-man crew. (There are female firefighters in Los Angeles County. Perhaps yesterday's visits inspired more.) The kids (all ages) were thrilled. The smallest ones got to visit inside the ambulance, and afterwards they tried on the firefighters' heavy coats.

Firefighter Paramedic Bondarczuk demonstrated the hood and mask to his rapt audience. He said the hood keeps sparks from getting inside his coat and going down his back. I don't have to tell you what the mask is for.

These guys are amazing enough just doing their jobs. When they take time to come out and talk to families, and wow the children like they did yesterday between emergency calls, one gets a sense of the meaning of the word "hero."

Immediately after I took this picture the paramedics got another call. Off they went, stopping to move the barricades at the end of the street and missing out entirely on hot dogs, brownies and Michelle's famous bruschetta.

News Hounds

Everyone loves firefighters, but in southern California we revere ours maybe a little extra, probably because we need them extra much and they work extra hard.

Sirens on one's very own street bring out the neighborhood. Even a false alarm gives the fire department paramedics an opportunity to show their stuff, and newshounds of all ages a chance to admire them.

Sierra Madre Fire

For those who don't live around here: it smells like a campfire. The smoke permeates everything (the smell woke me this morning). The sky is white with it. Little flakes of ash float in the air like snow.

In the mountains above Sierra Madre, the pretty, Mayberry-esque community bordering Pasadena to the east, firefighters battle a brush fire that began Saturday. It still burns this morning. Over 1,000 people have evacuated their homes.

Yesterday in downtown Sierra Madre, people stood on the sidewalks and pointed toward the hills. Every conversation was about the fires. Command central was the Sierra Madre Recreation Center, its parking lot filled with vehicles from every surrounding fire department you could think of, including Pasadena's. A few firemen took a break at one end of the lot. At the other end, the news media set up their cameras to get the best views.

In this photo, a couple watches a fixed-wing air tanker drop orange flame retardant on the fire above their neighborhood. Across the street from the Recreation Center was this sign: