Baldy Fire demonstrates need to be prepared

Saturday evening the Lakeside QRU was dispatched to an emergency medical call unrelated to the wildfire that had just started growing on Baldy Mountain.

After transferring the patient to the ALERT helicopter, we returned to the fire hall and began restocking the ambulance and finishing the paperwork.

As we worked, a visitor, Ed Burlingame, introduced himself as the planning chief for the fire incident command.

We briefly discussed the use of the fire hall for the Incident Command Center and quickly agreed to help get things set up.

The QRU volunteers started moving chairs and tables. We made a quick phone call and met Dennis Reese at the Lakeside Community Chapel to pick-up more tables.

By 10 p.m., more officials were arriving and Burlingame asked me if the Lakeside QRU would be willing to take responsibility as the medical unit on the fire.

I turned to a few of the other volunteers and after a few silent seconds while we each weighed the unknown path we were about to take and our work and family responsibilities against the emergency needs of our community, I turned back to Ed and said "yes."

Mary Granger, our service director, and I quickly began calling members and planning a schedule to staff the hall with volunteers 24 hours a day for the next few days.

During the next four days, we treated minor injuries a few of the firefighters suffered and responded to a few non-fire emergencies. We also tried to host our guests the best we could in our small, out-grown fire hall. The community members that came to the hall those four days helped greatly by bringing snacks and volunteering their time and facilities to the firefighting effort.

We watched as the Incident Command Team grew to a dozen or more members in a few hours, equipment and supplies started arriving to fill a couple of the garage bays, and meetings were conducted with 50 or more participants in our small, standing-room-only, meeting room.

We watched that very professional group come together and essentially run a business that grew to about 175 employees and all the support equipment and supplies they needed within less than 24 hours.

We learned about the tremendous value planning and organization has when disaster strikes.

While our Lakeside Fire Hall served us well, we learned how very much our growing community needs a new, larger, better-equipped facility.

I also had an opportunity to observe how important the research and planning work done by the Lakeside Neighborhood Planning Committee is to help the community reduce risk and control wildland fires; and help guide us toward safer, economically viable development.

Most importantly, I would like to thank all the members of the Incident Command Team; the Hot Shot Crews and the heavy equipment operators on the fire line; the aircraft pilots and support personnel; the volunteers from Somers Fire Department and all the other fire departments that sent equipment and staff from around the valley; the sheriff, his deputies and posse members; and the many community members that volunteered and provided support.

Thanks for your tremendous effort that resulted in controlling a fire and preventing a disaster that could have been much more serious for our community. I would also like to thank all those same groups and individuals for helping us learn and consider how important it is for all of us to be prepared for emergencies.