WHITEFISH — California issued a state-to-state mutual aid request on Jan. 10, asking firefighters in Montana to travel south to help battle devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
The Whitefish Fire Department answered that call sending a fire engine with four firefighters and paramedics to assist.
“It’s just devastating honestly, seeing what used to be this whole community kind of turn to just ruble and ash is just completely devastating,” said Whitefish Firefighter Sal Baccaro.
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Whitefish firefighters spent 14 days working on the Palisades Fire that tore through the Los Angeles area and what they saw firsthand is hard to put into words.
“The width and breadth of the destruction was mind-boggling, absolutely mind-boggling. And within the time frame the fire behavior was something I’ve never seen anywhere,” said Whitefish firefighter Glen Hartman.
The firefighters worked in 24-hour shifts on different assignments as duty called.
This included fire suppression, structure protection and assisting Urban Search and Rescue teams trying to locate human remains.
“That’s hard, you don’t really know, we don’t have training in that search and rescue looking for what could be left of bodies, so everything was so burnt, just white ash is what it really looked like, it was hard for sure,” said Baccaro.
Whitefish firefighter Saxton Coorough said they helped bring people back to their neighborhoods as evacuation orders were lifted.
“Just having a chance to kind of see, kind of almost firsthand people’s first reactions to what was going on there was pretty humbling, you know it kind of makes you think about what these people are feeling and just the immense sense of loss that they experienced,” said Coorough.
Firefighter Jamison Smith said everyone was so kind and thankful toward first responders, even those who lost everything.
“And they were so grateful and appreciative, and they wanted to make sure that all the first responders had what they needed, that they were being taken care of, that’s a super humbling experience for me,” said Smith.
Smith is thankful for his coworkers at the Whitefish Fire Department covering shifts in their absence which allowed them to help the people in California when they needed it most.
“Other firefighters here were willing to step up and fill those holes and take on the extra responsibility so that this could happen.”
