Firefighters deserve gratitude

Ventura County sends out a big thank you to all the fire departments throughout the state of California that came to our aid.

The coordinated response of dozens of fire departments representing 3,000 firefighters set a national example of how to do it right. California is just one of a handful of states in the nation that has mutual aid agreements among counties and this allows for immediate deployment. The Unified Command—consisting of Ventura County, Los Angeles City and County, California Department of Forestry and the National Park Service—worked with such great cooperation among agencies that everyone witnessed an unparalleled synergy.

The cooperation of residents in evacuating and the assistance of local law enforcement was outstanding. Evacuation information was well noticed. The Conejo Recreation and Park District opened their facilities to the Red Cross, who quickly set up cots and provided food, essentials and comfort. Adelphia brought in cable so displaced, anxious residents could watch the news of the fires on TV.

The community came together. The Kiwanis barbequed for evacuees in Thousand Oaks. Residents provided food to firefighters and to shelters as did grateful businesses, including Pavillions and Albertsons. The Amateur Radio Club helped in communications, CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams), Search and Rescue and DART (Disaster Assistance Response Teams) went house to house to help prepare people for evacuation. Neighbors helped each other evacuate and many took in families who had to flee the fire and smoke.

Overall a lot of kindness was shared and a lot of tremendously hard work was done by what are now some very exhausted firefighters. We can’t thank you enough!

I hope that Gov. Schwarzenegger declares the area a disaster area. Without this designation the fire departments won’t be fully reimbursed for their coming to the aid of our county. The amassing of resources and first responders in the Topanga Fire was a model of emergency response. The governor, who lauded the herculean efforts of fire departments across the state, should reinforce these types of responses by declaring the area a disaster area— just as FEMA did last week. The last thing we want fire departments to consider before deciding whether to save houses in another county is whether they can afford it. Linda Parks Ventura County Supervisor