Sierra Madre Fire Department

Sierra Madre may become the latest San Gabriel Valley city to study ways to save the foothills from encroaching development. Councilman George Maurer is proposing the establishment of a land conservancy to protect 1,600 acres in the foothills, 493 acres of which are privately owned. Most of the remaining land has been designated as wilderness area and is already protected by the National Forest Service. "We want to keep the land in its pristine condition," Maurer said last week.

The tarnished brass horn resounded through the hills of Sierra Madre almost every day for 59 years, a tradition of the all-volunteer Fire Department that seemed to root this foothill town in its beloved past. When the horn was installed, one local said it sounded like a "600-horsepower bullfrog with a battery in its throat." Still, many residents found it comforting, an old friend shared by the community like the long-gone cannery whistles in Monterey.

When the mountains flanking the town were burning out of control, they stood their ground stubbornly, hoses in hand, feeling the hot breath of fire creeping down from the ridge toward defensive positions surrounding a scattering of seemingly doomed houses in Bailey Canyon. After a marathon test of nerves, the volunteers of the Sierra Madre Fire Department emerged victorious, and exhausted, from the firestorms of October, 1993.

When the mountains flanking the town were burning out of control, they stood their ground stubbornly, hoses in hand, feeling the hot breath of fire creeping down from the ridge toward defensive positions surrounding a scattering of seemingly doomed houses in Bailey Canyon. After a marathon test of nerves, the volunteers of the Sierra Madre Fire Department emerged victorious, and exhausted, from the firestorms of October, 1993.

The tarnished brass horn resounded through the hills of Sierra Madre almost every day for 59 years, a tradition of the all-volunteer Fire Department that seemed to root this foothill town in its beloved past. When the horn was installed, one local said it sounded like a "600-horsepower bullfrog with a battery in its throat." Still, many residents found it comforting, an old friend shared by the community like the long-gone cannery whistles in Monterey.

One firefighter was hospitalized and five others were slightly injured fighting a house fire in Arcadia on Sunday. Three of them were trapped briefly when the roof of the burning home on Oak Drive collapsed, Arcadia Fire Capt. Ken Marston said. The hospitalized firefighter, a member of the Sierra Madre Fire Department, was not identified. He was being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning at a Pasadena hospital. The other firefighters were treated at and released from Arcadia Methodist Hospital.

The City Council approved a request by the Sierra Madre Volunteer Fire Department to purchase a retired 1967 ladder truck for $4,500 from the city of Glendale. Fire Chief Edward Tracy told the council that the Seagrave model truck could improve the department's insurance rating, thus lowering insurance rates for businesses in the city. The truck is equipped with an 85-foot aerial ladder and has the capability of directing a "master stream" of water, useful in fighting building fires from above.

Voters will be asked in April to decide whether the city should establish a paramedic program and whether City Council members should be limited to two consecutive terms. The council Tuesday approved putting the two measures on the April 10, 1990, municipal election ballot. The paramedic program, recommended by Sierra Madre's volunteer Fire Department, would be funded by user fees, assessments on residents and the city's General Fund.

Monrovia fire officials' plans had suddenly gone up in smoke. They had scheduled a series of controlled burns at an empty office building last week to train about 100 firefighters from 12 San Gabriel Valley cities in how to battle fires inside dark, smoke-filled buildings. The plan had been to set eight fires that would be fought at different times.

Steve Smith drives a red vehicle to fires. But it's not a firetruck. It's a refrigerator repair van. Such is life in the world of Sierra Madre's volunteer firefighters, where bankers, plumbers and business people drop everything at the buzz of a pager to hasten to the front lines of any blaze that strikes their city. For some of the force's 45 members--including refrigerator repairman Smith, who works in Los Angeles--that means quite a drive.

Sierra Madre may become the latest San Gabriel Valley city to study ways to save the foothills from encroaching development. Councilman George Maurer is proposing the establishment of a land conservancy to protect 1,600 acres in the foothills, 493 acres of which are privately owned. Most of the remaining land has been designated as wilderness area and is already protected by the National Forest Service. "We want to keep the land in its pristine condition," Maurer said last week.

Boyd Robinson finished work last Friday afternoon and began to prepare to transport a 1943 Ford fire truck from Fresno County to Monrovia. The usual five-hour drive took about seven hours because the fire engine had to be carried on a flat-bed truck. Robinson, a communications technician who is also a volunteer firefighter, finally steered the truck into a Monrovia trailer park about 3 a.m. Saturday and went to bed.

They may have a fire in their hearts for each other, but the couple who led their friends and family into the Angeles National Forest on Saturday for their wedding and reception did not expect an actual conflagration nearby. In fact, it was just the opposite. Ken Grady and his bride, Julie (Sokolowski until Saturday afternoon), initially planned an outdoor fall wedding, then moved up the date to the spring -- to avoid the high fire danger of autumn.