Utah firefighters work Palisades Fire line
Jan 13, 2025, 10:42 PM
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah firefighters started their shift working to strengthen the line for the Palisades Fire as soon as they arrived, battling fires for 36 hours Friday evening through Saturday.
In the middle of a busy day, instead of ocean views taking their breath, it’s the rubble that felt otherworldly.
“Here’s the ocean right here,” Kelly Bird, with the Utah Task Force in California, said. “We’re up on this hilltop. This is a neighborhood that we’re working in right now and it’s pretty much wiped out.”
Bird said the whole neighborhood is gone, except for one house that stood tall in the rubble. Words can’t do justice to what Utah’s three task forces are seeing.
“It feels like we’re, you know, on a movie set,” Bird said. “It’s something this community is going to be challenged with over these many years.”
On Monday, firefighters were working to shore up the Palisades Fire line near Malibu.
“Making sure that nothing can break through,” Bird said. “Going home to home, looking for hotspots, trying to get ahead of the growing Santa Ana winds.”
Bird said firefighters were looking for smoke, things that were smoldering, and access them to use water and foam to deter reignition.
In some neighborhoods, residents have been allowed back into their homes.
“You can just see it in their faces that it’s sadness and despair. That’s what keeps these firefighters going,” Bird said. “We go through some of those same emotions and we just feel for those people.”
There are about 64 Utah firefighters in Southern California, representing 15 fire departments from all over the state. They’re in good spirits and told KSL TV they feel humbled to be there.
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