COMMUNITY

Salem firefighters saw devastation, received local support while helping fight Palisades Fire

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Almost every night Salem firefighters were in California helping fight the Palisades Fire, local residents provided free dinners as a show of appreciation. 

Along with hamburgers and burritos, people brought them shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, bottled water and snacks. Some supplies were dropped off specifically for the Oregon firefighters at the Santa Monica building they stayed in. 

“That’s what surprised me, is how much community support there was for all the firefighters, not just us, all the other states and the LA firefighters,” Zach Salvage, an engineer for the Salem Fire Department, said. “The community really backed us.”

Salvage was one of four Salem firefighters who went to California last month to help fight the Palisades Fire, which burned thousands of acres in the Los Angeles area. The fire was the third largest in the state’s history, burning over 23,000 acres and killing 12 people. The fire is 95% contained as of Feb. 3.

Capt. Michael Stewart and firefighters Michael Laatsch and Cody Welling were the three others who got a call the day the Palisades Fire started, asking if they could join an Oregon strike team headed to California. 

The strike team included 22 firefighters and five engines from fire departments in Salem, Jefferson, Woodburn, Sublimity and Hubbard. They returned home on Saturday, Jan. 25.

For each of the Salem firefighters, it was their longest time away on conflagration, which is a response to a wildfire requiring resources from multiple agencies. They also welcomed the opportunity to return the favor to California, which has a history of sending lots of resources to help fight wildfires in Oregon, Salvage said

The Salem firefighters arrived in California in the evening Thursday, Jan. 9, after two days of travel in a Salem fire engine. 

On the first night, they pitched tents in a parking lot next to the beach and slept for a few hours until waking up for their first day of assignments. For the rest of their time in California, they stayed in a business building in Santa Monica being remodeled along with the other Oregon strike teams.

For two weeks, Salvage and Stewart put out hotspots in neighborhoods hit hard by the fires, extinguishing any smoldering or sometimes unseen fires that can flare up. 

Salem Reporter had a photographer capture some of the work the team did as they worked 24 hour shifts in a neighborhood in the Pacific Palisades. 

In their second shift, Stewart said, they got a call reporting a fire inside a nearby house. It had started in bark chips outside, worked its way under the foundation and was crawling towards the attic. After arriving at the house, the team tore off the wall’s sheetrock to expose and extinguish the fire, saving the house.

“That was our main assignment during that was making sure we didn’t lose any more houses, going through and just making sure they were safe, especially towards the end of it, when they started bringing people back up into the area,” Stewart said. 

Rubble is all that remains of a townhome complex on Palisades Drive in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday, Jan. 12. Nearly 400 Oregon firefighters have been dispatched to help with the California fires. (DAVID ZAITZ/For Salem Reporter)

During their first few shifts, there was a constant chemical smell from where the fire had burned through neighborhoods, according to Salvage and Stewart. Although many firefighters are used to the smell of a house fire, the aftermath in California left a strong smell of burned plastic that they said they eventually got used to.

When the team was on duty at night, Salvage said, they rested inside the engine between calls and felt the whole truck shake from 60 mph winds. Strong winds, known as the Santa Ana winds, were one of the biggest contributors to rapid fire spread in the Los Angeles fires.

While on duty, Salem firefighters ran into strike teams from other states and got the chance to meet firefighters from Montana, Texas, Utah, Nevada and New Mexico. When they had time off between shifts, Stewart said, they would catch up with fellow Oregon firefighters who they knew from working with in the past. 

Around 370 Oregon firefighters helped fight the California fires, according to Salvage. Within 24 hours of the Palisades Fire starting, the Oregon State Fire Marshal had 15 strike teams on their way, and sent 21 in total. Wildland firefighters sent by the Oregon Department of Forestry also responded.

Later in the team’s time in California, local police officers brought residents back to their houses to check the damage and find belongings. One of their strike team’s engines helped a resident get into their safe that survived the fire and reunite with valuable items, Salvage said. 

The team also assisted in general public safety calls as people returned to their houses, including providing cases of water bottles to those who didn’t evacuate. 

Although many scenes Salvage and Stewart responded to were devastated by the fire, some houses managed to stay unharmed, whether because of changes in wind or a homeowner’s ability to fight fires that got close to their homes.

“I think, for most people, is, you know, a lot of the stuff is replaceable, but the things they did lose in the house that they can’t ever replace, the memories, that’s got to be the hard part,” Salvage said.

Even though many in the area had lost belongings, homes, businesses or had to evacuate, they often thanked local and out-of-state firefighters, according to Salvage, who said the community made them feel genuinely appreciated. 

Mike Stewart of the Salem Fire Department arrives on Sunday, Jan. 12, to douse a hot spot at the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles, California. (DAVID ZAITZ/For Salem Reporter)

On one of the Salem firefighters’ days off, locals paid for catering from food trucks. Even though firefighters brought packed meals and snacks on shift, they often didn’t need them due to the frequent free dinners the community provided.

“We try to put all of our feelings kind of on the back burner when we’re doing our job, but we had times where you sit there, and if you thought about it, just the amount of people that lost everything as this fire went through, it’s tough,” Stewart said. 

Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected].

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Madeleine Moore is working as a reporter at Salem Reporter through the University of Oregon’s Charles Snowden internship program. She came to Salem after graduating from the University of Oregon in June 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.