Firefighters Pursue Brush Fire Across 10 Acres of Montebello Hills

42 yr North Mtb resident wrote:

This was definitely the worst Hill fire since I moved here in 1966. It was the longest lasting, largest area, and closest to the eastern La Merced and Sanchez Adobe area fire in that time.

Tonight, there have been some flare ups along the ridge above the command post area at the intersection of Los Amigos and Hibiscus St. The command post was removed by 9:o30 pm Monday night, with fire units in the Hills all night.

The vehicle count given by Chief Wessel is interesting. According to a County Fire Captain I spoke to at the command HQ, there were a total of 65 fire vehicles present at the height of the fire, with 15 being County, and 50 from other cities.

The cities represented at the command post by vehicles which were seen by residents driving up Hibiscus Street, and then were dispatched to different areas were: Compton, Monterey Park, Alhambra, San Gabriel, South Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Downey, and Vernon. I wonder why this complete list wasn't in either the WDN or Comet stories?

Did anyone else notice the yellowish color of some of the smoke, or its acrid chemical smell? The channel 7 helicopter reporter reported seeing equipment burning, but the MFD reported no oil equipment damaged.

A County Fire Captain I spoke to at the Fire HQ also told me at 7:30pm Monday that their working hypothesis was that the fire started at or very near an oil well just east of the intersection of Paramount Blvd, and Montebello Blvd., just across the street from the Chevron Gas Station and spread east and south. If the fire started at the center of the Hills, as stated by Chief Wessel, it them apparently spread somewhat against the wind, going both east and west.

I wonder if the abnormally dense environmental landscaping done by Cook-Hill had anything to do with the odd spreading and unusually large size of this fire. Montebello residents have complained for years at city council meetings that the unusually dense, irrigated foliage posed an increased fire danger and the irrigation should be terminated. While it is too soon to know if that exacerbated the fire, it may be more than coincidence that this largest ever Hill fire occurred at this time.

ex montebello firefighter wrote:

<quoted text>
The LACo Captain shouldn't have discussed any of the particulars about the incident with you. You are neither qualified nor privileged to know that information. Hence is the reason why you have the complex that you have. I will tell you this.... The smoke that you are claiming to be of suspicious nature was due to some vegetation that is common to that area. It's funny, in all of your heretic rant, I never read you complimenting the actual incident commander, not the Fire Chief; who did an OUTSTANDING job of keeping you safe. He was understaffed and behind the eight ball from the start! I guess that doesn't fit into your plans.... How sad!

Judged:

1

1

1

Theolona Ranger wrote:

Add Monrovia FD to the list
Ex montebello firefighter goes to his personal attackes instead of being positive.
42 year Montebello resident is a Topix editor and is just as much right as any reporter (or citizen) to obtain information from public officials.
Qualified yes ., of course any Citizens is qualified and a qualification by the thought police is not necessary in a free society
Priviedged - none required
If the fire got into the non native eucalapitus and castor beans there would be funny smells- and castor bean smoke may be toxic
The coastal sage scrub/ chaparel in the hills must burn to be healthy.
The areas NOT landscaped are overgrown with foreign exotics, mustard, annual grasses, acacia, alanthus.
Abnormally large conflagrations waiting to happen.

Who was the actual incident commander?
A note would be appropriate, maybe an indepth interview by EGP news.
Understaffed???
That's what mutual aid is for
And shared copters
Wait till the arundo and eucalyptus behind the dam bursts into flame- part of that area is City of Montebello also.
IMHO LET IT BURN

Judged:

1

1

1

ytw wrote:

I am very thankful for the wonderful fire departments who responded to this emergency and even more thankful that nobody got hurt fighting this fire.

The Montebello Fire Department personnel are my heroes, they've helped me in the past, and yesterday they did a fantastic job knocking down the fire in the hills.

I live directly down wind of the hills and smoke of any kind aggravates my breathing problems so I had to stay indoors with the AC running. I felt like I had a front row seat though because my phone kept ringing non-stop with eyewitness accounts from friends living throughout Montebello including a few in the La Merced area closest to the hills. Several of these friends had emergency vehicles parked near their homes.

The fire was much worse than what's been reported in the news. Apparently there were a few flare ups that happened after the news reporters had left the scene or posted their stories. I was told the actual area that burned was closer to 10-20 acres.

Again, thank God nobody was hurt.

ex montebello firefighter wrote:

<quoted text>
Shared copters? How do you plan to pay back the use of those resources? Hand crews, water tenders, superintendents and other specialized resources that Montebello FD doesn't have. Did you purposely forget Montebello's depleted staff levels which forced Engine 56 to have to respond back to quarters to retrieve Brush 56, when Truck 56 could had automatically man it had they been in service? Did I mention that this apparatus is quartered in South Montebello? That's what Mutual Aid is for? So it is ok with you to utilize resources that could had been yours and your disposal had your MASTER and the rest of you flunkies not lied to the citizens about LACoFD fire protection? Let's see now.... 5 engines, 4 camp crews, 2 copters, 2 battalion chiefs.... Should I go on? That is the root of this problem, you feel entitled to offer an opinion, yet you have no credibility.....

Theolona Ranger wrote:

I saw in the pictures the tiki torches known as eucalyptus. Remember the Berkeley fire.
Thre have been pubilic orals before the council on the dangers of euclyptus. Limb drop, groundwater lowering, understory prevents other plants, blowing embers.
Time to remove them all from the Hills, Plaza Drive and from behind the dam before there is a fire on a Santa Ana wind day.
Ex Montebello firefigthter asked
Pay back??
They are prepaid with taxes- there is no pay back.
Montebello has the best FD they can aford- actually more FD than they can afford.
Depleted levels???
Those levels were unsustainable, supported with the illegal borrowing shown in the FD's own handout.

"So it is ok with you to utilize resources that could had been yours and your disposal had the MFD
not overspent over $10,000,000 in illegally paid overtime.
Instead of apratus MFD put the money in their personal pockets.
NO City is expected to have all specialized resources you mention.
Where is that Special truck that was obtained from the State OEP?
MFD can base them anywhere it wants.
The Hills will burn again and so will the river valley.
It's natural
Remove the foreign exotics
and
Let them burn

Judged:

3

3

1

42 yr North Mtb resident wrote:

I live on the street the MFD Command HQ was on, and I heard several MPD officers discussing the traffic snarl that was caused by blocking off Montebello Blvd. for a short time, and only allowing those exiting from the Sears and Costco area to turn right, and they both said that if there had been 1500 condos full of people trying to leave the Hills, there would have been a disaster. "It would have been Biblical" I overheard one say.
They understand the danger this proposed development poses. Too bad the 54 Montebello resident supporters of the proposal don't.

Settle Down wrote:

<quoted text>You have got to be kidding me. A cop saidd that? Well the cop must be an idiot and so is anyone who would submit to that logic. If 1500 condos were up there. Guess what? There wouldn't be as much fuel (brush) to burn. There would also be several exits on Mont, Lincoln and plaza. Guess what neil armstrong street use to look lik before they built conos there? Or the house across from the PXP prop? That's right. Just like the PXP prop looks now. Since u live in the area u should hope they build there so no more brush fires break out. That un cut area is a fire hazard now and will be until they buildd on it.

Judged:

1

1

1

42 yr North Mtb resident wrote:

This was definitely the worst Hill fire since I moved here in 1966. It was the longest lasting, largest area, and closest to the eastern La Merced and Sanchez Adobe area fire in that time.
Tonight, there have been some flare ups along the ridge above the command post area at the intersection of Los Amigos and Hibiscus St. The command post was removed by 9:30 pm Monday night, with fire units in the Hills all night.
The vehicle count given by Chief Wessel is interesting. According to a County Fire Captain I spoke to at the command HQ, there were a total of 65 fire vehicles present at the height of the fire, with 15 being County, and 50 from other cities.
The cities represented at the command post by vehicles which were seen by residents driving up Hibiscus Street, and then were dispatched to different areas were: Compton, Monterey Park, Alhambra, San Gabriel, South Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Downey, and Vernon. I wonder why this complete list wasn't in either the WDN or Comet stories?
Did anyone else notice the yellowish color of some of the smoke, or its acrid chemical smell? The channel 7 helicopter reporter reported seeing equipment burning, but the MFD reported no oil equipment damaged.
A County Fire Captain I spoke to at the Fire HQ also told me at 7:30pm Monday that their working hypothesis was that the fire started at or very near an oil well just east of the intersection of Paramount Blvd, and Montebello Blvd., just across the street from the Chevron Gas Station and spread east and south. If the fire started at the center of the Hills, as stated by Chief Wessel, it them apparently spread somewhat against the wind, going both east and west.
I wonder if the abnormally dense environmental landscaping done by Cook-Hill had anything to do with the odd spreading and unusually large size of this fire. Montebello residents have complained for years at city council meetings that the unusually dense, irrigated foliage posed an increased fire danger and the irrigation should be terminated. While it is too soon to know if that exacerbated the fire, it may be more than coincidence that this largest ever Hill fire occurred at this time.

42 yr North Mtb resident wrote:

<quoted text>Please consider attending the free adult school English Language classes or request a volunteer tutor. Your sentences #2,3,5,6,8 are not correct English, and thus open to intrpretations that you probably don't mean.
----------
her·e·tic noun \&#712;her-&#601;- &#716;tik, &#712;he-r&#601;-\
Definition of HERETIC
1: a dissenter from established religious dogma; especially : a baptized member of the Roman Catholic Church who disavows a revealed truth
2: one who dissents from an accepted belief or doctrine : nonconformist
See heretic defined for English-language learners »
See heretic defined for kids »
Examples of HERETIC
The church regards them as heretics.
<Galileo was condemned as a heretic for supporting Copernicus's thesis that the earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa.>
----------
I am assuming that you are somehow displeased with my posting, but your language makes it difficult to understand how. Your 'heretic' remark linguistically could be interpreted as meaning that the incident fire commander or the Chief was the heretic I was ranting about, and I am fairly certain that is not what you meant to say. If you mean to imply that I was the heretic, you should have used the term 'heretical rant', as that would have clearly said that I was the heretic, and not the fire commander.
If that is the case, keeping in mind the actual meaning of heretic, and its adjective form, how was anything I, or the incident fire commander, or the Chief, heretical? Of course, this is a rhetorical question, as nothing any of us said is.
The other sentences are just mish-mash that are only intelligible with mind-reading ability, not by anything stated therein.
As usual, I was just reporting facts, and that upsets the corrupt, who have no way to actually argue when facts do not support their arguements, as visible, for what seems to be the millionth time, above.
You will also note the mind-reading capability claimed by the corrupt, who claim to know my attitude towards firefighters without anything being said by me one way or the other. Maybe his Bill Cult of Personality fixation took over. I'm surprised he didn't blame the fire on Bill, as he does every other of Montebello's problems.

just saying wrote:

<quoted text>Monday morning quarter backing? How about just great job and thankyou for not letting the fire getting any larger? Why must you find issue in everything? I am sure all involved from not just FD but to PD, to the water department employees who must think of giving the fire department the necessary water supply they need to save your precious hill. Again, SOS just a different day.

Interesting that you went to Fire HQ to get answers from a county fire employee do you do that when Montebello Fire is in station?

ex montebello firefighter wrote:

<quoted text>
Of course not! I have offered to arrange visits for all of the naysayers in these posts. I have also offered to meet him in person to address some of his concerns. He had not taken me up on the offer. I think he meant to say command post, not headquarters.