ARVADA, Colo. — Colorado firefighters who deployed to help battle the multiple wildfires that broke out across Los Angeles have returned home.
On Jan. 10, Arvada Fire Lieutenant Thomas Lyons was at home spending quality time with his family when he received a text.
“[It was] the battalion chief saying that I was being deployed to California, and I left. Said goodbye to my wife, said, ‘I'll see you in about two weeks,’” he recalled. “I went to Station Nine, where our brush engine is, and two hours later, we were on the road headed to California.”
Lyons was one of four Arvada firefighters who spent the past several weeks battling wildfires that ripped through more than 40,000 acres in Southern California. Arvada Fire made up part of a strike team consisting of North and South Metro, Grand Lake, and Oak Creek Fire Districts.
After two days on the road, the crews got to California. There, they were assigned to work on the Palisades Fire, which burned over 23,000 acres and killed a dozen people.
“It was pretty surreal driving through the Pacific Coast Highway and just seeing the destruction of the fire," Lyons said.
The first night, the strike team was assigned to protect homes in Mandeville Canyon. The firefighters laid out several miles of hose line in the smoke and darkness.
“We couldn't really see, and [being] in a new environment, new territory… And the fuel being so dry that it's burning so quick and so fast. And then you add the winds that make it burn even faster. That was surreal to me, to be there helping that community,” he said.
Those structures survived thanks to their efforts.
“I've never experienced anything like that until I got to California,” Lyons added.
After two weeks of working 24-hour shifts every other day, the four firefighters from Arvada Fire are safely back home in Colorado.
Arvada Fire joined 58 other Colorado fire agencies in the state’s response to the LA wildfires, forming a bond Lyons will always remember.
“It just shows that the fire service is big nationwide, but if you think about it, it's pretty small, and we're close and tight-knit. Regardless of what my shirt says or what my engine says, we're all there to serve the same purpose and to come together," he said.
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