Former Hood River resident Isabella Brink and her fiancé, Quinn, lost their home in Altadena, California, to wildfire last week. The couple has had to cancel their wedding.
Solstice Pizza owner Aaron Baumhackl, second from right, volunteers by packing hotdogs to keep those fighting the LA fires fed. Baumhackl is part of the national nonprofit Slice Out Hunger, a group of pizzerias raising money to abolish hunger and poverty.
West Klickitat Regional Fire Authority Chief Wesley Long, who is leading strike teams from around Washington in mop up and cool down of the fire edges.
Former Hood River resident Isabella Brink and her fiancé, Quinn, lost their home in Altadena, California, to wildfire last week. The couple has had to cancel their wedding.
THE GORGE — Wildfires in Los Angeles County, California, have made international news the past two weeks and as of Friday, 88,000 residents remain under evacuation orders. Some residents had enough warning to gather their most prized possessions, but for former Hood River resident Isabella Brink and her fiancé, Quinn, this was not the case.
On the same day Isabella was told her position at work was being terminated, their Altadena, California, home burned to the ground and the couple were forced to cancel their wedding in Malibu.
“We haven’t gotten back into the neighborhood yet, but from what I hear it is nearly completely flattened. Lots of our favorite local businesses and restaurants were burned completely as well,” Brink said. “Altadena is such a diverse, wonderful community; I’m sure it will be rebuilt but it’ll never be the same.”
Brink said they will most likely get married at the courthouse.
“We hope to plan another big wedding in the future to celebrate and thank everyone who has helped us through this devastating time,” Brink said. She graduated from the Hood River Valley High School in 2013. Her parents still reside in Hood River and organized a GoFundMe for the couple. As of Jan. 20, the public had raised more than $26,000. The couple was one of thousands who will be forced to start over.
Some lucky residents whose homes are still standing — like former Hood River resident Caitlyn Fick — have chosen to volunteer their time and energy helping the recovery efforts. Fick still has connections to Hood River, and is working to earn her Ph.D. in chemistry from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She lives in west Los Angeles and said when the evacuations were issued, she had time to gather some of her belongings, but called it an emotional experience.
“It was really strange to go around my apartment and pick out things that I would want with me if I were to lose everything that I had,” Fick said.
One day, she and her friends saw a post on social media calling for volunteers at their local YMCA. They answered the call and have spent hours sorting clothes, toys, accessories and other donations that have been dropped off.
“This YMCA is four blocks away from where I live, so we just walked over and signed up for any and all shifts that worked best for us. When we got there, they did do a very short orientation,” Fick said, “mainly making sure that we were staying safe, and what their expectations were for what sort of work we were going to be doing.”
Donations fill a hole for victims and the firefighters who are working day and night to control the aggressive fires. In order to keep firefighters and first responders energized, Hood River business owner Aaron Baumhackl volunteered his time and knowledge to make sure everyone on the frontlines received the necessary calories.
Baumhackl and his wife, Suzanne, have owned Solstice Pizza since 2007. Aaron is a member of Slice Out Hunger, a nonprofit group of independent pizzerias across the country that raise money to abolish hunger and poverty. Amid the fires, he reached out to friends in the area and found an opportunity to prepare meals for firefighters in the Pasadena area. He learned about the effort on Jan. 13 and was on a plane the next day.
Solstice Pizza owner Aaron Baumhackl, second from right, volunteers by packing hotdogs to keep those fighting the LA fires fed. Baumhackl is part of the national nonprofit Slice Out Hunger, a group of pizzerias raising money to abolish hunger and poverty.
Contributed photo
LaSorted’s Pizza in Los Angeles was the location of the first LA Pizza Alliance. The alliance featured multiple chefs and pizza-makers who came together and prepared pizza for firefighters in need. Baumhackl estimated that 25 different local pizzerias gathered at the shop to coordinate orders, cook meals and deliver the food to fire houses across the county.
“They welcomed me into their kitchen, and I was there all day, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.,” Baumhackl said. In the morning, volunteers packaged hotdogs that were delivered to first responders, and in the evening, he prepared pizza that was also delivered to local fire departments and others on the frontlines — such as West Klickitat Regional Fire Authority Chief Wesley Long.
Long is a member of the Fire Defense Committee in the State of Washington, which helps manage resources through a state mobilization process. Long is serving as a Task Force Leader and oversees part of 11 different strike teams who have traveled from the state of Washington through an Emergency Management Assistance Contract (EMAC). He said they received an EMAC request last Thursday and five engines from Benton, Walla Walla, Cowlitz and Klickitat counties mobilized and drove down to provide assistance.
Long explained that the Washington strike teams have been mopping up and cooling down the fire edges.
Long said his team are not directly fighting the fires, because their Type One fire engines are built for structure protection. As of Friday, he was stationed near Mandeville Canyon, south of the primary fire line, according to Long.
West Klickitat Regional Fire Authority Chief Wesley Long, who is leading strike teams from around Washington in mop up and cool down of the fire edges.
Photo via KCFD3.com
In addition to mop up duties, they are also doing their best to clean the homes that did survive the fire. They are cleaning fire retardant off cars, decks and houses, making it easier for residents to move back in when it is safe.
“We’re not engaged in active firefight, but we’re still here and there needs to be value-added work for the citizens that live here,” Long said on cleaning retardant from houses. “And when they come back, they have to understand that their world has changed.”
Strong winds were a contributing factor to the rapid growth of the Los Angeles fires and Long compared the fire’s behavior to recent fires in the Gorge. He said every year in the Gorge, there are grass fires that spread faster than expected because of the wind, and residents can help the firefighters by creating defensible spaces around their properties.
Long says there is very little active fire fighting and most crews are on mop up duty.
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