By LAFD Wildland Fire Chief Kelly Sterna:

Good afternoon. Although NMDHSEM (New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management) is providing all official updates on the New Mexico Strike Team, I thought I’d provide a more LAFD-centric update.

We arrived at the Palisades fire last Friday [Jan. 10], and I can speak for the crew to say that television does not fully capture the level of devastation that we have seen firsthand. Our first duty day was an eventful one as we provided structure protection for a subdivision of homes just west of Mandeville Canyon. We watched too many airdrops from many different types of aircraft. These continued deep into the next morning. Once relieved, we traveled back to the Malibu Base Camp and awaited our hotel assignments. Typically, after being on the line for our 24-hour shift, we drive 1.5 to 2 hours to our hotel to get some sleep.

Needless to say, this makes keeping track of time somewhat difficult. Our assignment yesterday was to complete shaded fuel breaks 50 feet wide behind homes in Mandeville Canyon. This seemed like an average assignment until the strike team found themselves working on slopes upward of 50%. Since Friday of last week, our crew has logged around 41 miles of hiking while carrying out our various assignments.

Lastly, I’d like to thank everyone for all the “stay safe” wishes and tremendous support from our Operations, Admin, and Command Staff. The behind-the-scenes work that lets us help other states in need is not easy, yet all of you continually make it look as so. Thank you all so much.

As of now, it looks like we will be here until our scheduled return to New Mexico around Jan. 26.