Cops at the San Bernardino Fire

Posted on October 30, 2003 in Gratitude Old Fire

My mother’s neighbor, Rick Bustamonte, was mowing his front lawn the day when he and his family returned. I mentioned how we all owed a debt of thanks to the firefighters who were risking their lives on the front line of the blaze. He said, “yes, but nobody remembers us cops.”

We do owe the police and sheriff officers of San Bernardino a debt of gratitude. When Lynn and I walked Lynwood Avenue, the southern limit of the evacuation, we saw officers on every street corner protecting the homes in the neighborhoods from looters and ensuring an orderly evacuation. At the corner of Lynwood and Del Rosa Avenue, we passed a helicopter pilot from the Sheriff’s Department who’d been pressed into service directing traffic. Later, when we walked down 40th Street towards the disaster zone, several vans and squad cars passed us. These men and women patrolled the devastated area, protecting both ruins and untouched homes from looters.

Thank you, San Bernardino Police and San Bernardino Sheriff for aiding and assisting the efforts to contain the Old Fire in San Bernardino County. Thank you for being there. We owe you much.

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And let us also not forget the fire crews from Nevada, Arizona, and Oregon who came to give our firefighters relief. Thanks also to Wyoming for sending its National Guard. Thanks to civilian volunteers and the Red Cross. Thanks to all who sent donations, thanks to all who prayed, thanks to all who cared.