"The Community Brigade raced door to door ordering residents to evacuate, stamped out spot fires and transported animals (including koi fish) to safety. As the fire garnered national attention, Keegan Gibbs, the brigade's director of operations, found himself talking to , and the New York Times. Locals, galvanized by the events of January, began signing up in droves. The team of about 50 received hundreds of requests to join."
""There's plenty that you as concerned citizens can do," said David Barrett, executive director of the Los Angeles Regional Fire Safe Council (one of the many organizations that does wildfire preparedness work similar to the brigade, just without the firefighting part). For the brigade, he said, "It's terrific that you want to protect your community - How would you feel if your actions caused the death of a firefighter? What would happen if your vehicles clogged evacuation routes and people couldn't get out?""
A January 7 wildfire above Pacific Palisades prompted a local Community Brigade to respond door to door, extinguish spot fires and evacuate residents and animals. Media attention and visible action drove a surge of volunteer interest, producing hundreds of membership requests for a roughly 50-person team. The brigade now trains new recruits under Los Angeles County Fire Department supervision and plans to double its size, with further growth hoped next year. Leadership frames active firefighting as a recruitment strategy for home hardening and preparedness, while some advocates caution against risky, dramatic volunteer operations.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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