Whitefish firefighters return from aiding in Los Angeles wildfires

Four Whitefish firefighters have returned home safely after assisting with widespread wildfires in Los Angeles. 

California issued a state-to-state mutual aid request Jan. 10 asking firefighters, including 10 engines and 30-40 personnel from across Montana, to travel to help.  

The Whitefish Fire Department crew of Jamison Smith, Sal Baccaro, Saxton Coorough and Glen Hartman gathered with other Montana firefighters in Rocker to separate into task forces before making the trip.  

“I have never seen devastation of that magnitude, not ever, nothing like it. To see homeowners walk through ... and the realization of if their house was or wasn’t there, there’s a lot of emotion regardless,” Hartman said. 

The firefighters described witnessing the reactions firsthand as humbling. Thinking about the insurmountable scale of loss was, above all else -- tragic, they said.  

The crew was on assignment for 14 days and was stationed at Will Rogers State Beach at the southeast corner of the Palisades fire. Their mission was to answer calls for service in the area, giving support to Los Angeles County Station 69. They were also tasked with assisting search and rescue as needed. 

The crew almost got called to the Hughes fire, which emerged Jan. 22 and began quickly spreading. They had received word that there was a new 50-acre fire and within an hour received an update that it had jumped to 1,000 acres.  

But Los Angeles-based firefighters were assigned to the Hughes fire and the Montana task force that Whitefish was a part of was told to remain in its assigned location.  

The Whitefish crew said that people were grateful and appreciative of the first responders. The engines received honks and waves of support as they traveled across the country each way.  

The appreciation was “the good thing that came out of it. There was an outpouring of support that came from all over – supporting LA and supporting us,” Hartman said.