The Fable of the retired Firefighter
He who allegedly saved seven homes
Legends are strange things. They spread as fast as a fire driven by a hundred mile an hour wind.
There is a legend all over Altadena about a retired firefighter or fire captain who supposedly saved seven houses in his neighborhood. The story goes that he ran to the fire station on Lincoln taking out hose that somehow was left behind by the fire crew hauling it up to his block with his sons, hooking it up, turning it on and he and his sons fought the fire and saved those seven homes on Harriet.
OK…So the engine crew departed the station and left the doors open? Doesn’t seem like policy. They left some hose behind with the whole hillside and town on fire? Really? And this retired firefighter just easily took it? He had the tools on him to hook it up? Really? Big pockets? His sons knew how to handle the hose? Hmm.
Call me skeptical but the story sounds strange. It sounds probable, but extremely unlikely. But let’s say it’s true-
Well, that has ramifications to the official L.A. County Fire Department story. Because if the legend of the retired fireman is actually true it means that the “official story is a lie. Because if the retired fireman story is true, THERE WAS WATER AND PRESSURE in the hydrants. If the retired fireman story is true, THE LACFD COULD have saved homes had they actually fought for them.
Either the retired firefighter if he is a real person is a liar, if he is not a real person it’s a urban legend, but if it is true, the County Fire Department story is a lie. We need to know the truth, because the truth going forward is important. Could the fire Department have saved Altadena? DID they CHOOSE not to? WHY? or is the retired firefighter story a lie?
We need to know.