Los Angeles
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The scent of moist grass from the current atmospheric river rains, mud and gasoline wafts by the heat Southern California air as Alec Derpetrossian works the chainsaw with a foreman, Randy Magaña, who helps him information the place to place the blade. Derpetrossian remains to be studying how one can adequately use the massive device.
Magaña exhibits him how one can maneuver the blade round a thick trunk, as the foreman kicks it free.
It takes a number of instances to chop down a department and even longer to beat a three-pronged tree trunk, as the males battle to chop the thick tree down.
“Timber!” yells Derpetrossian as a tree comes down.
Derpetrossian and Magaña are working in the Sepulveda Basin, close to the Los Angeles River, beneath shaded bushes that they’re working to take down. The space is liable to brush fires, because of thick vegetation and the presence of homeless encampments.
The males are a part of Crew 4, the Los Angeles Fire Department’s first full-time paid wildland hand crew aiming to guard the City of Angels from one other Palisades Fire, the historic firestorm disaster that decimated the Pacific Palisades space in January 2025.
The blaze was a part of 12 fires that broke out in the Los Angeles space, killing 31 folks in the Altadena and Pacific Palisades communities and destroying 1000’s of properties and constructions. The Eaton and Palisades fires have left everlasting marks in historical past by becoming a member of the prime 10 deadliest wildfires in California.
The crew’s function is to beef up the metropolis’s emergency response in addition to vegetation administration all through Los Angeles to forestall brush fires from spreading uncontrolled, the group’s superintendent Capt. Travis Humpherys stated. A big portion of the metropolis lies in a what is named a “very high fire hazard zone.”
During active fires, the crew digs strains and removes brush out forward of the hearth or alongside the hearth’s edge to assist extinguish the blaze.
But earlier than a hearth even begins, their aim is to take away invasive bushes and brush, so when a blaze ignites and the notorious Santa Ana winds are blowing, embers don’t fly into tree canopies or dry vegetation and unfold the hearth extra quickly.
While Derpetrossian and Magaña are conquering the powerful tree, it takes a number of crew members to chop, pull, drag and carry heavy branches to a woodchipper, which shreds branches and trunks and spits out chips in a matter of seconds.
When Derpetrossian lastly sees daylight by the bushes’ cover, he thinks “I just did that, I didn’t know I could do that,” he says, his face coated in woodchips and dripping with sweat.
(*4*)
The addition of Crew 4 to the LAFD’s firefighting toolbox comes as wildfire disasters in California have gotten considerably bigger, extra damaging and deadlier.
The space burned by wildfires and the variety of massive wildfires in California have elevated over the previous many years, largely influenced by “changes in land use, fire management practices, and the impact of climate change,” according to the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
Additionally, the annual common space burned in the state between 2020 and 2024 was about 3 times larger in comparison with the 2010s, the company reported.
The crew is getting ready for hearth season, which in Southern California typically runs from late spring to October, besides fires can now occur any time in the area because of modifications in local weather circumstances, dry vegetation and gusty winds.
“We can always have those high winds. We have the little fuel moisture and the very dry vegetation,” LAFD Chief Adam VanGerpen stated. “There’s no such thing as fire season, because it’s year-round …The fires are going to come, unfortunately, but we’re here and ready to protect the citizens of LA.”
As an instance, the Palisades Fire, which killed 12 folks and have become the third-most destructive wildfire in California historical past after destroying 1000’s of constructions and burning greater than 23,000 acres, started January 7, 2025, outdoors the typical window for wildfires.
Crew 4 members graduated in June 2025, after 5 weeks of rigorous coaching. They proceed to coach day by day and construct an enduring comradery, members advised NCS.
The group trains by occurring runs or hikes in tough terrains all through Los Angeles County and by doing brush clearance a number of instances per week.
They work out of Fire Station 88 in the San Fernando Valley which doubles as a coaching facility. The group is turning into a principal coach for the LAFD for all wildland hearth coaching, Humpherys stated.
Crew 4 is product of greater than 20 wildland hearth technicians, who’re civilians, three foremen, who’re sworn LAFD members, and the superintendent.
A volunteer program began in 2006, and officers pushed for a paid crew ever since then, firefighter foreman Paul Wingate stated.
The paid hand crew is a “huge benefit” to the LAFD, in accordance with Wingate.
“We only had that one volunteer crew, which (was) only staffed maybe twice a week. Now, we have a full-time paid crew to staff four times a week, and that’s going to add to the resources to help out on these fires, and they’re not going to stop,” Wingate stated. “The more resources and boots on the ground we have, it’s going to help when we do have that next event like the Palisades Fire.”
VanGerpen, Wingate and others are assured that the group is prepared for the next hearth disaster.
“This crew is 100% ready to respond to and assist on a fire,” Humpherys stated.
“They’ve gone through a rigorous training academy, and we’ve trained nonstop from when we first started back in late May, early June. So, if the response comes out, we’re ready to go, and we’re prepared to attack the fire in any way we can.”
The security of residents stays the prime precedence for the LAFD, Chief Jamie Moore said in an announcement on the anniversary of the Palisades Fire.
“The lessons from the Palisades Fire are shaping how we train, prepare, deploy resources, and how we work alongside the communities we serve. These changes are driven by a shared goal: protecting lives, homes, and the sense of security every family deserves,” Moore stated.
Crew 4’s mission is essential in maintaining residents secure, Mayor Karen Bass stated in an announcement to NCS.
“Keeping Angelenos safe means investing in prevention, not just response,” Bass stated. “LAFD’s Crew 4 plays a critical role in brush clearance and vegetation management, while also responding to fires and all-hazard incidents. I’m grateful for this team’s dedication and the work they continue to do to protect our communities.”
Derpetrossian was working with a sizzling shot crew with the Angeles National Forest when he acquired referred to as down to assist battle fires that have been popping up round Los Angeles whereas the Palisades Fire wreaked havoc on the metropolis’s Westside.
Other members labored with the volunteer crew earlier than becoming a member of Crew 4. Some have been influenced to work in public security from a younger age, whereas others are the first of their household to hitch the hearth service.
They come from all walks of life and with totally different ranges of expertise, Magaña stated.
“The beauty of it is (our) diversity and trying to build the best team,” he stated.
Jesus Vivas acquired an up-close view of what Los Angeles paramedics do from a younger age. His childhood buddy was shot when he was younger, then years later his father suffered cardiac arrest. Both instances, paramedics have been there to help.
Vivas knew he needed to be a job mannequin for his household and group sometime, like these paramedics.
“It’s that long thread that has continued this ambition of trying to become a city of Los Angeles firefighter,” Vivas stated.
A couple of years in the past, he heard about the volunteer program, and he signed as much as be a part of. After his success with that group, he was capable of be a part of Crew 4.
He has wildfire expertise, as he responded to a number of blazes that ignited final January all through the metropolis he nonetheless calls dwelling.
His coaching kicked in, which he says, prepares him for the unknown.
“I didn’t get nervous, I just relied on my training, relied on my hand crew, on my members, on my foreman, and we were able to do the job fully, completely,” Vivas stated. “We know our city, and we understand its topography … We’re learning every day. This is our city, and we’re here to protect it.”
Similarly, Pedro Rodriguez acquired a textual content saying the volunteer crew he was part of was getting activated to assist fight the fires. He instantly went to work.
“Just seeing houses and the city burning, it just inspired me to be a part of this paid crew,” Rodriguez stated. “Mother Nature, it’s going to do its thing when it wants to. All we could do is prepare for what it’s going to do and try to combat it the best way we can.”
Rodriguez stated one other advantage of the LAFD having its personal hand crew is that it doesn’t need to borrow assets from neighboring departments to battle their very own fires.
“Now, when a call goes out, our crew is ready … The firefighters know that we’re coming and we’re going to help them out with whatever they need. We’re there to help and support on that fire,” Rodriguez stated.
Justin Treiber had simply graduated from an academy at a group faculty when the Palisades Fire began.
He was anxious to be a part of a group battling the catastrophic blaze. On day 4 of the hearth battle, he had his first interview to be a part of Crew 4, and he let his interviewer know he was in a position and prepared.
Treiber didn’t have any expertise in wildland firefighting however he needed to be a job mannequin for his youthful siblings.
“I’ve been dedicated to this crew ever since, and I absolutely love it every single day here,” he stated.
He stated a hand crew is crucial in battling wildfires in an city panorama, and Crew 4 has a bonus as a result of they’re acquainted with the terrain of the metropolis.
“We already know the environment, because we’ve either been training in it, we’ve been working through it … and so we know the fire has done this in this area last time,” Treiber stated. “We already kind of have an idea of how this fire might go or how it responds, and it gives us an upper hand on fighting these fires, so they don’t get out of control.”