In January 2025, Jose Sanchez, an East Bay firefighter, was deployed to Southern California to fight the ongoing wildfires in the region. He recently returned home to the Bay Area, ready to share his experience battling the flames.
Sanchez, an engineer with the Oakland Fire Department for the past ten years was deployed to Altadena to battle the Eaton Fire. One of the many wildfires that raged across Los Angeles, Ventura, and Riverside counties earlier this year, the Eaton Fire is the second-most destructive fire that burned in LA in January, burning over 14,000 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL Fire).
He and his crew of three other Oakland firefighters, were among the many strike teams throughout the West Coast sent to assist with the fires. Strike teams are made up of a group of firefighters assembled and deployed by other agencies and departments to aid in suppressing and containing wildfires. According to CAL Fire, the Eaton Fire was 100% contained on January 31.
Sanchez recalls the faint smell of smoke in the air, and the surprisingly cold temperature when they arrived in Altadena on January 8: “Wildfire events in January are pretty rare… so I remember it being cold, and I had never really experienced that kind of cold on a strike team before.”
After arriving in Altadena, Sanchez and his team witnessed entire houses burned to the ground, with only chimneys left standing. He described driveways of homes blocked by remnants of charred vehicles, with power lines and cables cluttering the streets from fallen utility poles.
There were even some Altadena residents, who refused to evacuate, wandering throughout the devastated neighborhood. Sanchez commented, “It was pretty eerie, pretty desolate.” He described the deployment as both physically and emotionally demanding but remained optimistic and grateful that he was in a position to help fellow Californians in need. “We [firefighters] get into the job to help people,” Sanchez said, concluding, “Obviously I don’t like the reasons that I go out… but it’s nice to be there for people at their worst moments to help.”
With over a decade of experience as a firefighter, Sanchez shared some helpful recommendations for preventing wildfires here in the East Bay. Vegetation management in wildland-urban interfaces (such as the Oakland Hills, Berkeley, and Castro Valley) has shown to be beneficial by removing unwanted vegetation that could be fuel for a fire. He encourages all residents to have an emergency plan in place and stay prepared.
