Altadena Sheriff Sgt. Joseph Fender received a Meritorious Conduct Medal, Gold, for saving lives in a housefire when he was working out of Lancaster last year.
The Sheriff Department said:
On December 29, 2010, during a severe winter storm with wind gusts over 60 miles per hour, Sergeant Joseph Fender and Deputies Jonathan Boden and Marco Grajales responded to an emergency call of a structure fire in the city of Lancaster. Upon their arrival, they found no fire; however, the wind had knocked loose several power lines, causing live wires to create sparks and smoke at a residence.
Deputy Grajales observed that a large, high-tension power line, carrying over 12,000 volts of electricity, had separated from its pole and was swinging wildly against the residence, wet pavement of the street, and nearby trees, causing huge explosions upon impact. The power line occasionally collided atop the house, causing the roof to smolder and smoke. Fearing the neighboring residence would catch fire, Deputy Grajales exited his vehicle and ran to the house in an attempt to evacuate any occupants as power lines crashed and exploded around him.
Sergeant Fender saw additional live wires thrashing back and forth between himself and the victims’ location. Despite the obvious danger, he drove over the wires in an attempt to rescue them; however, live wires blocked both sides of his patrol vehicle and he was forced to move to a safer location.
Sergeant Fender and Deputy Grajales then saw the residents of the location frantically trying to load their pets into a truck as power lines struck their residence and the driveway where they were standing. One of the victims was panicking over her cat, which could not be located.
Deputy Boden called for the victims to flee toward them. Seeing that they were afraid for their lives and extremely distraught over their missing pet, Deputy Boden and Sergeant Fender exited their patrol cars and again called for the victims to immediately move away from the house.
Suddenly, the winds violently picked up, causing power lines, debris, and stones to blow about and pelt them. Realizing the victims were not reacting to the danger around them, Sergeant Fender and Deputy Boden ran up the driveway within a few feet of the downed power lines and assisted the victims and their dog to their patrol cars.
It was later determined that the live power lines had struck the home over six times and caused a large water line to burst. Thousands of gallons of water flooded the victims’ home and backyard. Had the deputies not prevented the victims from going inside their home to look for their cat, it is highly likely they would have been severely injured or killed by electrocution.
For placing themselves in immediate danger to perform an act of great bravery to save the lives of others, with full knowledge of the risk involved, Sergeant Joseph Fender, Deputy Jonathan Boden, and Deputy Marco Grajales are awarded the Meritorious Conduct Medal, Gold.
