by Timothy Rutt
Our first mention of the Station Fire was a note in passing on Aug. 26, 2009, when it was still small. By the next day we (and all of Altadena) could think about little else as smoke filled the air, neighborhoods were evacuated, visible flames lit the night sky -- and the press, largely, yawned.
Despite some personal challenges at the time, we decided that this was above anything else was what this website was here for. We worked the phones, listened to the scanner and the radio, covered the Internet, and fielded hundreds of emails and comments that came pouring in. We like to think that Altadenablog earned its stripes during those few days as we brought important neighborhood-level news to our community thanks to you, our readers and boots on the ground.
Soon, the press took interest and decided it was worth covering. By that time, Altadena was fortunately spared, suffering only minor fire damage on the peripheries, thanks in part to the firefighters from around the country who brought the fight to the beast.
We came out of it wiser, and with a better sense of our community -- in the face of disaster, Altadenans pulled together as we never had before. We had a similar test with the Windstorm of 2011, and with the possibility of a large earthquake ever looming, we will no doubt be tested again.
Personally -- we came out of the Station Fire with a renewed appreciation of our town and the people in it. There's so much here that makes Altadena unique, and Altadenans some of the most interesting people anywhere.
We are also grateful for our sponsors, and the many individuals who were moved to contribute financially to this work during that time and thereafter. It's given us a chance to buy better equipment and more bandwidth. It's helped us to step up our game and contribute more to our home of Altadena.
(If you'd like to contribute to keep Altadenablog humming, we have a Paypal button on the right!)
We love this work. We love Altadena.
