LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A documentary on the Eaton and Palisades fires from the perspective of firefighters and law enforcement, spotlighting never-been-seen-footage, is available on YouTube Friday.
"Resilience: The Untold Stories of LA County First Responders," was made by unions representing Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighters, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies and county lifeguards.
The nearly 35-minute documentary released Thursday combines footage from body-worn cameras, social media videos, news coverage and interviews with first responders.
"Resilience: The Untold Stories of LA County First Responders," opened with a scene overlooking Pacific Palisades, homes and other structures burned to the ground. It quickly changed to footage of a single-family home on fire, followed by a series of short clips from television news coverage.
First responders recalled feeling the extreme heat and witnessing as flames grew bigger and bigger -- exploding over the night on Jan. 7 due to the unprecedented Santa Ana winds.
"The first two days of the fire were very chaotic," Steve Johnson, president of the Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association, said in the documentary. "It was an extreme draw on resources.
"There's critical staffing shortages and vacancies, and so deploying to these specific fires, it was a big heavy lift on our department, and yet we were still able to respond in a very effective manner."
In the documentary, Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Dave Gillotte, president of the Los Angeles County Firefighters Local 1014, said in the documentary that "this fire, what firefighters experienced was different in that the sustained winds that we saw 80, 100 miles an hour, pushed through densely populated communities."
"And then that fire came roaring through. I thought we're going to have a fire that we haven't seen in quite some time, and it's going to be destructive," Gillotte added.
In part, the documentary highlighted how wildfire seasons have grown longer and more destructive. It also focused on challenges first responders faced battling the fires.
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