Firefighters have come from all over California and even other countries to battle the flames sweeping through Los Angeles County.
When they can get a reprieve from the front lines, they can’t go home to recharge, so in the closest way possible, a home has been created for them in an unlikely place: the Rose Bowl.
It’s just 10 minutes away from where the 14,000-acre Eaton fire has destroyed homes and businesses by the thousands, but for at least a few hours it’s a place to rest, even sit with other firefighters and catch up and decompress.
In less than a day, more than 100 tents were set up in the grassy area at the stadium’s entrance, where first responders can rest for a bit while off duty. There are also dozens of air-conditioned trailers with bunks and showers.
Two kitchens are serving high-protein, carb-loaded breakfasts and dinners to fuel the more than 3,300 first responders that cycle through. Cooks also prepare sack lunches with granola bars, fruits, sandwiches, burritos and other non-perishables. There are command posts where crews can plan and prepare to get back out there.
“This is essentially a mobile city brought over here to the Rose Bowl to assist with the overall objective, which is putting out the fire, and the recovery aspect,” Carlos Herrera, public information officer for the LA County Fire Department, said.
Recovery includes taking care of the first responders’ mental well-being. That’s where Bruno, a 3-year-old Golden Retriever, comes in.
Bruno is part of a six-dog team whose job is to comfort first responders with puppy dog eyes, cuddles and the receiving of lots of pets.
The pups walk around with a handler and a clinician, stopping when a firefighter waves them over. Hopefully, also opening the door to emergency personnel accepting other resources like counseling, LACFD Capt. Vince Roldan said.
“The dogs are great for bringing that stress and tension down,” Roldan said. “Someone may not want to talk and be standoffish, and all of a sudden they start petting the dog and it kind of brings down that stress. We’re just there to start talking to them, and it opens up everything.”
Roldan said the L.A. County fires are very personal for a lot of the first responders, including himself.
“So many of us have ties to the community. We get attached to the communities that we serve,” Roldan said. “Altadena, when I came on the job in 2003, that was the first station, the first area I was ever assigned to. There’s always been that component of home for me.”
The main focus of the peer support program is to make sure first responders, especially those who are away from family for weeks at a time, are not alone, Roldan added.
“We always want to reinforce the fact that the fire service is a family,” Roldan said. “As you walk around base camp, the one feeling you get within the first responder community is that we are all one big family, and we look after each other.”
First responders see a side of life that most never see, Roldan said, and this leads to higher cases of post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Now, you tack on an incident like this – and this is even extreme for us,” Roldan said. “We’re establishing support that’s going to go on for weeks and months for everybody who was a part of this. This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Scott Bovey, a regional fire operations risk management officer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said fighting fire in an urban environment brings unique challenges, especially with the high wind gusts.
“It’s difficult because you’re going into a situation where you have a very low probability of succeeding in even the best that we can do,” Bovey said. “That’s hard on a firefighter’s psyche, too, because we want to win. When you step into a scenario that you know is going to be, not impossible, but extremely difficult to be successful in, it’s tough.”
The camp is the place where emergency responders can eat, sleep, shower, and even get their mail, but peer support is also a crucial component, Bovey said.
“Personally, I haven’t seen the outpouring of support from communities as much as I have here, which is phenomenal,” he added.
The ultimate size of the operation and the excess of community members looking to donate goods led authorities over the weekend to redirect the dropping off of donations to Santa Anita Park.
Community members looking for ways to support the first responders impacted by the Southern California fires can visit laworks.com/2025fires.