HAPPY FATHERS DAY!! 

VOLUME 20 NO. 24VOLUME 20 NO. 24SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2026 
GETTING TO KNOW THE SIERRA MADRE FIRE DEPARTMENT & THE 
SIERRA MADRE FIRE SAFE COUNCIL By Mandy Tzoc Rodriguez 

Two of the true Treasures of Sierra Madre are the Fire Department and theFire Safe Council - both dedicated to the safety of the community. 


Many Sierra Madreans 

walking past City Hall or 

along the sidewalks of Kersting

Court are very familiar with 

seeing the fire engine and 

firefighters of the Sierra Madre 

Fire Department (SMFD).

Alongside protecting the 

community, the department 


looks to further educate fire 

safety to residents with the 

help of the community-based 

nonprofit organization, the 

Sierra Madre Fire Safe Council 

(SMFSC). 

Over a 100 years of history is attached to SMFD. Starting 
as a volunteer-run organization in 1921, the SMFD 
established themselves as a full-time career department 
with the support from the City Council, City Management 
and community in 2019. Although challenging, they 
were able to gain budget support for personnel, hiring 
paramedic firefighters and building out the department. 

“[With] support from City Council, City Management, 
we’ve been able to increase the compensation for folks to 
keep them here, so our retention has been really good. [It] has been a challenge,” says SMFD Chief, Brent Bartlett. 

However, a challenge yet to be seen were the Eaton and Palisades Fires hitting the community. Many Fire Departments were spread thin across 
Los Angeles County battling the flames and evacuating residents. SMFD has a full staff of five personnel with one fire engine and one ambulance. 
Despite their smaller scale, they were able to obtain an additional engine and responded immediately to combat the flames. Bartlett recalls them 
working 48 hours straight, with no break, and rookie firefighters battling their first fire asking their captain, “Are we going to die tonight?” 

“The community does value us. That has never been a doubt. What I’m hoping that we can receive in support from the community is the 
understanding that even though we’ve been around over 100 years, we’re still a pretty new department in the model that we’re currently in. So 
we’re trying to grow out and become [the] right size for Sierra Madre.,” says Bartlett. 

In the aftermath of the fires, Bartlett recognizes the amazing community support shown to them during that time. In return, the department 
began asking the community what they could’ve done better and finding ways to better educate vegetation management and fire prevention. He 
acknowledges the need to continue to build up education, funding, and resources for fire prevention to better support Sierra Madre. One way for 
the community to do so is to get involved with the SMFSC, which focuses on providing education, funding and resources on fire prevention and 
safety within the community. 

The SMFC is a non-profit organization that 
focuses on educating and preparing neighbors 
for wildfires, implementing mitigation projects 
and obtaining grants and funding to support 
community safety in various projects. This 
year the council focused on such events as the 
Chipper Days and Brush Clearance projects. 
These events are to help residents clear upflammable vegetation, like tree trimmings, 
around homes for fire prevention. The event 
held on June 6 was the second Chipper Dayhosted by the council. 

“You’re helping reduce the fuel or vegetation 
product. You’re helping a neighbor out. Maybe 
cleaning out, and it’s temporary, things grow 
back, so that’s why it has to be an active program 
for it to really work. People [have] to be aware, 
we have to raise the money and market, and 
then we have to distribute the funds,” said Gavin 
Lee, President of SMFC. 

The council is going to begin launching the 
Block Captain Program with the help of a 
$10,000 grant provided by the California Fire 
Foundation. The Block Captain Program runs 
similarly to a neighborhood watch program 
but for fire protection and prevention. This 
program will be between neighbors to help 
educate and provide resources on fire safety 
and prevention. The council is looking to have 
a kick-off party this summer and hopes to have 
25-30 designated block captains. The captainswill be able to attend meetings throughoutthe year with speakers providing fire safetyeducation and resources. 

Both SMFD and SMFSC seek to help and 
educate the community to better prepare 
themselves in the event of another fire and 
continue to make the community safer. If you’d 
like to support SMFD and SMFSC, please visit 
the Fire Department or get involved within the 
council. 

For more information visit, www.sierramadreca. 
gov/safety-resilience/fire-department/ and 
SierraMadreFireSafe.org For the latest 
news follow them on Instagram at @ 
sierramadrefd and @sierramadrefiresafe. 
For any questions for SMFD, please contact 
SMFD at fire@sierramadreca.gov or call 

(626) 355-3611. For any questions forSMFSC, please contact gavinsmfsc@icloud. 
com. 
SMFD under the leadership of Chief Brent Bartlett (3rd from left)
File photo 


Judy Webb-Martin 
626.688.2273 

DRE #00541631 


Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides 
by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. Lic. #01991628. All material present 
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sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. Changes in price 
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HAPPY JUNE! as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footage are 
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