The Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council is relieved that this harrowing disaster has concluded. Our hearts go out to those who have lost their homes or suffered loss and we are extremely grateful to all the firefighters and police officers who came from near and far to save our homes and protect us.

Like you, we grabbed what we could in the time that we had while we assessed when to evacuate. We continued to watch the coverage to discern where exactly the fire was burning and whether our homes were safe. We take our role in the community seriously and did our best to keep you informed. 

We are encouraged by the stories we hear of neighbors coming together to wake each other in the night and helping each other in the face of danger, of offers for accommodations, and of reaching out to provide care in this shared experience. Over multiple hardships we have developed resilience and will continue to come together to rebound from Saddleridge as a stronger Porter Ranch.

With each successive fire moving ever more quickly and the time in between fires decreasing, we encourage all residents to take this time to create an action plan in your home and with your neighbors to better prepare for next time. The City offers resources for you to Ready Your Neighborhood. On our part, we plan to explore with City leaders and agencies how the notification system can be improved to provide more timely notification to our community, and how we can receive more timely information during the event so we can keep the community better informed.

While the persistent fire smell will serve to remind us of what happened, we encourage you to take steps to protect yourselves and stay inside as much as possible to avoid the compromised air quality.

The PRNC thanks LAFD, LAPD, LA County Fire, Cal Fire, US National Forest Service, LA County Sheriff, CHP for keeping us safe, Recreation and Parks and the Department of Animal Services for evacuation assistance, the Department of Transportation for traffic management, Councilmember Lee, who also evacuated from Porter Ranch, for helping to secure shelters, and the Shepherd Church for opening its doors to residents and first responders. But most importantly, the PRNC is grateful to all the residents who did their best to help their neighbors as best they could, and heeded the call to evacuate so that the men and women of LAFD could do their job.  

Please join us at our next meeting on Wednesday, November 13 as we consider our next steps in the aftermath of Saddleridge.

Image credit: Wendy Moore for PRNC