PASADENA, Calif.—On a recent frigid morning, more than a thousand first responders gathered at the Rose Bowl stadium for a daily briefing before heading out to battle a fire that has decimated nearby communities at the edge of the Los Angeles National Forest.
The stadium grounds are now a central command for fire crews from all over the Western region, as well as the law enforcement and military personnel that are stationed throughout evacuation zones.
Many of the men and women here have been in the fight since the beginning—sleeping in tents on the stadium’s lawn, working grueling shifts, and battling a merciless trifecta of weather, terrain, and competition for finite resources as concurrent blazes rage in other corners of the county….