Backyard Blaze Whisks Firefighters from Chamber Hoedown

No sooner had the firefighters from piled their plates with corn bread and barbeque brisket at Thursday's La Cañada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce mixer than they sped off to douse a backyard blaze. 

Residents in the 600 block of Hillcrest Avenue had extinguished the 10-foot by 30-foot burn by the time authorities arrived, Los Angeles County Fire Battalion Chief Mario Defina said Friday. The blaze was sparked by residents grilling in the back yard. Firefighters secured the area and mopped the mess, he said. 

The 9-1-1 call came during the hoedown-themed chamber event, sponsored by the city. Moments after the engines raced away from Olberz Park, sirens screaming east on Foothill Boulevard, Wes Seastrom, the chamber's chairman of the board, let the cowboy hat-clad crowd know that the fire was under control. 

"The majority of it was out by the time we got there,'' Defina said, noting their short-lived stint at the hoedown wasn't for naught. "The guys still had time to crush some food.''