It’s been a couple of weeks since the fires of 2007. As I reflect, I feel very proud to be a part of the San Diego County Community.

These fires were not the first time I’ve responded to a major emergency situation. When I graduated from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Academy in 1992, I was immediately deployed to South Central Los Angeles to conduct crowd control during the riots. In 1994, I was living in Northridge when the big earthquake hit (literally on the epicenter). After the quake, I was placed on tactical alert and worked 12-hour shifts for 7 days straight.

It’s times like those when people in emergency services really take it upon themselves to step up to the plate. We expect this type of work ethic from each other. This is what we train for and get paid to do.

In the recent fires, Police Officers and Deputies worked long hours to help evacuate communities, maintain order and protect life and property. Our counterparts from the various Fire Departments performed valiantly to battle wildfires, save homes, structures and most importantly, lives.

While I am very proud of my sworn counterparts, I also have to say that I am proud of the way all San Diegans came together during this time of need. I had the opportunity to watch the news during the fires and was very impressed with the dignity that normal citizens conducted themselves with. There wasn’t the panic or unproductive finger pointing that could have come out of a disaster like this. Those who were fortunate enough to not be directly affected by the fires and those who were impacted reached out together to lend a helping hand.

I had the opportunity to visit a shelter and found the morale to be very positive. So many people reached out to help that many of the shelters actually had to turn away donations. Imagine that! In the end, we came through this with a high level of community pride and showed the rest of the world that we can take care of each other, especially in extremely trying times.

This is why I’m proud to work in Chula Vista and be a resident of San Diego County.