La Tuna Fire – Staying Connected with Glendale Resources

It’s been an exhausting, frightening and tense past weekend due to the La Tuna Fire. Thankfully, our first responders from the Glendale Fire Dept. and the Glendale Police Dept., along with many other local agencies, were able to keep our community safe, protect our property and ultimately save us from what could have been a terrible tragedy. I know I speak for all of us when we say, “Thank you!”

Glendale fire and Glendale police were amazing. Thank you, Captain Greg Fish, and all of your staff for the number of hours you and your department gave to the community. Thanks to social media, the Internet and the many resources from the City of Glendale, we could keep up-to-date wherever we were. I found the press conferences on Facebook live from the command post at the Hansen Dam Recreation Center most effective. We didn’t have to wait for the local or national news to cover the fire; we could get all the information straight from the source.

The Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce follows Glendale fire and Glendale police on Facebook and was sharing these live events on our page throughout the weekend. If you aren’t following the Montrose Chamber of Commerce on Facebook please do – www.facebook.com/MontroseChamber/. There was also a tremendous amount of support from the City of Glendale in terms of getting relevant, timely updates. Here are some important links for you to have in cases of emergency. Many of the links give you the opportunity to sign up to receive information as necessary. Log onto glendaleca.gov and search Emergency Communications and the links to the following items will be available there.  

“There are a variety of ways in which the City of Glendale and first responders communicate to the public during emergencies and disasters.

1. Everbridge: Register for important City notifications during large emergencies including information about evacuations, inundation zones, street closures and shelter locations. 2. Twitter: Follow the Glendale Fire Dept. on Twitter at @GlendaleCAFire and the City of Glendale at @MyGlendale to get up-to-the-minute incident updates. Follow the Tri-Cities (Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena) on twitter at @VerdugoAlert. 3. GTV6: GTV6 will provide all-important information about the incident on its public access channel. 4. Websites: Visit any city website during a disaster and you will see a red screen that provides all important information about the incident. The Glendale Fire Dept. website is www.glendalefire.org and the City of Glendale website is www.glendaleca.gov. 5. Emergency Information Center: This center is only open during large-scale emergencies and provides residents with an opportunity to speak with a city employee to get incident specific information. Call (818) 548-3301. Don’t wait until it’s too late, sign up for Glendale’s Emergency Alert System.”

Thank you also to all of our elected officials who stayed the course of the fire from beginning to end: State Senator Anthony Portantino, Mayor Vartan Gharapetian, Councilwoman Paula Divine as well as all the city support staff, specifically Tom Lorenz, director of Communications & Community Relations who has been instrumental in increasing the digital presence of the City of Glendale through various social and Internet resources.

Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce: Your source for all things local! Our mission is to actively support and enrich the community, vitality and pride of Montrose, to help preserve the historic district and small town atmosphere, to promote economic stability and positive, productive relationships within Montrose and the surrounding communities.
Upcoming Events
Foothills Community Business Expo is on Wednesday, Sept. 13 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital Council Rooms, 4th Floor, 1812 Verdugo Blvd., Glendale 91208.

Oktoberfest kick-off mixer on Wednesday, Oct. 4 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at SIG Property Management, 2937 Honolulu Ave., Montrose.

 Oktoberfest on Saturday, Oct. 7 from noon to 11 p.m. in the 2200, 2300 and 2400 blocks of Honolulu Avenue in Montrose.