Firefighters who fought the wild fire that partially burned Webster Elementary School last fall were invited back to campus last week to help complete a mural commemorating the school community’s gratitude. Parent Kristin Kohn painted a flag mural that was then surrounded by a handprint from each of the 383 students. The firefighters added their own handprints last week.
The October Canyon Fire extensively damaged the area around Webster, blackening the school’s landscaping, burning a classroom and the computer lab (both of which are still unusable) as well as several outbuildings and wooden structures on campus. The school was closed for a week while extensive smoke damage and burned areas were cleared and repaired. Additional repairs to the building and grounds have continued throughout the year.
The students and parents at Webster have been eager to show their appreciation to firefighters for saving their school. They did a “reverse trick-or-treat” on Halloween to bring treats to all the fire stations in Malibu, hand-drew and wrote cards of gratitude, and participated in a community dinner at Webster on Thanksgiving, at which all the firefighters and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies were lauded for their hard work to protect Malibu.