It isn’t often that a neighborhood throws up a real live-hero; the kind of hero that is usually found only in Frank Capra films like “It’s A Wonderful Life” or “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.” During last week’s Malibu fires, a genuine avatar emerged and his name is Matt Haines.
Employing a 31-year old pumper-truck and an astounding degree of bravery and ingenuity, Haines, a local builder, defying orders to evacuate, mustered together a small contingent of committed neighbors and literally saved the whole of Sequit Drive and parts of El Nido from what would unquestionably have been a tragedy of devastating proportions. Remaining in the midst of an inferno which surpassed anything described by Dante, and with no official fire trucks in sight, this fearless crew of dogged Malibuites, led by Haines, collectively doused the flames as they began to devour the vulnerable homes in this remote neighborhood which was directly in the eye of the Corral Canyon fire. My own home was among them.
It was a masterly exhibition of courage, ingenuity and quick thinking which saved homes, property and possibly even lives in the midst of the turbulent hurly-burly that invariably attends a Malibu fire.
Matt Haines, John and Austin Embleton, Ken Wherry, Bill Raffin, Kai Chan, Kane Sickner are the El Nido Gladiators! Each one deserves something like a Distinguished Service Medal for their efforts in the midst of the Corral Canyon blaze and this paltry tribute in a the columns of a local newspaper doesn’t even begin to honor their collective valor and risk-taking. We who live on Sequit Drive in the haunches of El Nido, would be shamefully remiss if we didn’t salute those Samaritan traits which are frequently glorified in films and literature but very rarely acknowledged in the persons we are proud to call our neighbors.
Charles Marowitz