Police Heroism: Hundreds Could Have Died at Medical Care Facility, Chief Says

At Thursday night’s Community Police Oversight Commission meeting, Pasadena Police Chief Gene Harris detailed the selfless bravery of his heroic officers during the Eaton Fire’s January 7 rampage.

Harris told Commissioners that his officers’ swift evacuation efforts at an Altadena medical care facility helped prevent what could have been a mass casualty event.

“There is no doubt that there would’ve been at least 200 more decedents had that not been done because that entire facility or most of that facility burned to the ground,” said Police Chief Eugene Harris during his department’s 2024 year-end review presentation to the Community Police Oversight Commission.

Harris described how Pasadena officers hurriedly rescued bedridden patients who couldn’t walk and had to be carried or wheeled out of the facility as flames roared towards the facility.

“Your Pasadena police officers that went in there and did that… just making decisions to go in and not waiting for people to tell them what to do,” Harris said, adding praise for “the command staff sitting behind me, these folks are top notch.”

The emergency response extended beyond Pasadena’s borders into neighboring Altadena. Officers rushed to help all local residents in danger, regardless of jurisdiction.

Commissioner Juliana Serrano commended the department, expressing “an immense sense of pride in the Pasadena PD.”

The Eaton Fire crisis response was ongoing, Harris reported.

The City’s Emergency Operations Center had been reopened to address mudslides and other aftermath issues.

The fire destroyed many of the department’s training facilities and equipment at the Police Range, forcing a delay in planned Taser upgrades to 2025.

Multiple city agencies have joined the response effort, with police working alongside fire, public works, and other city staff to “renew and rebuild and get people where they need to be,” Harris said.

Opening his presentation with condolences to fire victims, the Chief explained, “It’s not about us, it’s about us and what we can do for them.”