Yorba Linda's one-man fire department

Mark Taylor, 46 of Santa Ana, works for a fire protection company that tests sprinklers and other safety devices.

But on Saturday he was working a side job—putting up Christmas lights. He saw the smoke about 1 p.m. and drove up to Via Corzo in Yorba Linda.

“I was just coming up the road, and I saw the fire jump the road,” he said. I figured I would try to save a couple of these homes.”

And because he had his work truck, he had hoses and equipment to tap into fire hydrants, he became a one-man fire department.

Residents credited him with saving three homes, all with shake roofs. Taylor said he’d always planned to be a firefighter, but when he became father to a daughter born with disabilities, he altered his plans.

On Saturday, as he doused the embers of a house he wasn’t able to save, he wore shorts, with a cigarette in one hand and a fire hose in the other. “I’m doing what I always wanted to do, fight fires. It’s been an eventful day.”

--Mike Anton

Comments

[Suzanne]

What a hero!! Bravo!!

[Rob]

I have known Mark for 32 years and I am proud to call him my friend.