From LAFD Valley Bureau Newsletter – 5/9/22

Linda Pruett, who passed away last June of 2021, was the longest-serving member of the Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council (LBNC) and was widely known and respected in the San Fernando Valley and beyond. She helped form LBNC and its Emergency Preparedness Committee and remained a board member and EP Chair from its inception until her death. (Please go to https://lakebalboanc.org/2022/05/linda-pruett-memorial-event-fire-service-day-2022/ to view details about the Linda Pruett Memorial Event to be held 5/14/22 at Fire Station 88.)

Linda became known citywide for her efforts to prepare for “the Big One,” and other Neighborhood Councils have since followed her lead. One of her biggest accomplishments was her motion to spend the equivalent of an entire year’s budget ($50,000) to procure, place and stock two shipping containers filled with mass-casualty supplies to serve the community of Lake Balboa in the event of a disaster. Although the City opposed her motion, she gathered support and won. These two containers still remain in Lake Balboa, filled with emergency supplies, as monuments to Linda.

In 2007, Linda co-founded the Southern California Preparedness Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity of which she was the Corporate Secretary and Director. The mission of that organization is to promote and support disaster awareness, education, and preparedness by means of community events, such as the annual Valley Disaster Preparedness Fair, the largest such event in Los Angeles. She also promoted outreach efforts such as Map Your Neighborhood (a program later adopted by the City’s Emergency Management Department), which encouraged stakeholders to prepare to deal with emergencies on a very local level. Linda was trained as a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Level 3 responder, and she encouraged everyone around her to take that training. She was responsible for graduating the City’s largest CERT class ever.

Linda also served as Preparedness Advisor on the West Valley Community Police Advisory Board. In 2011, Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield honored Linda’s devotion to emergency preparedness during the California State Assembly’s Woman of the Year ceremony in Sacramento.

Linda Pruett’s impact and influence on the local community and beyond was immeasurable, and she will be missed.