Slide heroes receive medals

For fire Division Chief Jeff La Tendresse and police officer Robert Van Gorder, saving lives is just part of the job.

Last week, the two received Medals of Courage from the Exchange Club for doing their jobs in the most critical of moments: during last June’s Bluebird landslide.

Neither of them ever questioned their duty to protect lives.

“For these guys it was just another day,” Fire Chief Mike Macey said. “They happen to be the epitome of public servants and wouldn’t assume any of the highlights they’re receiving now.”

At about 7 a.m. on June 1, 2005, a landslide that ended up damaging 22 homes sparked a fury of 911 calls to the city.

Robert Van Gorder was one of the first on the scene.

Jeff La Tendresse remembers waking up that morning and looking forward to a day off.

“I was supposed to go to a golf tournament. My pager went off, and I just got in my car and went. I had no idea what was going on,” La Tendresse said.

The two met on Flamingo Road, at the heart of the slide.

“It was shocking,” Van Gorder said of the scene: broken gas lines, streets split open and wrecked houses.

Stepping over electricity lines they hoped were dead as the smell of gas permeated the air, the two went door-to-door to get people to evacuate.

Van Gorder recalls it being one of the most dangerous times in his career.

“I was there for the L.A. riots, but this was more threatening,” he said. “ I remember telling Jeff, ‘We really need to get out of here.’”

La Tendresse and Van Gorder were then alerted to a 911 call concerning an elderly couple trapped on a property above them.

Climbing up past loose dirt and more electric lines, the rescuers arrived to find an uninjured Lewis and Kay Wright.

“They were standing there arm-in-arm, waving,” La Tendresse said.

Assisting the couple through 500 feet of unstable slopes and cracks in the ground, they made it to La Tendresse’s car.

“When we got to Jeff’s car, a telephone pole came down, missing it by 10 to 15 feet,” Van Gorder said. “It was just like the movies.”

The Wrights were successfully removed from the area.

The two rescuers say it was fortunate no one was injured during the landslide.

La Tendresse and Van Gorder spent the rest of the day tending to duties in the aftermath of the quake.

Since their heroic efforts a year ago, two TV documentary crews have covered their story.