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Pepperdine Caruso Law Student Billy Melcher Responds to Recent Wildfires

Pepperdine Caruso Law first-year student Billy Melcher fought the recent wildfires as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Field Training Officer for the Malibu Volunteers on Patrol team. Melcher is assigned to the Malibu/Lost Hills Station. The Malibu Volunteers on Patrol team is composed of highly trained volunteers who act in a first responder capacity.

Melcher was called in to respond to the Franklin Fire within 30 minutes of the fire starting on the night of December 9, 2024. He fought the fire until 7am the next morning, and then returned to the fire-fighting effort later that afternoon.  Melcher evacuated residents in the Malibu Knolls neighborhood off of Malibu Canyon Road and in the Malibu Country Estates neighborhood off of John Tyler Road. He was also present at Pepperdine when the fire reached the campus.  

Franklin Fire PCH

On the morning of January 7, Melcher was called in to respond to the rapidly-expanding Palisades Fire shortly after the fire began. He immediately left the Pepperdine Calabasas campus where he had been studying and assisted with resident evacuations in the Marquez Knolls neighborhood in the Pacific Palisades for most of the day.  Melcher also helped a Caruso Law alumnus who lives in the Marquez Knolls neighborhood defend his home.  The house survived the first day of the fire even though the fire had surrounded and decimated the neighborhood.  Melcher and Caruso Law first-year student Lilly Bradshaw spent the next several days fighting the fire using only garden hoses.  Melcher and Bradshaw saved the home and neighboring homes as well, which were among only a few that survived the fire.  

Billy Melcher and Lilly Bradshaw during fires

On January 9, Melcher and Bradshaw assisted with evacuating the residents of Bradshaw's apartment building in Calabasas, which was threatened by the Kenneth Fire.  The fire reached the parking lot of the building before it was knocked down.  Melcher worked several days after the start of the Kenneth Fire by putting out spot fires in the area and conducting looter suppression in Malibu.

Over the past seven years working for the Lost Hills Sheriff's Department Malibu Volunteers on Patrol, Melcher has responded to many major and critical incidents, dozens of which have been catastrophic traffic accidents on Pacific Coast Highway.  He also worked extensively during the devastating Woosley Fire, including the first night the fire started on November 8, 2018.  Melcher comments about his experience, "I've unfortunately had to witness some very traumatic things, which comes with the territory as a first responder.  This type of work takes a certain kind of character and a lot of training."

Pepperdine Caruso Law commends Melcher and Bradshaw, who at great personal risk, headed directly into the heart of the recent wildfires to help residents evacuate their homes and to suppress the fires.