The best leaders are often those who develop from within an organization. Through experience, training and holistic understanding, they can lead with organic authenticity. The Los Angeles County Fire Department has successfully used this strategy, aided partly by consistent support from Edison International.

With a relationship spanning half a decade, Edison International has helped finance leadership development initiatives of the Los Angeles County Fire Department Foundation that have nurtured the growth of many of its current employees.

Examples include empowering training that introduces underrepresented communities to the possibility of becoming a firefighter or paramedic through the Women’s Fire Preparation Academy. Sara Rathbun, promoted this year to LA County Fire Department Battalion chief, is one of the academy’s founders. From its beginning, the academy has been a place for women to see that a firefighting career is possible.

Rathbun was a teenager when she first saw a female paramedic deputy sheriff trained in mountain search and rescue, she said in an Energized interview in 2019, when she held the rank of captain. The woman was hanging out of a helicopter during a rescue and inspired Rathbun to go into search and rescue.

“I just needed to see a woman doing the job to realize I could pursue that career too,” Rathbun said. “This was the mountain I wanted to climb. It’s been a long and slow road, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. This is the most rewarding job on Earth.”

Since 2016, Edison International has provided about $275,000 to the LA County Fire Department Foundation. A portion of this year’s funding will be used to offer a six-month master class to employees.

“We want to elevate those members within the department who represent the diversity of those communities to positions that can ultimately help us improve the department,” said Chad Sourbeer, public affairs battalion chief for the LA County Fire Department. “The programs that Edison funds have helped us to identify and develop those leaders, which ultimately helps us better serve our communities.”

The grant funding also allowed the foundation to send a cadre of female employees to the National Women’s Fire Conference in Florida. The annual conference offers a lineup of educational sessions that provide training, support and advocacy for women in the fire service.

“We’ve made a commitment to the development of robust diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Edison International and Southern California Edison,” said Eric Watson, director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for SCE. “What we’ve learned that’s vital is that we must develop partners to enhance these efforts in our communities as well. The LA County Fire Department Foundation is a shining example of the power behind this partnership in helping to enhance the representation of underrepresented communities within an organization that serves them.”

Moving forward, the foundation hopes to develop a roadmap for its developing leaders to help them grow into increasingly prominent roles within the department. “That is the direction we would like to go,” said Sourbeer. “Not just the leadership development portion but also provide a track and opportunity to show these employees how to get to where they need to be.”

And, most importantly, to where their communities need them to be.

For more information, visit fire.lacounty.gov/be-a-firefighter.
To learn more about Edison International's philanthropic efforts, visit edison.com/community.