PORTER RANCH THROWS PARTY FOR FIREFIGHTERS.

Byline: Douglas Haberman Daily News Staff Writer

On a day firefighters could appreciate - cloudy, cool and ready to rain - Porter Ranch residents showed their appreciation Sunday to firefighters for extinguishing a Jan. 3 hillside blaze with no loss of life or property.

A group of about 50 residents; state Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los Angeles; state Sen. Cathy Wright, R-Simi Valley; Deputy Mayor Bill Violante; and a couple dozen firefighters, all attended a block party on the undeveloped north end of Winnetka Avenue near a shopping center on Rinaldi Street.

It was organized to thank firefighters for their efforts.

``Their hearts and souls are in protecting us,'' said the event's organizer, homeowner Jane Lowenthal, the charred hillside looming behind her.

Small children clambered up and down fire engines while their parents met firefighters, few of whom were actually on the shift that fought the Jan. 3 fire. As luck would have it, the shift that fought the blaze was off on Sunday.

But on Jan. 3 those firefighters worked from around 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. to put out a 470-acre wind-whipped wildfire that came within yards of homes in the far northern part of Porter Ranch.

Along with personnel from the two city Fire Department stations serving the area, more than 70 engine companies from Los Angeles and Ventura counties were sent to the blaze, amounting to some 350 firefighters.

``You can say it's their job,'' Wright said. ``But they often go beyond the job.''

It was all play Sunday at the block party for Matthew Kuha, 5. Wearing a child's firefighter outfit - including a belt holding a play ax, flashlight and walkie-talkie - he climbed up on a fire engine and sat on the cab's back seat. ``We have a fireman book,'' he told probationary county firefighter Jason Robertson.

A few minutes later, he disappeared around the other side of the engine, then rushed back to his father, Jim. ``Daddy, I sat in the front seat!'' Matthew said.

Then he gave a plate of homemade brownies to Robertson.

``We were planning on stopping by the fire station anyway to thank these guys,'' Jim Kuha said. Living in a fire-prone area makes him grateful for the fire fighters, he said.

To express that gratitude on behalf of all Porter Ranch residents, Lowenthal handed ``outstanding performance'' certificates to Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Jay Turner and Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Gabriel Etcheverry, both of whom commanded firefighters the day of the fire.

Villaraigosa, Wright and Violante gave out similar certificates from the state Assembly, the state Senate and Mayor Richard Riordan, respectively.

Villaraigosa said in an interview that he witnessed firefighters in action when a blaze hit very near his Mount Washington home in 1997. ``You talk about heroes,'' he said. ``They take on battles that would terrify the rest of us.''

interview it's unusual for residents to recognize firefighters for their work. ``It doesn't happen - nor do we expect it to happen,'' he said.

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PHOTO Lukas Andrew, 2, howls with delight at meeting Nini the fire station Dalmatian at a neighborhood thank-you party for firefighters Sunday in Porter Ranch.

Andy Holzman/Daily News