Elks, Freedom Church Easter Egg Hunt Meets LAFD Wildfire Day at Ashley Pond

Twenty thousand Easter eggs, a Classic Air Medical helicopter, and a row of LAFD and LAPD emergency vehicles shared the grass at Ashley Pond on April 4. The combination was entirely intentional.

Los Alamos Elks Lodge #2083 and Freedom Church staged their annual egg hunt alongside the Los Alamos Fire Department's Wildland Fire Day, creating a four-hour event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. where families could race for eggs at 11 a.m. and then spend the rest of the morning getting a face-to-face wildfire education from department leadership. The event was free.

Lodge #2083 members filled all 20,000-plus eggs themselves. Freedom Church added inflatable bounce houses, an obstacle course, and prize giveaways, and the Easter Bunny appeared alongside Smokey Bear, Sparky the Fire Dog, and Penny the Preparedness Pup, covering every age group from toddlers through grandparents.

On the LAFD side of the event, Wildland Fire Chief Van Leimer walked families through department equipment, a role he has carried at the annual Wildfire Day since at least 2023. Fire Chief Erik Litzenberg was also on hand, as was LAPD Cmdr. Christopher Ross. Families could tour LAFD and LAPD vehicles, get bicycle helmets professionally fitted on the spot, and examine a Classic Air Medical helicopter up close.

The preparedness programming centered on the Ready, Set, Go! framework and Fire Adapted Communities resources. The four steps LAFD wants every household to complete before fire season: sign up for Los Alamos County emergency alerts, map out a household evacuation route, create defensible space around your home, and pack a go-bag with supplies for each family member. Under the Ready, Set, Go! model, all of that preparation belongs in the READY phase, before a fire is burning, not after an evacuation order is issued.

Phillip Mach, Exalted Ruler of Lodge #2083, leads a lodge that describes the egg hunt as one of Los Alamos' most attended spring traditions. Embedding it inside Wildland Fire Day has given that tradition a function most holiday events never develop: delivering emergency preparedness to thousands of families who came for the eggs and left with an evacuation plan.