Day 7- March 15, 2007

I didn’t hear any fires overnight, but who knows what I could have missed while I was sawing wood. I woke up this morning at 0630 hours as LA City FD dispatched an assignment to 1751 Westgate Avenue for a reported fire in a structure fire. Assigned were E59, RA59, TF37, RA37, TF92, E71 and Bn 9. Battalion 9 arrived to report “smoke showing, hold the assignment.” “Hold the assignment” here means keep the companies coming emergency. Engine 37 reported they were taking the standpipe. It turned out to be a dumpster in the parking garage of an apartment building. Engine 59 reported the sprinkler held the fire and crews overhauled and picked up hose.

I left the motel around 0800 hours and headed to a close-by Chevrolet dealer. It was very foggy out. I was told it was the offshore winds creating the fog, which clears up once the sun gets high. I was surprised when I drove by Arcadia Station 1 and the building is down. A new station is well under construction on the same site. I also drove by LA Cnty Station 47, but they still had the same old engine they’ve had since the 80s. I stopped at McDonalds for an Egg McMuffin in case they’d have my car for a while.

I arrived at the Chevrolet dealer and talked to a supervisor in the service department and explained my situation to him. I asked him how best to handle getting the part installed without tying it up for a long time. He said to bring it in tomorrow morning at 0745 hours and they’d get at it first thing. He had me check with the parts department and they did not have the part in stock, so I had to pay for it and they had it delivered sometime in the afternoon.

I went by San Gabriel Station 51 and the units were gone. I went by SG Station 52 and their Pierce Quantum Chrome was outside. I met the very nice driver of Engine 52 and he related at lot of changes that have taken place in recent years. Verdugo Dispatch is now dispatching for 11 departments in the area. They started with Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena and since have added Arcadia, Monrovia, South Pasadena, Alhambra, San Marino, Monterey Park, Sierra Madre, Montebello and someone I can’t remember.

I headed to Alhambra Station 71. The engine and truck were out. A firefighter told me that they were attending classes at Monterey Park Station 61. He thought there would be a lot of apparatus there. You can guess where I headed! I arrived and found San Gabriel Engine 51 and RA51, Alhambra E74 and E72 (the truck had left), and Monterey Park Engine 63. I got picks of all of them. I asked a firefighter from Alhambra is I could open the doors of Engine 72 & 74 to get the serial numbers. As I did, a chief from Monterey Park came out wondering what I was doing.

She invited me into the station and asked if I’d want to have them pull out their new USAR truck. I said yes- for sure. I thanked her and she had a captain arrange to have the rig pulled out. They are still in the process of equipping the rig with all the gear they want on it. Another firefighter told me that there was going to be a 2:00 class also. I decided I’d try and head back that way around 1400 hours.

While I was headed to the LAFD shops, TF 2 and TF 1 were running a swift water drill on the Los Angeles River (flood canal). They were using a TAC channel and the whole thing sounded very real. “We’ve got another victim floating your way,” was one of the reports on the radio.

I headed to the LA City FD Shops on Pasadena Avenue. I told the desk person I was looking for an up-to-date roster and would like to look around the shop yards. He first asked for a shop Assistant Chief, but he was going out to lunch. I was then introduced to Chief Nielsen who copied his own roster out of a notebook when he couldn’t get the computer to do what he wanted. I overheard some of the office staff talking about how slow the computers are running today.

Chief Nielsen then walked me around the shop yard and I got photos of some of the new ALF/LTI tillers (3/14 have gone in service so far) and a few of 13 new Seagrave and 13 new Pierce “triples” in the yard, Squad 48 and Squad 95 and a new Paramedic Supervsior’s vehicle they are experimenting with. They also have two crash trucks, two brush patrols, and six suburbans on order for Battalion Chiefs.

I headed towards downtown LA and ended up at Station 3. The whole group was just heading out for lunch. I shot photos of E203, L3 and waited for the Captain for Engine 3 to arrive so they could go get lunch. While I was waiting, the driver of Engine 3 pulled out their USAR unit that was in a rear garage. I had a nice talk with the driver and he even invited me into their kitchen for something to drink.

When the Captain finally got to the rig he got a cell phone call. Another 10 minutes and they finally headed out to lunch. I got a shot of Engine 3’s rig. I pulled out shortly after they had left and saw them parked under the freeway bridge about a block away. Then the lights came on and they were part of an assignment sent to 206 S 6th Street at the old Greyhound Bus Garage for reported smoke on the second floor. They turned around behind me and headed for the fire. I was heading out towards 27’s but when Engine 9 reported smoke showing I turned around to take it in.

It took me a while to get there in downtown traffic. I meant to go a block beyond the fire and come in from the far side, but I turned down the wrong street and got stuck in traffic trying to get around all the fire trucks. The assignment had been E9, E209, RA209, TF3, TF10, RA810, Squad 4 and Bn1. Engine 9 had laid a supply line, being pumped by Engine 209 and Engine 10 also had a line off. Ladders 10 and 3 were both raised to the roof. Squad 4 was just clearing as I arrived on the scene. It turned out to be an electric motor that was causing all the smoke. I talked to the crew from Engine 3 (who had hooked into the standpipe) and told them they better stay out of service until they had their lunch. They all just laughed.

As I was leaving the downtown area, LA County had a brush fire in the Acton area between Stations 80 and 81. They sent a bunch of rigs and then followed up with about six change companies sent out to fill in vacated stations. The fire must have been placed under control fairly quickly as I heard most of the change companies cancelled. Some of the changes were E126 to E81, E116 to E80, and E244 to E131. I couldn’t write down the rest as they were given so fast. I need a co-pilot!

I headed out to Station 20, but they were closed up and no one was home. It was getting near 1330 hours so I headed back to Monterey Park for the 1400 hour class. Parked outside were Alhambra Engines 71 and 73, Alhambra RA71, San Gabriel Engine 52 and Monterey Park Engine 52. I got photos of all of them, but did not try to get serial #’s as no one was around to get permission from.

I headed up to Pasadena as they had a working fire involving Engines 33, 38 and 39, Ladder 31, RA31 and Bn 3. I never got the address and I sounded like it turned out to be a sparking downed electrical wire causing the smoke. I was nearby Pasadena Station 33 (training tower) and stopped to find Engine 31 out back drilling. I waited a while to get a good shot, but they were parked on the side of the station in a narrow driveway. I gave up and headed back to Arcadia.

As I was returning, I ran into Pasadena Engine 32 going the opposite direction (no time for a photo) and when I drove by their station the truck was gone also. I got back to the motel around 1600 hours. It got above 80 here today and was sunny from 0900 hours on.

It’s 1934 hours and LA City just dispatched an assignment to the 9400 block of Hooper for a reported structure fire. Assigned were E65, E64, R65, R265, LF94, RA33 and Bn 13. Engine 64 arrived and reported a fully involved commercial structure and palm tree and requested another Task Force. LA County also sent a full assignment to the same address a few minutes later. The LA County assignment was returned (the fire was barely in the city). I’m not sure who the additional Task Force they assigned to the incident. The radio was going nuts at the time with a bunch of other runs going out in the county. The TF was mostly to watch the Palm Tree as the burning fromes fall everywhere and can start other fires on roofs etc.

That’s all for today.

Your Roving Reporter