Day 8- March 16, 2007

I heard a number of runs off and on overnight wearing an earplug, but I didn’t hear any fires. I got up early and headed to the Chevrolet dealership shortly after 0700 hours. It was really foggy again today as the offshore winds filled the area with fog. The sun takes most of it away by 0900 hours.

I arrived at the dealership at 0740. I was told that the service assistant I’d dealt with yesterday was going to be late. They took my car in to be worked on at 0810. At 0900 hours, the service assistant came and told me they’d sent the wrong oxygen tube and that I’d have to wait until Monday morning to get it fixed. I was not a happy camper at this point.

I headed to nearby LA County Station 4 to see if anything was going on there. LA County Engines 42 (new KME Predator) and 5 (older Pierce Arrow) were both there for physical fitness training. As I was leaving they were all given one of those oversized red workout balls. It looked kind of strange. I got photos of Engine 42 and Quint 4. Engine 4 had responded on a run just as I pulled up.

The next town west was Monterey Park. I drove by their headquarters to see if any rigs were training again. There were no rigs parked around the station (like yesterday). I wasn’t very far from the LA County shops, so I headed there with a stop at LA County Station 1. One thing about the county…they do not change rigs around at all. Once a rig is assigned to a company it usually remains at the same company for all it’s first-line service time.

I drove into the shop yard and asked the cop at the gate if I could see LA County Assistant Chief Watkins. She asked if I knew where to go and I replied yes as I’d been there many times before. When I got to Chief Watkins office, one of the assistants said he wouldn’t be in for a while. I asked the assistant about getting an up-to-date roster of fire apparatus. He hemmed and hawed and said no, no, he couldn’t do that. I told him I’d like to wait for Chief Watkins.

It wasn’t long before Assistant Chief Watkins showed up. He is retiring next week after 36 years on the job. What a nice man he is. He has always been very helpful and has provided me with a roster each time I’ve been there. His wife is retiring from her job in two weeks. I congratulated Chief Watkins and his wife and wished both of them a long, happy retirement. Chief Watkins printed the roster for me (44 pages) and we talked about all the new KME’s.

Chief Watkins told me that right now approximately 55 of the 96 new KME pumpers were in service. They’ve had a problem getting equipment needed to place them in service as fast as they want to get them on line. He said the last would be delivered in June or July. They’ve got them stored all over the place (26 in town awaiting to be put in service). Chief Watkins said 3 of 8 new Quints are already in service. They also have a ton of new Squads to be equipped and I saw at least four new Patrols and eight new GMC Battalion buggies awaiting lettering and radios.

Chief Watkins again gave me permission to shoot photos of whatever I wanted out in the yards. I took a number of photos of new and old apparatus. I was waiting for the sun to come around on one of the new black over red KME Predator CAF’s units. Just as the sun was moving around to the side of the rig, a shop truck pulled up and parked right in line with it. Oh well.

I left the LA County shops and headed to LA City Station 4. I had heard they were coming along pretty well on the new station and communications center. I stopped by 4’s just as they were backing into the station. I asked one of the firefighters directing traffic where the new station was being built. He told me at Alvarado and Temple and its gi-normous. I drove by it and it is huge. Traffic was way to bad to stop and take photos. I was not far from Station 9, so I drove by there. The station was totally vacant.

I headed out 7th towards Station 11, which was also totally vacant. I also drive by Station 6 (vacant) and Station 27 (vacant except for the unmanned USAR). Where was everybody? I guess I’ll never know. I went by LA County Station 8 (vacant) but came upon Engine 8 and Squad 8 further down Santa Monica Boulevard. It looked like they were eating at Barney’s Beanery- a well know restaurant frequented by entertainers. I the couldn’t get photos the way they were parked.

I headed by Beverly Hills headquarters. Engine 3 was just leaving. It looked like the BHFD had not bought any new units since 2002. They dispatched LA County FD units and Beverly Hills units to the 900 block of ??? Street for smoke in hi-rise. I started that way as I was close, but when Engine 7 reported nothing showing I headed for the 405 Freeway to stop up and get photos of new LAFD Station 83. That was a BIG mistake on my part. The freeway was at a near stand still- all the way up to Ventura Boulevard. When I got off the freeway it took six cycles of the sign to get onto Ventura Blvd. Frustrating. I finally got on Ventura, but the traffic was awful. It took quite a while just to drive the two miles to their new house.

The station is very unique. It looks like a big wooden ranch house with lots of garage doors on two sides. The driver pulled their 2005 Pierce Arrow XT out for me. Lighting was perfect. There is some talk of adding a truck company (Light Force). They’ve sure got the room. Engine 83 got a run as I was getting their serial number. I was intending on going by 88’s also, but with traffic the way it was I just gave up.

I headed north up Balboa a mile to the 101 Freeway, which was a slow moving parking lot also. It took me a while to get to the 134 Freeway cutoff (which connects with the 210 Freeway in Pasadena), but once I got on the 134 we were flying. Things were moving great until we joined the 210. Then traffic stopped. I soon found out why. Pasadena sent Engines 32 and 33 and RA 32 and 33 were dispatched to the east-bound 210 Freeway at Allen for a motorcycle accident. I saw the Lake Street exit coming up so I crossed six lanes of traffic to get off there. Good I did or I might still be stuck on the 210!

While I was on the freeway LA City had a working fire in 33’s area on 61st Street (I didn’t hear the address as the radio was so busy). The fire was knocked down in about ten minutes.

Pasadena Station 33 (the training tower) is located one block north of the 210 Freeway on Lake Street. I stopped there, but there were no companies in the training yard. I took side streets to get back east to Arcadia. While I had good luck at the LA County shops, most of the rest of the day was kind of a waste (except for 83s). I guess that’s the way it goes sometimes. Usually I’m running into companies all over the place in this area of LA. It was in the mid-seventies in LA City today, the mid-eighties in the San Fernando Valley and low 90s when I got back to Arcadia.

Tomorrow I plan to visit the LAFD Fire Museum (old LAFD Station 27), new LAFD Station 5 (near the airport) and spend some time at Venice Beach being entertained by the varied assortments of entertainers and street performers doing their thing. It should be about 75 degrees at the beach tomorrow. On Saturdays the LAFD often has large training exercises. Maybe I can connect up with one of those.

That’s all for now.

Your Roving Reporter