Day 9- March 17,2007

I woke up this morning with LA County having a working fire someplace in Battalion 9’s area, probably near Bellflower. I woke up near the middle of the incident when they were doing move-ups into LA County Stations 30 and 31. Some of the move-ups were cancelled a short while later.

It was really foggy here again when I crawled out of bed. It was only about 50 degrees. I took my time getting out on the street this morning. My intention was to swing through the Hollywood Area on the way to Venice Beach. I took the 210 to the 134 to the 2 and arrived near LAFD Station 20 at around 0930 hours. There was only an RA in Station 20. As I was coming in the 2 Freeway I had heard someone give an order to have all the companies on “this assignment” report to Station 27 by 0945 hours. I couldn’t check that radio fast enough to see what frequency the order went out on.

I headed out Sunset Blvd to nearby Station 35. As I pulled up, LAFD Engine 50 was just backing into the station. I went in and asked what was going on. RA 35 was just about to leave for Station 27. There was a huge war protest scheduled for noon on Hollywood Boulevard. A bunch of companies were reporting to LAFD Station 27 for their assignments.

I jumped in my car and headed to Station 27. As I turned the corner near 27’s, all I could see were red trucks. The companies were being assigned to a first-aid detail in case the worst fears happened and there was physical violence. Companies were stationed on both sides of Hollywood Boulevard at various locations along the parade route. Here’s a list of the apparatus at Station 27 that were assigned first-aid stations along Hollywood Boulevard:

E27, E227, L27, E35, E235, E82, E217, L17, E15, E226, L26, RA29, RA35, RA239, RA835, RA876, RA82, RA10, RA2, Bn 1, Bn 5, Bn 7, Bn 11, Div 1. EMS 7, EMS 11. They also had a couple small all-wheel drive vehicles (I believe John Deer) for patient transport.

To say the least, I was busy for quite a while as companies lined up and repositioned themselves around Station 27. Sadly. Most of the apparatus was facing the wrong direction for a sunny pump panel shot. A podium had been set up in the apparatus bay of Station 27 and I assume the Division Chief was the one speaking and explaining to the companies what was expected of them. Someone also handed out 11x17” maps for all the crews along with other paperwork. They were told they could be there as long as 2000 hours depending on what happened. Of course, just as the companies were all pulling out (into the sunlight) the battery on the digital went dead. I always carry a charged spare, but by the time I’d switched batteries, I’d missed four nice shots.

I asked one of the crews, “Who’s supplying lunch?” They laughed. “We’re on our own!” responded one of the captains. Around 1030 hours all the apparatus departed 27’s for their stations with the exception for LF26 (E226 & L26). Those companies were going to fill in at Station 27 in case there were runs in the area. I was amazed that they were keeping busy doing various drills while they were standing by.

I spent almost three hours between Station 27 and LAFD Fire Museum (next door in old Station 27). They have come a long way since I last visited in 2002. The second floor is now open. There was a meeting of some women’s group upstairs in the old dormitory, which they now use for meetings and some rentals. They still don’t have as many interactive things to do as we have at our museum, but they do have many interesting displays.

They have an unbelievable model builder who builds fire trucks from scratch. You should see the stuff he has done. Every model looks likes a scale model, but even better than the Code 3 stuff, but also on a much larger scale. There is also a wonderful display of model fire stations. I had no idea there were so many available. The one thing they have for kids is a large rug on the 2nd floor with toy fire trucks, blocks, etc for kids to play with.

The most impressive display is out front of the station. They have a huge deck of paver blocks that you can have your name cut into for $125/brick. There is a huge wall with two fountains that will run down the sides of the names of LODD’s in the LAFD. They already have five firefighter statues made out of Bronx depicting a fire scene with a female firefighter, a while male firefighter, a black firefighter, an oriental firefighter and a Hispanic firefighter. Those figures almost look real. They were done by someone in Minnesota.

The large open area in front of the station is an actual map of the city of Los Angeles with iron bars indicating freeways, metal plates signifying each and every station, all of it outlined by different colored pavers that indicate the city limits. One of the volunteers said they already have spent $1.7 million on the outdoor project.

I only saw about eight other people in the museum during the three hours I was there- and they DO NOT CHARGE an entrance fee. For every visitor it seemed like there were two or more volunteers (sound familiar). They have received gifts of $50,000 (from the firefighters union), $25,000, $10,000 and many other gifts of over $5,000. They have many of the huge Publishers Clearinghouse sized checks on the wall of their office. I met a number of their volunteers, many retired LAFD firefighters.

As it was already 1300 hours, I decided not to attempt to go to Venice Beach today. I’d seen LA County Lifeguard supervisors on TV talking about how short they were of lifeguards as many of them are attending school right now and with the warm weather they’ve had lately here they’ve been trying to get seasonal guards to come back early to handle the thousands of visitors that have been invading the beach areas.

As I left the area, street crews were putting up barricades to keep cars from getting into the parade area. It looked like they were blocking off at least three blocks on either side of Hollywood Blvd to motorized traffic.

I checked out a few stations in the area- LAFD Station 61 and LA County Station 8 (empty again). I ran into LAFD TF29 and RA829 out on a “wellness” assignment at a shopping center (I’d heard say they’d be out of service for 3 hours earlier). The lighting was terrible, so I didn’t get any shots. I went by LAFD Station 11 before I decided to get on the 110 Freeway and head up towards the Pasadena area. I decided to check out some Glendale Stations as they’d switched to red apparatus (two years ago) since the last time I was here. I stopped at Station 25 and got some photos of GFD Engine 25. Ladder 26 was parked out back, but it was wedged between firefighters cars and I couldn’t get photos. I waited for a while to see if they were going. I talked to two very nice firefighters about Verdugo Dispatch and the eleven departments they control.

I looked for new GFD Station 1, but could not find it. I went a little north to Station 26 and encountered the same firefighter I’d met at 25’s. “Remember me?” he greeted me with as he opened the door to let me in. Engine 26 got a run as I was talking with the firefighter and then a woman drove up (almost parking in front of the apparatus doors to have firefighters check out her child seats. Ladder 26’s 2005 Quantum TDA was wedged in pretty good out back of Station 26 so I could still not get any photos.

I followed the directions the firefighter had given me to find GFD Station 21 and I’ll be darned if I could find it. I headed to Arcadia and stopped by Station 2 (106). Just as I was walking up to the door I heard tones going off on both my scanner and on outdoor speakers on the side of the station. They were getting a run. I ran around to the front and watched Ladder 105 (the Engine was apparently out) and RA 105 respond the wrong way down a one way street to avoid backup up traffic as they responded on a reported structure fire. I got a shot of each with my digital. It turned out to be a dryer on fire and E & L 105 handled. They also got LA County and San Marino rigs on their alarm.

As I was close to the motel I headed back. There were hundreds of cars parked in the lot of the Santa Anita Race Track as they had horse races there this afternoon. I got back around 1630 hours. It was an absolutely gorgeous day here today- sunny and about 75 degrees.

1705 hours- LA City just dispatched an assignment to 1415 S Burlington in 41’s first due area. Assigned were E41, RA41, RA841, LF61, TF27, LF58, E82, E52 and Bn 18. Engine 15 said they were at 27’s and were taking in the run with 27s. What an assignment! That was a total of 14 rigs responding on one alarm. It must have sounded like the end of the world to anybody in the area. Many of the RA’s here have high-low European sounding sirens along with their normal electronic sirens. No fire, but sure a lot of apparatus.

That’s all for today.

Your Roving Reporter