Monday, February 16, 2009

So Long Capt. Myers**

One of the LAFD's three Public Service Officers (PSO) who sit in the bowels of City Hall East (until the new OCD is fitted out at the new FS 4) has been promoted to Captain I. The indefatigable Brian Humphrey posted the news on the LAFD blog that his colleague Ron Myers on the "A" Shift is going to see daylight again as a Captain at FS 90 out by the Van Nuys Airport.

So that leaves Brian ("B" shift) and d'Lisa Davies ("C" shift) as the permanent PSO's as they look for someone to fill the vacant spot. The LAFD is unique in that they have a permanently assigned PSO attached to the dispatch center 24-7. The LAFD staffs its dispatch center entirely with sworn personnel and they work on the same 24-hour modified Kelly platoon schedule as the field units. The dispatchers work, sleep and eat four stories underground for 24 hours at a go (there's even a cook* who makes fire station-worthy meals).

Not only do the PSOs field routine calls from the public and the media, but they maintain the LAFD blog and for the past few years have been sending out increasingly more helpful and useful incident alert email/pager notifications. Mr. Humphrey, who has basically become known throughout the country, if not the world, as the "voice of the LAFD," has been at it the longest and Ms. Davies replaced longtime PSO Jim Wells** after he retired a couple years back. It's quite a good gig they've got going and Mr. Myers was an excellent part of the team.

Code6Charles wishes him luck at 90's.

* As a commenter pointed out, the cook rotates as part of the daily dispatch crew in the same way they do at typical LAFD stations, so there's no extra personnel assigned as a so-called "permanent cook."

** Jim Wells retired as the former LAFD PSO. Jim Hill is a local, longtime sportscaster for KCBS. Total brain melt on my part.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your blog, but just wanted to make two minor corrections:

1) It was Jim Wells who retired a couple years ago.

2) So taxpayers don't get the wrong idea, the "cook" at OCD is a firefighter who rotates off the dispatch floor.

Keep up the great work my friend, I check your blog regularly.

Code6Charles said...

Anon,
Thanks for the note and the corrections. The post will be updated accordingly. Appreciate the readership!

C6C

Anonymous said...

I considered it an honor to represent the LAFD over the past 3 1/2 years. Ubergeek, Brian and I were able to connect in an amazing way and bring dozens of web 2.0 projects to fruition.......

Thanks to everyone who has called, E-Mailed, and blogged regarding my recent promotion.

To each and every one of you, I was truly the one blessed with this privileged assignment.

With fondest regards, Ron Myers, (Former)LAFD Spokesman.