No Excuses

I'm just not going to make any excuses for my extended absences anymore. Life's busy. I'm lazy. Ta-da.

But there's been some decent scanning lately.

--Turned on the Bearcat296D a few weeks ago at the tail-end of the LA Marathon to hear LAFD units going on what turned out to be a retired LAPD detective who had a sudden cardiac arrest at Mile 22 of the marathon. They had a rescue, the golf-cartesque "Gator" and a bunch of other units on scene. I think the LAFD's medical director (a self-important doctor that plays paramedic whenever he can) might have actually been first on scene. Either way, sudden cardiac arrest is never good, especially during a marathon. Patient was transported but was pretty much DRT (dead right there). Kinda crazy to turn on the scanner at the exact moment the call went down!

--Heard bits and pieces of the major LAFD deployment a few weekends ago for the immigration protests downtown. A few hundred thousand folks showed up (which is about a few hundred thousand more than anyone figured) and the LAFD was scrambling all afternoon for a ton of total bullshit calls. But things did get sorta hairy down there at one point and it sounded like the LAPD was going to have a riot on their hands. But a few more men in blue with riot gear seemed to quell the masses.

--Yesterday, LAFD had a good swiftwater call when two teenage girls in the Valley got swept down a flood control channel. The most amazing (and impressive) thing about the LAFD is its ability to swarm incidents with resources. LACoFD has a ton of units but they're so spread out that the density and rapid response of units always takes longer than the City's. Heard the huge Valley dispatch go out, but by the time units got rolling, it sounded like Light Force 89 may have completed the rescue. Didn't hear the details on the scanner, but judging by the congratulations all around, sounds pretty spectacular. LAFD is VERY good at swiftwater stuff.