Sunday Scanning

The joy of scanning SoCal is that on a random Sunday evening in January, the following things are all going on at once:

-- BHPD is running security and trying to keep the mischief down at the Beverly Hilton hotel as the Golden Globes awards are underway. They've been out there all day with set-up and celebrity arrivals, etc. etc. Right now, BHFD is responding to some manner of medical emergency on the second floor of the hotel, even as the place is locked-down tight because the awards broadcast is underway. Lots of traffic on the BHPD Tac (453.650) regarding random road closures and vehicles trying to get past checkpoints.

--On the far southwestern end of LAFD's jurisdiction they're using FIRE 4 to hoist some lady from the bottom of the cliff down in FS 48's district on the Palos Verdes Penninsula. FIRE 6 is standing watch as the observer helo.

--And way up in the Northwest Valley in Chatsworth, LAFD hit the "uh-oh" button when a Metrolink (though possibly Amtrak) train hit and killed some chick who was walking in a tunnel. She was pronounced dead on scene, but now they've got a train full of 400 folks stuck in the tunnel as they investigate and a bottleneck of delayed trains on the tracks behind them. No injuries on the train but LAFD and LAPD have formed a joint-command to try to figure out how the fuck to get the body out of the tunnel and move the trains again. It looks like the involved train is going to be stuck for at least two hours as the coroner investigates.

USAR Task Force 88 was on scene for a bit and was prepping for lighting and other USAR-type activities, but the IC just cut them loose since they didn't want all those guys tied up for so long, while everyone's standing around waiting.

Fire Service Day

Ooooooh weeeee! Has it really been that long since I last posted here? Shit. That's pathetic.

No time like the annual Fire Service Day here in SoCal to resume posting then, no? On this day last year I was wandering around downtown Santa Barbara, enjoying that city fire department's fine display of apparatus--including an airport crash truck. One year later and lots of life changes; so I decided to hit up a local 7-Eleven and buy a few quarts of "cream" for the boys (and girl) at my local FS 58. They were most appreciative as I spent about an hour getting my fix of LAFD Task Forces up close. Of course, I was hoping a call would drop so I could hear the computerized dispatch system up close, but no such luck. The "rider's curse" was in full effect.

Still, it was nice to hang out at a station fora little while surrounded by all that red metal. After that, headed over to Beverly Hills FD HQ, where there were about 600 little kids scattered all over the station and in front on Rexford Drive. Took a quick spin through the station (spent a lot more time there last year) and saw them giving rides to kiddies on BH's sick USAR rig.

Hope to be back on here more often than I've been this year. But, I've said that a few times before, too.

Another Reason...

...to love Los Angeles County. Just a few months ago, firefighters from LACoFD were battling major brush fires in a variety of locales. Yesterday, the County's Urban Search & Rescue rig (pictured above) was up in Wrightwood, deep in the snow searching for Southern California avalanche victims.

It's an only in L.A. public safety moment.

photo: Irfan Khan/LA Times