Nasty Out There...

...Already. October's typical mix of fire and brimstone has arrived with a vengeance. At 0745 on Sunday morning, with Red Flag parking restrictions set to go into effect in 15 minutes, City News Service--and my scanner--already report three big brush fires crackling through the northern part of the County.

--Nearly 200 acres have been burned up at Castaic Lake, near the Ventura County border, with the fire being pushed north, away from populated areas.

--LAFD is working a brush fire in the Porter Ranch area where the City and County adjoin. It started at 0550 this morning and it's going strong.

--The main event this morning sounds like a brusher the County's got burning up in Malibu, near Pepperdine University and Malibu Canyon Road. Two mutual aid Strike Teams (1 from Long Beach) are on the scene, and the County has requested two LAFD helos already.

It's going to be a long, messy day as the wind has yet to even truly pick up. Check back for updates.

WeHo Burner

The gents of LACoFD stations 7 and 8 made quick work of a condo fire in West Hollywood this afternoon. The small city has been getting a decent amount of fire action in the last few months. Today's fire saw a female resident on the fourth floor of the building jump to escape the flames. Sounds like she broke a variety of bones, but she'll live.

Can't find any good fire photos yet, maybe some will pop up later.

I-5 Aftermath

If that's not a vision of Southern California's own kind of hell, I don't know what is.

There's a tunnel behind those flames where roughly 15 big rigs and cars were immolated last night during a heavy rainstorm and subsequent pile-up.

The CHP has I-5 in Newhall Pass closed until further notice. The CHP and Caltrans say they hope to have portions of the affected tunnel re-opened by Tuesday morning. First, they'll have to check the structural integrity of the designated truck tunnel's concrete walls, which became the insides of an impromptu oven as more than a dozen big-rigs cooked off inside the 550-foot long tunnel. As an aside, a quick view of the CHP's CAD today shows the media misbehaving all day while trying to get close to the site.

Just heard LACoFD dispatch some units from the Carson-area to move into the scene up in Newhall. The County is obviously rotating units in and out of the area. Earlier today, there was still active fire suppression going on for smoldering inside the tunnel and they've begun cutting up and hauling away the mess.

As I grimly predicted in my first post last night, three fatalities. Click here for the LA Daily News photo gallery. The LA Times' is here. Thanks to Kevin at LAObserved.com for the link.

photo: LA Daily News

Holy I-5 Cluster...*

...Batman. So it's rare when Batt. 12 from LAFD checks in on OCD 8 and tells the dispatcher in the middle of a rainstorm that LACoFD is on scene at the interchange of the Golden State (5) and Antelope Valley (14) freeways with multiple tractor trailers fully involved with fire on both the north and southbound lanes of the designated truck lanes. Further, he has multiple other accidents up and down that stretch of freeway.

Sounds like a Class 1 clusterfuck. LAFD has dispatched a full physical rescue assignment and the County has thrown a ton of resources at it, too. LAFD has a helo moving up there for observation. The CHP CAD is pretty wild to look at. It's incident #3700 on the CAD. The CHP is shutting down the 5 in both directions, which is a rare occurrence except if it's snowing in the Grapevine.

It's such a mess up there that the County and City have been unable to establish a joint-command and it's every man for himself. Adding to the problem is lack of water supply on the freeway to assist in extinguishing the multiple big-rigs that are exploding and burning. LAFD has a Foam Carrier en route. LAFD Fire 6 (observation helo) had to return to Van Nuys Airport due to the low clouds and solid IFR conditions.

Expect this one to have a fatality or two and keep the freeway shutdown well into the day tomorrow!

***UPDATE*** As of 0010 hours, multiple big-rigs are still fully involved inside the truck-lane tunnels on Interstate 5. City and County fire units are using master streams and wagon batteries from their engines to direct water into the tunnels in an attempt to extinguish the flames. There is also a serious HAZMAT issue with runoff from the water used to fight the burning trucks (and their contents). Totally crazy. Nine patients transported by LAFD. Unknown number via LACoFD.

As of now, LAFD Division 3 is o/s and in charge, about 100 yards east of the tunnel. Unified command with LACoFD has been established. The entire tunnel is on fire, with multiple explosions from the trucks burning inside. The incident itself is classified in the County jurisdiction, according to Division 3, but all LAFD resources on scene are being used to aid the County.

Let It Rain...

I was out of town a few weeks ago when the heavens opened in SoCal for the first time since April. But tonight, I'm all warm and cozy as I watch the rain fall against the orange sodium of the street lights outside my apartment.

Scanner on, and like clockwork, the traffic accidents are lighting up the frequencies. Rain started about half an hour ago and already LAFD is working one Physical Rescue in the deep Valley; LACoFD has two big traffic collisions with fire going, and already allegedly have an Airsquad heading out to somewhere in the NW part of the county at a particularly nasty wreck. Who knows if they'll be able to fly the bird out there. My rule of thumb is to try at all costs to stay off the roads for the first hour or two of any rain.



radar image @ 2303 hrs

If An Ambulance Is Stolen...

...in Hollywood, does its siren make a noise?

Surprisingly, just a faint one. After a thief made-off with Rescue 27, and I breathlessly blogged about it last week (see below), it rated a small brief in the following day's L.A. Times. That brief, by the way was ripped off, per usual, from the local City News Service.

Now I understand that the LAFD is loathe to have a wave of copycat ambulance thieves swoop into unlocked RAs idling at ER bays, but come on. Some dude steals a bright red ambulance in the middle of the afternoon with big white lettering and numbering that clearly identifies it and makes his way almost 200 miles north on MAJOR FREEWAYS. People, this is a great story!

This is the last sentence of the AP report posted on CBS2's Web Site that evening:

"Even after the ambulance was found, fire department officials still had no idea about the circumstances behind the theft."

Whaaa???????

That's a classic journalism who, what, when, WHY question if I've ever seen one.

My guess is the LAFD/CHP/LAPD either didn't cooperate at all; asked the media to keep it quiet; and/or the local beat reporters didn't follow up. Also, not a whisper on the LAFD Blog. This is the same blog that chronicles the department's highlights--and recently, with the EEOC report and Tennie Pierce settlement, its lowlights. But nothing on the wayward ambulance.
It's also the same blog that last year posted a thorough and illustrated account after Rescue 75 was stolen and then pursued in Panorama City.

Come on, folks. If you can't laugh at yourselves, then we'll have to laugh at you.

By the way, wonder if the thief managed to get his hands on the narcotics inside the rig, since that's always a prime reason for ambulance theft.

Red Flag Riffing

So round 1 of the famed October Santa Anas blew in and blew out this weekend without a major conflagration. The Trojans lost in the most pathetic fashion of the millennium (thus far) and things haven't been all that exciting on the scanner front. Granted, I haven't been listening much this weekend, and things are definitely hopping--even at this hour--because of the heat.

The Red Flag warning remains in effect through tomorrow night, but the LAFD has lifted hillside parking restrictions for tonight and tomorrow, so they don't seem too worried. Hope that doesn't come back to bite them.

In other news, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission last week released a report that....wait for it.............said the LAFD has racism and sexual harassment within its ranks!!!!! I, for one, am shocked. Just shocked. Apparently, the military also has a few homosexuals scattered throughout its 1.4 million-plus active-duty members!

New Month....

...New look. My live-in design consultant has helped me refresh the blog's look. If you don't like it, I don't give a shit, since it's my blog. See previous reaction to some of my more idiotic commenters on this site for reference to how much I don't give a shit about what my readers think.

If you like it, however, I'm happy to hear from you. This ain't a democracy, people.

Stolen LAFD Ambulance!**

So someone made off with an LAFD RA from good old Queen of Angels, Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital around 3:45 this afternoon. It's 5:11 and they're still looking for it. I'll recap this when more info comes down the pike!

***UPDATE*** Per a wire story, the stolen ambulance was spotted going northbound on the 101 Freeway in SAN LUIS OBISPO (about 200 miles northwest of LA!!!!!) at about 8 p.m.; five hours after being taken from outside the ER in Hollywood. The CHP managed to use spike strips to stop the rig outside of Paso Robles and arrested the driver.

That's all the info I've got now. Can't wait to hear which RA unit got nabbed.

***UPDATE 2*** Per a kind commenter via ABC7 News, it was RA 27....a dear old friend of mine back in the day.

photo: via Code2High.com

The End of Tennie?

So, Mayor Tony V. the other day signed off on the latest settlement of "victimized" LAFD firefighter Tennie Pierce. I mentioned his case way back in March on this blog. The original $2.7 million settlement was vetoed by the mayor after it was approved by the City Council last fall.

So it looked like all of the messy details (especially those involving Pierce's own behavior) were going to be on full display at trial. Alas, no. Among the media coverage of the new settlement was a very thoughtful piece by columnist Sandy Banks in the LA Times. With the exception of Steve Lopez, I usually approach the LAT's columnists with great disdain (Joel Stein, anyone? Anyone?), but Ms. Banks surprised me in a good way. It makes for good reading and it's a window into Douglas Barry, the now permanent LAFD Chief.

Long Live COPS

I've been a fan of COPS since its debut 20 years ago (and CHiPs, TJ Hooker and Adam 12) before that. Hard to believe it's been on TV for so long, especially in this age of the fickle TV viewer. But in the same way the New York Times wedding announcements are a work in voyeuristic sociology, so too are the 30 minute windows into ordinary people dealing with law enforcement all across the country.

I've gone my fair share of stretches without tuning in, but have recently been putting my DVR to good use taping episodes again. As for me, I hope for another 20 years...and 60 more of reruns on CourtTv!

Talk About The Dog Days....

Something about the record heat and humidity we had here a week or so ago has kept me from the blog...just couldn't muster the energy. Did a bit of scanning over the last two weeks. Nothing too exciting except for some amusement two nights ago in Beverly Hills.

Nearly all of the on-duty patrol units get sent to a house way up near the BH city limit, off Coldwater Canyon Drive. Responding to their equivalent of a "hot prowl," where the caller reported a white male trying to break into her house. As units were hauling ass to get up there, more information came in--now, the suspect hadn't tried to break in per se, more like the woman saw him outside. She got scared. She screamed. He got scared. He ran away.

Units got on scene and it only took about eight minutes to realize the man had been making the first delivery of the family's "nutri-fit" food service. The lady of the house wasn't expecting the drop-off at 11 p.m. Classic.

# # #

Gave Sept. 11 a few minutes of thought yesterday. Hard to believe it's been six years. Back then, I was in public safety full-time and watched the Towers fall on TV before heading into work for about 48 very tense hours. Seems like a lifetime ago.

Help Calls

Two good LAPD "help" calls in as many days. First one went down late last night in Southwest when a two-man car had multiple suspects and at least one gun behind an apartment building. A few hairy minutes while the backup units got on scene, and the air unit did a nice job of calling the action from above and directing the patrol units into the scene. Suspects arrested, gun recovered.

Second one hit around 9 this evening in 77th Division. Didn't hear what precipitated it, but it was a scramble as units got on scene down in South-Central, and were still breathlessly calling for more help. The zone was quickly flooded and everyone taken into custody.

Must be a summer night.

Hurricane Dean???

Pretty wild that a storm that formed more than a week ago thousands of miles to the southeast--somewhere over the mid-Atlantic, in fact--could eventually pass over SoCal! That's what happened this weekend with the atypical high humidity, tropical clouds and rain, wind and hail. Just our little taste of the wild summer weather the rest of the nation seems to be experiencing.

The Hideous, Hideous Future

This, my friends, is the new ass of the LAFD. Thanks to John Gregory for the shot (outside of the new LAFD FS5 in Westchester). These day-glo yellow chevrons are apparently becoming standard fare on emergency rigs across the U.S. A couple of Federal agencies have decided that bright yellow arrows will increase safety for the public safety crews, so these things are becoming mandatory.

Too bad that conventional wisdom--and the experience of thousands of public safety pros--will tell you that DUI drivers, and, idiots operating motor vehicles in general, already swerve towards the bright, blinking lights of emergency vehicles parked on scene. To me, this seems like a giant arrow directing some drunk asshole right into the back of my shiny new RA. Leave it to the think-tank feds to come up with this idiotic scheme. And it's ugly as sin.

More Kudos...

...for the Blog of LAFD Batt. 14! Way back in January I plugged this blog. Just checked it out again today and it's really chugging along. Some good info both for folks in the Department (and the Battalion) but also for the general public. It really peels back the layers of the happenings in the North Hollywood area and gives a good glimpse into the day-to-day out there. If the 17 other battalions in the LAFD followed suit--over-lorded by Mr. Humphrey--that would be a truly glorious public service.

Have Leopard....No Clothes

In any other city but this one, built upon a queen of angels, a story like THIS would have been front page news for at least a week....but nary a peep out of the L.A. Times, of course (even the usually reliable City News Service, with its often patently ridiculous stories, didn't chime in). Defamer, posted it a few days ago and has some great on-scene photo action of a naked man walking down Melrose Avenue with a live leopard draped over his shoulders.

Let's put aside any sort of an explanation from the man as to why he was walking nude with a leopard: a funny story on its own would be the tale of the two poor-bastard A-unit LAPD Hollywood patrol officers dispatched to the call. I'm sure the story is already legendary at Hollywood Station.

WeHo Fire...

Don't have any good pics to share on this one, but that probably means I'm not looking hard enough (There is an embedded video on KABC's site. I noticed the smoke from the Micky's gay bar fire about right as the call was going out over LACoFD's Blue 8. Classic clusterfuck on the County's part, but only because of the horrible geographic island that West Hollywood sits on.

The two WeHo stations were quickly committed and LAFD E41 made a fast appearance on scene, along with BHFD E1, E3, T4 and Batt. 1. LACoFD moved units in from Inglewood and Baldwin Hills and East LA, I believe. I craned my neck out of my office window just in time to see an LACoFD engine (171's?) moving Code 3 up San Vicente Boulevard. It gave me the first glimpse of the County's new fluorescent yellow chevrons on the back of the Engine. Ugh.

They got the fire knocked down in a reasonable amount of time, but the highlight of the radio traffic was hearing BHFD's Assistant Chief and the on-duty Batt. 1 BC bitching at each other about the city's resources being used at the WeHo fire. So, eager Batt. 1 rightly committed his three BHFD resources (including the city's only Aerial truck) to mutual aid on this ripping commercial structure. The AC got on the radio and asked when the BH resources were going to be available and was super pissed when the BC told him they were all working the fire, leaving only two engines (E2 and E5) and both BHFD RA's (RA1 and RA2) available for the whole city.

Folks, 1.) this is more fire than BHFD has seen all year so the lucky on-duty crews at Engines 1 and 3 and Truck 4 were totally psyched to be catching some fire after spending most of their days picking old people up from various positions on the floor. 2.) That's what "mutual aid" means--it doesn't mean send your shiny, expensive and almost brand-new fire engines to the scene of a commercial structure with limited County resources available and have them sit at staging. 3.) The city of BH was not going to burn down and if it did, LAFD can throw at least two task forces and three engines that basically border the city at any big fire that came down the wire (especially since BHFD screams for LAFD task forces on big fires anyway).

There was also a big brusher going on out in Hacienda Heights at the same time, so the LACoFD radio traffic was a bit confusing and hectic.

Good times.

Catching Up...

Apologies for my absence. Just a few tidbits, most recent at the top:

--Caught the tail end of the LAX Customs computer meltdown last Saturday night. Got home in time to hear the LAFD medical strike teams in effect at Tom Bradley Intl. terminal. Sounds like they'd been at it for a few hours, and some of the medics were getting quite edgy with the EMS captains who were dispatching them to EMS calls through the throngs of thousands gathered at the airport. LAFD command broke the incident down around 2 a.m., but still managed to hear an LAFD unit (RA 51 or E51, I think) crash into an airport shuttle bus on their way off the airfield.

--Finally laid mine eyes upon the new BHFD Rescues, as one of my faithful readers alerted me to their presence a few weeks ago. Here's why I probably never noticed them before: Because they are the SAME UGLY TRIANGULAR MODS that BHFD seems to be in love with (the link shows the old BHFD rescue units, but it's the same design on the new ones).

This, my friends, is what a brand new Freightliner ambulance should look like. That's a beautiful brand new rig proudly serving the residents and tourists of Las Vegas's Clark County, Nev. Notice the nice rectangular box sitting behind the cab! Not some ridiculous polygonal shape that just looks like it belongs at some crappy vollie rescue squad somewhere. The LED light package is nice and all, but seriously BH; Nut up and get a REAL big, badass, rescue next time. I know you're not hurting for the funds.

--Saw a nice grey Acura TL shear off a hydrant on Beverly Drive in the middle of mansion-ville in BH a few weekends back. Eerie, in that a geyser of water was shooting straight up and the driver was stil behind the wheel, shaken from the deployed air bag. Took a few minutes, but since it was a quiet Sunday night, the cavalry arrived in the form of four BHPD units rolling Code 3, followed by Engine 2 and Rescue 1. Didn't stick around after that.

-- Had a nice little earthquake at 1 a.m. a few weeks ago. Was scanning at the time. LACoFD went into "Earthquake Mode" and started a station recall over the LA. In the City, Battalion 14 came up on the air asking OCD if "we're going into earthquake mode?" OCD clearly didn't know anything about no quake (in their defense, they're a few stories underground encased in a re-inforced concrete bunker) and told Batt. 14 there would be no earthquake activation. That caught the BC by surprise since the quake was centered NNW of Chatsworth, which is most certainly LAFD territory.

-- Heard the LAPD "Help Call" go down in Hollenbeck a few weeks ago. Turns out, suspect got shot and killed after he started choking the female part of the patrol duo. Was a domestic violence suspect who returned to the scene of the crime. I heard the help call broadcast, then a Code 4 a few minutes later. Then heard the LAFD get the shooting call. No other radio traffic in the clear.

Nothing doing...

With me or much on the scanner the past week or so. Heard a high volume of serious traffic accidents in the Valley on Saturday night, but not much else. Hope to get back into the swing of things this week. LAPD's clearly had some good calls, judging by the newspaper reports of shootings and the such, but I've missed them.

I'm just glad I wasn't on duty in Minneapolis last week. That's one of those calls that comes down over the loudspeakers and you immediately think is a prank. Until you're on scene and it's just the most surreal experience of your life. I had one of those in Central Texas a few years back. No bridge collapse, just a structure fire with lots of dead kids.

On that note, happy August! My site traffic, while pathetically small, is creeping up just a bit every week thanks to referrals and some fortunate links on sites like EMTBravowest.com