Shift Stuff

I just finished browsing the UFLAC's proposal on the 48/96 shift schedule. My big takeaway: they use lots of primary colors and childrens' book fonts in the report.

Not too many years ago, I was employed at very busy public safety agency where I drove big trucks with flashing lights and two (!!!) sirens required at all times during Code 3 operations.

This particular agency operated on a 24/48 shift schedule. One day on, two days off. Year-round, every year. On paper, it wasn't such a bad schedule. Bust your ass all day and all night at a busy house and get two days off as reward--one day to recover, one day to enjoy. At a quiet house, you'd run a few calls, sleep all night and go home relaxed and refreshed. If you wanted to take five days off, you simply had to burn one vacation day--10 days off and it was only two vacation days. Better yet, find a trade and burn no vacation days.

Sadly, life isn't lived on paper. The biggest drawback of the 24/48 was the overtime issue. At the time, this particular agency had a constant staffing shortage. There was a mandatory overtime list everyday that was eight people deep. On average, you were on the list twice a month. The theory went that one time you'd be near the top and the second time you were supposed to be farther down. Generally, the list didn't go much past poor bastard three or four, though some days it went way deep. It was pretty much a given that if you were number one or two on the list, you'd for sure get hit for overtime the next day.

Suddenly, your 24/48 would turn into a 48/24. Technically, if you were at a busy house the day before you got hit for overtime, then you were supposed to be sent to a quiet house if your number was called and vice versa. However, people generally didn't call in sick or take vacation days at the quiet houses--but they would suddenly be stricken by middle of the night ailments just hours before they were scheduled to report for a 7 a.m. shift at a busy city station. So, more often than not, you filled the holes where they opened.

You had a little more control when you made a trade, since you generally knew where the other person worked and agreed to it beforehand. But the deal with the devil on trades was that you'd get a free five-day but end up having to repay it with a 48/24. That, of course, was tacked on to your two or three days of potential forced overtime each month. So, in any given 10 day per month work cycle--you could do at least two 48s if you got hit for OT, or more if you had to repay a trade or for whatever reason volunteered for an extra shift.

Long story short, the money was good, the exhaustion, not so much. I never fell asleep at the wheel while driving, or had a major screw-up on the job (that I remember; I was too tired most of the time to recall much of what happened after about 10 p.m. on the back half of a 48). I did, however, sleep through a few loud tones going off and fluorescent lights going on, sleepwalked through the fire station and fell asleep on the steering wheel waiting for my partner to drag his or her ass out of bed. There were plenty of drives that I just plain don't remember and more than a few pissy words exchanged with the general public who had utilized 911 and expected a fresh-faced sympathetic responder to show up at 3 a.m. to deal with whatever they needed.

(Sidebar, but important:Even if I did remember any major fuckups on the "important" parts of my job, why the hell would I ever admit them? I mean, I could blame it on the 48 and lack of sleep and all that, but still, where's the incentive to admit mistakes of major consequence--other than a solid moral compass, of course.)

Instead, they got an asshole who'd been on duty for going on two days and had been running calls that whole time. Now, the LAFD has more than 104 stations and a goodly number of those run only a few calls a day--some only a few calls a week (FS 23, FS 40, FS 8, FS 69, FS108, cough cough). But it only takes one exhausted paramedic, Engineer or A/O to fuck up big time. Granted, many LAFDer's already work 48s and 72s on trades, etc., something that can be just as dangerous. But to make every front line employee work a 48 isn't good business. Some folks just aren't made for it. Mental acuity, reflexes, judgment, decision making skills--they all fade rapidly when start to hit that wall in the middle of a busy 48. What if all of above are in short supply with some guys (and gals) to begin with? What if you're riding a busy 800 RA's and (even scarier) the guys on the busy paramedic RA's, say nothing of engineers or A/Os driving the heavy stuff "Emergency" all over town?

It's one thing for a slower department like Beverly Hills or El Segundo to go on a 48/96, but the LAFD?

And institutionalizing a system that puts anyone on overtime automatically on a 72 isn't a great idea. Despite assurances that systems will be in place to rotate folks from busy houses to quiet ones, etc. etc., the reality is that staffing demands rule the day. Fill the holes with warm bodies.

My previous employer only started to learn the hard way when a guy driving a big old Freightliner ambulance at 7 a.m. (on the tail end of a 48) flipped the truck on the freeway when he fell asleep. Wasn't a great experience for his partner or patient in the back.

The Problem...

...with a blog, my friends, is that one must actually update it once in awhile to remain current. Clearly, I stumbled through October and skipped November entirely. That's not to say that public safety took a break during the same time.

I'll be back with some fresh stuff again this week, aiming for a strong 2007 finish.

Let me just say this: I heard from a birdie that the LAFD union membership is strongly considering a schedule change from the current 3-4 Kelly shift to a 48-96 (two days on, four days off). Here's the union puffery on the issue. Generally, I'm unilaterally against this kind of schedule, but I haven't totally read through the issue.

Once I do, I'll elaborate on it when I've got more time.

Hot Time in the Old Towns...

Wow.

Best picture of firefighters being over-run that you'll ever done see. (They all made it out alive and unhurt)

I was in the midst of a long and winding post last night, and then sort of ran out of steam. There's so much fire and so much scanner activity, it's just been very hard to keep up, though I've been listening almost nonstop for the last two days.

All of the usual outlets have good coverage so I point you in those directions. I'll surely post something more coherent and thoughtful when the situation has calmed and I have time to put some energy into a real post. Also, don't overlook San Diego; that's where the real tragedy is unfolding (again).

p.s. What's crazy is that since Sunday morning, the wind has been negligible in the greater L.A. Basin. Not a wisp of wind in the last 36 hours in the Beverly Hills and West LA area.


photo: Karen Tapia-Anderson, LA Times

Malibu is About to Burn

For those of you into the Scanning Arts, tuning into 470.6125--LACoFD's "Blue 3" channel--will afford you a front row seat to the County FD losing the early battle against today's brusher in Malibu.

A new spot fire at Civic Center Drive and Winter Canyon Road sees only two Engines (570, 566) on scene, with fire around residences and a school building. Three buildings are now well involved.

Now there's another spot on PCH that just jumped the road. With LAFD tied up in Porter Ranch and the rest of the city holding its collective breath amid the dry brush, it sounds like the County hasn't gotten enough resources out to Malibu fast enough.

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.