Fire Service Recognition Day Draws Crowds

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The Tapiers, Juliet 9, and Miles, 1, drive the firetruck at Station 69 during Fire Service Days.
Photo: Rich Schmitt

“The best thing are all the hoses and shiny knobs,” said Knox, three years old.

“The best thing is to be in the fire truck,” Mia, 3, and Kia, 1, added.

Wells, 4, said the best thing about the day was, “I got a hot dog. I got five hot dogs.” His parents assured the CTN editor, that their son did not eat five hot dogs.

Fire Service Recognition was on May 13 at the fire stations throughout Los Angeles, and firefighters from Station 69, located at Sunset and Carey, went all out to welcome residents.

It was busy as residents toured the station,  and more than 500 red plastic fire helmets were passed out to kids by noon.

“This brings the community together to show what LAFD, particularly Station 69 has to offer in the way of fire safety,” said Station 69 Captain Jeff Brown. “We love opening up the station to our community. We share some good food and get to know each other on a more personal level.”

Promptly at 9 a.m., Carl Ginsberg was named the honorary fire chief for Operations West Bureau after his years of involvement with CERT (Community Emergency Response Team).

On hand to assist in the ceremony was LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, Assistant Chief Jaime Moore, Battalion Chief Brian Cummings and West Bureau Commander Deputy Chief Richard Fields.

Councilmember Traci Park was at the station speaking to firefighters and constituents. She said, “Fire Service Day is a great opportunity for the community to visit fire stations, learn about essential tools and equipment, and increase knowledge about fire safety and emergency preparedness. This year, LAFD focused on our Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers and the important role they play in emergencies and local disasters.”

Park added, “We are so grateful to our firefighters and paramedics for the dedicated they service they perform every day!”

There was a helicopter flyover at Station 69. Firefighters demonstrated the use of a “litter basket,” (a litter, rescue basket, is essentially a stretcher with sides) by rescuing a person off the roof.

Next it was the vehicle extraction demonstration, the “jaws of life.” Ryan Craig, a co-founder of Resilient Palisades was at the event with his son, Zev. “It was really impressive,” Craig said.

His son was impressed with how they took the top of the car off. “It looked real hard and I thought they were going to take part of it, but they took the whole thing off,” Zev said.

Captain Brown said that “new cars are tougher, because they are building them stronger and with air bags.” He said they are doing few extractions because of the added safety in cars.

Still set for later that afternoon was the aerial ladder display, which meant raising the ladder to 100 feet with someone at the top of it.

For the kids there were Rockets Fire Safety Camp Book, pencils and helmets until they ran out.

There were Palisades Fire Station 69 gear for sale, such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, baseball hats, coffee mugs and hot/cold tumblers. All proceeds go back to Station 69.

Another hit was the Pink’s Hot Dogs, beef, turkey and vegan, that could be topped with chili, cheese, onions, relish, ketchup or mustard. Sponsored by the law firm Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi, people walked around happily eating the free fare. Several people put donations in the “boot” by the booth, that money will go to Fire Station 69.

Dad delivered free Pink’s Hotdogs to his family, who was watching the “Jaws of Life” demonstration.
Photo: Rich Schmitt

(Editor’s note: Rich Schmitt’s photos are copyrighted and cannot be used without permission. To view other photos of the event contact richschmitt@mac.com.)

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