LAFD South Central Incidents 12-27-09

I spent Saturday night down in the 'Pit' looking to get some fire in the lens. It was a fairly slow night as far as fire was concerned. There were multiple shootings and lots of LE activity but not much going on for fire. I did catch a TC at Bonsallo & Slauson and shortly after that a Truck Fire at Wilmington & 110th. Of course the truck fire was just far enough away that I arrived right after knockdown!

Photos by EPN-564

Saying Goodbye to a friend

On December 11th, 2009 Retired Battalion Chief Allen Miller lost his battle with cancer. Chief Miller was a member of the fire services for 39 years. His last assignment was with San Bernardino County Fire as BC 149.

I had the pleasure of working for Chief Miller during the transition to County Fire in 1999 and for several years after. Chief Miller was very warm and welcoming during the transition and I very much appreciated that. It was a time of uncertainty for myself and the Chief put me at ease very quickly. At that time the North Desert Division is where Chief Miller was assigned. The NDD is a very large division and we ran across each other frequently and it was not long before we were friends. His kindness and helping hand to myself and my station will be missed and not forgotten.

On Saturday December 19th, I, along with Chief Miller's family and many members of the San Bernardino County Fire Department attended a Celebration of Life and said Goodbye to retired Battalion Chief Allen Miller. Other departments that attended included CALFIRE, Apple Valley FPD, USFS and members of the USAF.

BC 149

San Bernardino County Fire Chief Pat Dennen

CALFIRE Chaplin Paul Camarena (Left) and CALFIRE Captain Skip Miller
































CALFIRE Division Chief Doug Lannon

The Last Alarm

BC Miller with family

Compton FD Structure Fire

In the early morning hours of December 19th, Compton Fire E43 was dispatched to an auto fire in the 900 block of 137th Street. Upon arrval E43 found a working fire in a single family dwelling. E43 requested a full first alarm assignment. By the time I arrived most of the fire had been knocked down but some operations were still taking place.

Photos by EPN-564

LAFD Extrication with HR56

LAFD TF1, E47, Heavy Rescue 56 responded to a Physical Rescue on Hillsdale Dr. in the El Sereno area of East Los Angeles. By the time I arrived the single patient had been extricated and was being loaded into RA47 for transport. The call was intersting enough so I stuck around to get some pics of the heavy rescue removing the vehicles. The scene was at the bottom of a steep hill and a vehicle coming down the hill lost control, struck another parked, unoccupied vehicle and the both crashed into a house. Here are a few shots.

Photos by EPN-564

South Central 12-17/18-09

I spent the night in South central last night. There were several incidents and i got a few pics of the incidents I made it on scene of. The first was a vehicle into a business at 47th and Broadway. Then a TC at I105 and the 710 and a short time later a hit and run at 67th at Broadway. Broadway was a busy area last night. There was also a good extrication call in the El Sereno area of los Angeles but that will get its own post.

Photos by EPN-564

LAFD Commercial Greater Alarm 12-11-09

On Friday, December 11, 2009 at 5:30 AM, LAFD responded to a Greater Alarm Structure Fire at the corner of Vermont and Florence in South Central Los Angeles. Tom's Jr. Burgers had a large loom up showing from the roof when the first units arrived. Firefighters had to use forcible entry to gain access to the interior. The bulk of the fire appeared to be in the attic. Three truck companies put their arieals to the roof, other firefighters laddered the rear of the building with ground ladders. Once ventilation was complete and the interior crews were able to get water on the seat of the fire, control was gained quickly. Enjoy the photos.

Photos by EPN-564

Anaheim 4 Alarm Fire

ANAHEIM – Two commercial buildings caught fire overnight, causing about $1.5 million in damages.

About 100 firefighters responded to the fire at 12:57 a.m. today in the 500 block of South Rose Street. Firefighters put out the fire in about an hour. There were no injuries. "When firefighters arrived on scene, there was a lot of smoke," said Anaheim Fire Department spokeswoman Maria Sabol. "Flames were about 30 feet up in the air." Fire agencies from Orange, Fullerton, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana assisted in putting out the fire. The two buildings that caught fire were at 558 and 556 South Rose Street. A small warehouse with electrical material inside was also damaged by the fire. Sabol said a produce business sustained around $250,000 in damages. There were 11 produce/ice-cream vehicles inside and six outside.
All together, there was about $1.5 million in damages to the 15,600-square-foot area. Apartment complexes nearby were evacuated as a precautionary measure, Sabol said. Hazmat units also responded because there was a possibility that one of the shops was a metal plating company and authorities were concerned about the presence of hazardous materials, Sabol said. The Hazmat units took air and water samples. All samples came out negative for hazardous materials. Anaheim police and fire are investigating the cause of the fire. "It appears to be accidental," Sabol said.

Photos by EPN-564

LAFD Auto Fire South Central

LAFD At approximately 12:15am, E64 responded to an auto fire in the 10400 block of Denver Ave. near 104th St. Upon arrival they found a well involved passenger vehicle. E64 had quick knockdown.

Photos by EPN-564

LAFD Traffic Collision South Central

LAFD TF33 responded to a traffic collision at 76th St and Main. It was a head on collision. One person was transported to a local hospital.

Photos by EPN-564

Rialto Structure Fire

On December 4th at approximately 8:30am a house caught fire in the 600 block of Cactus Ave. I was on my way home from LA when I heard some radio traffic related to the fire and then saw a loom up from a few miles away. By the time I arrived Rialto City Fire had knockdown. San Bernardino County assisted Rialto. I did get a few pics.

Photos by EPN-564

A new look coming soon!

Today I have started the project of having a website built that will be the new home of FireWXPhoto. The site is being created by http://www.jasons-professional-graphics.com/. I am very excited to get this project underway. There will be a new blog page to go with the new 'web-blog' Jason will be building. When the new blog page is ready I will transfer all of this blog to the new one. For those followers and subscribers, I will notify you of the new page so you can follow me there. This blog will be maintained but only show a link to the new blog and website. In addition to the new blog, there will also be a photo gallery and video gallery page. I will keep you updated as to the progress.

New/old Off Road TC in Summit Valley

 I know it has been a few weeks since my last update. It is not from a lack of trying on my part or a lack of emergency incidents. I went to LA on two occasions and while there were some incidents, none were anything that would make for good photos. I also worked a 72 hour shift over the holiday weekend, but there were just no 'Kodak Moments' to be had. While we were fairly busy, all of the calls were just not the kind of calls you photograph.

 So, I dusted off some pics I took of a rescue we had on the 4th of July. This was of a motorcycle accident that occured on Cleghorn Ridge. This area is not easy to get to and our response time was close to 30 minutes. The crew on that day was myself, Mike Stachowicz, Justin Ayers, Kevin Crandall, Adam Payne and Adam Stiltner. Upon arrival we found a male with head injuries, internal injuries and ALOC. Due to his injuries and the remoteness of our location, I requested an Air Rescue. San Bernardino County Sheriff Air Rescue 6 was dispatched. The closest suitable LZ was over one half mile from the patient. Once we had the patient secured to the backboard we loaded him up on the back of a quad that was at the scene and SLOWLY took him to the awaiting Air 6 crew. Photos below....

Photos by EPN-564