Week in Review 5.6.16
Your LAFD responded to 8,863 incidents this week and transported 4,228 people to local hospitals. Here’s a glimpse at what else happened:
Saturday/Sunday
A car caught fire following a traffic collision in the city of San Fernando near 3 a.m. Saturday. One car was well involved with flames threatening another as your LAFD arrived on scene. City of San Fernando police officers safely removed the driver uninjured before flames consumed his car.
Later that night, at 5:29 p.m., LAFD firefighters responded to another traffic collision, this one in Valley Glen. A white sedan crashed into multiple vehicles before skidding from the street, onto the sidewalk and into a wrought iron fence before coming to rest against an apartment building. Six patients were injured with five pedestrians transported to local hospitals. The adult male driver declined transport.
Video from FOX11 of the crash response:
Monday
LAFD Firefighters in Granada Hills credited a properly installed and maintained smoke alarm with saving several lives Monday after it alerted sleeping residents, allowing them to escape a blaze in one unit of a Chatsworth fourplex. Despite the efforts of first responders, a pet cat perished in the blaze, which was electrical in nature.
And so the journey begins for 61 new recruits:
Tuesday
L.A. This Week profiles the six new Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting vehicles based at Fire Station 80 at LAX. The state-of-the-art rigs carry six times more water than a regular fire truck and will help protect the airport in case disaster strikes. How are these vehicles unique? Check out the video below:
Wednesday
Dense vegetation in the Hansen Dam area created challenging conditions Wednesday but firefighters halted the fire’s progress, containing it to eight acres as the afternoon turned into evening.
At 5:17 p.m., crews from Fire Station 98 in Pacoima rushed to a reported grass fire at 12100 W. Osborne St. The first crews on scene found approximately half an acre burning in very dense vegetation. Due to the difficulty accessing the fire and the limited water supply, the incident was quickly upgraded to a full brush fire response.
Assistance Chief Andrew Fox assumed Incident Command with L.A. County Fire, U.S. Forest Service, Angeles National Forest and Park Rangers as assisting agencies, totaling over 250 firefighters.
Read more →www.lafd.org/news/hansen-dam
Thursday
May 5, 1949–67 years ago:
Call Fireman Larry Schneider worked the biggest fire of his career to date; the Hollywood Park Racetrack Fire in Inglewood. The fire was the largest conflagration in Southern California that year and possibly the largest grandstand fire in U.S. history. It broke out in the clubhouse late in the evening of May 5 and quickly enveloped the newly painted roof structure of the spectators’ section. A lack of “fire curtains” allowed the fire to run the entire quarter mile length of the structure in minutes.
Read more → www.facebook.com/LosAngelesFireDepartment
Friday
The clouds were heavy as hundreds gathered to pay their final respects Friday to Capt. Sean Stilson, who passed away unexpectedly April 22. Stilson, 44 years old, was remembered by family, friends and brothers and sisters from the LAFD, L.A. County Fire Department, Los Angeles Police Department and allied agencies.
Capt. Stilson helped shape the future of the Department as an instructor in Drill Tower 81, where he was remembered Friday as a hard-working and respected officer.
“I am certain all 48 recruits, and those trained by him before them, will carry the memory of Sean Stilson throughout their careers.”
-Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas
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