Happy Day-After-Christmas

Got a medical call at 4 a.m. this morning.

The patient's chief complaint?

She couldn't sleep.

Now my crew has it...

Last Strike Team of 2008

There are two seasons here in So Cal: fire season and mud slide season. I finished up the former on our department’s new OES rigs.

For a couple of days, we drove up and down Topanga Canyon and Mulholland highway to recon the area in case the red flag winds stoked one last major fire for the year.

The engine is a brand new International model 34, four-wheel-drive. It’s designed for off-road driving—and let me tell you, it’s a blast.

I put a lot of miles on the rig during those two days: Fernwood, Malibou Lake, and even a quick stop on PCH to snap a picture of the crew, using the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop.

Do I look fat in these pictures?

I think I know what my New Years resolution is going to be this year...

New OES Rigs

They give us introductory training (mandatory) on these new OES (California Office of Emergency Services) rigs on Monday. On Monday night they tell me I'll be assigned to it the next day--and with the unpredictability of staffing policy, that means I'm either in the middle of a 36-hour shift, or starting a 21-day stint out-of-county...

Classic...

Wish I'd paid attention in class...

Sylmar Fire Oakridge Mobile Home Park

On Wednesday, our engine toured the burned-out Oakridge Mobile Home Park, which lost about 477 homes on the night of the Sylmar fire last weekend. These were not small single-wides, but rather, large modular homes complete with brick foundations and manicured front lawns.


With us was Captain David Yonan, who has been credited with helping save the remaining 131 homes there. LA County units returned to make an incredible stand that morning. You can read his story here.

I know that after firestorms, phrases like "war zone" get thrown around a lot, but I really can't think of any other force on earth that could cause such vast destruction. Acres and acres of rubble and burned out cars sitting in driveways of now-nonexistent homes. I could only shake my head.

As we walked around, I tried to draw our boot fireman into an existential discussion of theodicy, God, and the notions of fate and luck.

But as I've said before, in the end, everything must go...

Structure Protection Sylmar Fire 2008

Guy on the left? Three months on the department...

Guy on the right? A year or two left until retirement...

What do they have in common?

Sharing a few minutes of sleep on a citizen's backyard swing before the fire front reaches our position...

Lessons learned? Sleep with one eye open, so the snarky engineer doesn't pull out his camera and blackmail you...

The Next 48

Oh man, I am so not looking forward to this weekend. High winds, high temps, and low humidity all predicted...

And after my usual 24 hour engine shift, they're making me drive this piece of junk on Saturday:

Great...