MikesPhotos

It's not even on my top 10 There are no quick questions, or quick answers, and I'm getting real tired of constantly saying that section will be done when it will be done... Unfortunately, people keep answering anyways, which im sure is with the best intentions, but doesn't actually answer the question. It just tells you how other people do other things and that's nice if the question was general instead of specific. Especially since that kind of stuff usually leads to stupidity on these boards more then anywhere else... sooooooo here's a very quick answer anyways. Capability: 2 pilots 15 passengers Air Ambulance Response 1 or 2 pilots (i need to check that) 2 crew members (helitac) 2 Paramedics 1 to 2 critical patients (will usually call for a 2nd helo if 2 due to space and other considerations, but can be done if **extreme** necessity) http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesphotos_us/3380647002/ Airborne Task Force (high rise fires) 1 or 2 pilots 2 crew members (helitac) full 10 man task force Helitac (Brush fires) 1 or 2 pilots 2 crew members (helitac) 4 to 10+ as requested/pre-deployed. So that whole 6 passengers being extreme... umm... yeah.. no. It's actually really low.

No, unless you're constantly transporting Britney Spears or the rare injured/fallen officer, police in Los Angeles do not provide ambulance escort. 1) numerous studies have shown that it is actually more dangerous due to increasing the number of C3 vehicles, and the behavior of motorists is to not expect more then 1 vehicle causing problems with the following units or the ambulance itself. 2) Think of the call volume for LA and the distance from any call to a hospital. The number of units needed to safely escort an ambulance, the time and effort it would take to actually do the escort, vs just letting the ambulance do what it does 10 to 20+ times every day without problem. It's just more vehicles trying to get through more traffic, and causing more headaches. It only looks cool on tv, or in small cities. Even with a suspect in custody, an officer rides in back, and the PD car will follow, not lead, not block, not escort, but follow, usually code 2 and meet the ambulance at the hospital. This is unfortunately one of the known bugs of the wye.

http://mythbustersresults.com/episode-105-viral-hour Google is your friend.

1) the order written is in the order I feel like writing about vs anything else, while many of you would like to see the foam tender, and RATs done, frankly, they'll be done when they're done, and the order is simply what is on my mind at the time. The key thing is that the sections completed are more for the use of the actual mod-makers, and stuff that has come up in behind the scenes conversations so that they can better tailor the work they are doing. Don't read to much into that, it's just that those who actually create and put forth effort and time get rewarded, vs those who are simply the end users/players. 2) That'll be answered at the very end under the responses category.

There are 6 slides total to view all of the patterns. There are 3 different response modes, Forward Red, Forward Red with lower wig wags, and full Code 3 response Remember, in California, all that is needed to initiate a traffic stop or respond emergency is a single forward facing red lamp. This gives the officer great discretion over how much or how little lighting he needs. There are also 3 different rear only patterns, Rear Blue/Amber, Forward cutoff, and Amber only. Once again, this lets the officer decide how much he feels he needs for rear warning. Does he need to be ID'd as Law enforcement? Does he need the max visibility to the rear, or is a simple amber to the rear more then enough? It's the officer's choice depending on the situation. Also the bar has a fully functional traffic advisor with an LRCO button for left, right, and center out, as well as takedown lights. CHP has always felt less is better, and will often just have hazard lights on and nothing else when parked on the shoulder. Numerous studies have shown that drunks and others become fixated on the blinking lights, the more lights, the worse the fixation. This set up allows officers to best tailor their warning lights to the situation. I've got pics and videos of all of the new cars and lights, just havent been bothered to work on them, and probably won't till feb.

Finished the Heavy Equipment and Water Tenders Section, added a bit more info to the Rescue Ambulance section regarding the 3 stations with multiple ALS RA's.

As said time and time again on this board whenever this suggestion comes up, the answer is... No. YOU are the dispatcher! It is your job in the game to decide the best units to respond to a call based on what units are currently in station, location on the map of the call, and current call load. Do you respond an ALS Engine or RA, Do you deplete your area of Fire Companies, or maybe call for a county squad from off map due to the location, are most of your units already tied up in a certain part and you want to leave an engine in station just in case a fire breaks out nearby? With the concept of ALS Engines, ALS and BLS Rescues, Engines and Light Forces, there is virtually no limit to the different combination's you can muster for each and every call. For the Cardiac arrest, what if it is in a part of the map where a Squad or ALS Engine is closer? Do you want to wait for the ALS RA that might be tied up on a different call? In the end, what units go where is up to you and that's one of the greatest challenges of the game, and one of the most realistic aspects as well. The best strategy and utilization of units wins.

Posted without permission, but I'm sure Brian will understand.... Dear Friend of the LAFD, When we mention retired LAFD Captain Jim Perry, the name may not at first ring a bell. As a Los Angeles Fire Department stakeholder though, you have clearly been exposed to - and likely inspired by his life's work. Jim died earlier this month in a Nevada traffic collision, and our weeks long mourning will culminate this weekend in a public event that warmly welcomes your participation. Please plan to join firefighters, fire service and labor leaders from across the nation in Los Angeles this weekend for a stirring public ceremony, deep in fire service tradition, that will celebrate the life of a legend. All are welcome: Saturday, December 19th 10:00 AM Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center 1700 Stadium Way Los Angeles, CA 90012 Additional information can be found on the LAFD Blog: http://snurl.com/tm7wz ...and on the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City website: http://uflac.org ...where on-line condolence is also welcome. http://uflac.org/guestbook # # # Respectfully Yours in Safety and Service, Brian Humphrey Firefighter/Specialist Public Service Officer Los Angeles Fire Department LAFD Home Page: http://lafd.org LAFD News Blog: http://lafd.org/blog __._,_.___ Capt. Jim Perry was someone I met early on in my career, when I was still trying to remember how to pin the badge on right side up and we managed to keep in touch throughout the years. He was a good, honest man and an icon in and out of his profession. Brian, as he is always so apt to do, put it best: I will be closing this topic, for all condolences and such, please go to the urls above and let your voice be heard.

All of the different SWR vehicles and their years/types will be discussed later. Suffice to say there are 4 different alterations.

Many departments use these. Here's LACoFD's medic/fire suppression unit for the LA County Fairplex/Pomona Fair Grounds

RA is used more by in the field units, but used quite often by dispatchers too, depending on who is at the console Brush patrols are referred to by their full name ex: Brush Patrol 78 One other off the top of my head Arson are "A-Units" ex: A-Unit 2 respond into the structure fire... Oh and RAT's Rehab Air Tender. Way wrong lol. this is a major oops that a LOT of listeners make. When things get busy, LACoFD moves into a special type of dispatch mode, especially on the quick announcements over the TRO freq. Rescue refers to a medical aid, so for example if E8 and S8 are dispatched to a medical call at plummer park, you might just hear "Rescue.. 8's, Plummer park" and nothing else, or even just "Rescue.. 8's" But there are no apparatus known as rescues. The closest are the USAR and SWR Rescue Tenders, but they go by the USAR and SWR designators This is really interchangeable depending on the dispatcher's personal want. We don't have any true trucks, just quints, so for example. 125's is a Quint, but you'll still hear Truck 125, or Quint 125 on the radio depending on who it is. Might as well add OPG = Official Police Garage Tow , city contracts with various companies in each area to provide impound and accident tows. Never heard 8 run before What do you mean? When a building meets certain criteria it must have a working sprinkler and alarm system. If the system malfunctions, the occupant/building owner must post a qualified Fire Watch until the system is back on line. Actually, just the opposite. It is what it says it is, a person who has passed away from natural causes. A good example would be a recent call I went on which was for a deceased 104yo man who passed away in his sleep. Drugs, suicide, murder, any of those things would be unnatural.

Ummmm... welll... ok? Have no doubt in my mind that whatever it is, it's probably in one of the binders behind me. The proper term is Rescue, but to give a bit more info as to what 287 said, Dispatchers in the LAFD are sworn firefighters either on a temporary assignment to OCD or perm assignment, usually due to injury/medical. Because of this, there is quite a bit of turnover and differences between dispatchers. If you monitor OCD8 as opposed to 4 and 7, you'll hear RA used more frequently for brevity's sake as well since both fire and ems dispatch are occurring on that one channel. But it's really flip a coin and whatever the dispatcher wants. Same thing with Phonetic alphabet in the field. Some use NATO, some use APCO, as far as radio discipline is concerned, there really isn't a whole lot of it in the LAFD as long as the message gets across. Thanks, 15 years on the job and what you have there is just the last few years since being part of Public Affairs. More will be added soon, including some real old pics from fires in 2002 and 2003 back in my CDF days.

Reserve apparatus are kept and assigned at the shops and many are kept at FS88 due to its size, stations can switch over to reserve apparatus as needed on a temporary basis, or be assigned them in a surge capacity as mentioned in the guide. You need to get new papers, I didn't look through all of them, but a real key that your papers are outdated is always station 100 and 104. 100's has been in B10 for quite some time, and 104s is in 17s. Also, what about FS114? Exactly, which is why you hadn't seen it posted before, and I'm not quite sure why you did now. But thank you for your contribution anyways. If people are interested, when I get to that part of the guide, I'd be glad to add a current list of stations and breakdowns to the section though, like you said, knowing what number is where really gives no insight into anything and can easily be found by googling. What will be included in that section, and I'll probably work on it tonight, will be a complete breakdown of the various types of stations (regional / standard / satellite), and a quick blurb regarding Prop F and Prop Q.

Nah, Moving back actually. Like I said, teaching is something I haven't done in quite some time. There are some in the fire service who are content to stay at the same station their whole career, doing the same thing day in and day out. I'm not one of those. Plus this will give me time to focus on my next career goal, which will be in the GIS field and fire mapping/fire planning, and Incident Meterology. Slowly but surely, I'll knock out a few more Command Team spots. After all, what other job lets you go camping around the world, pays you, feeds you, and gives a bright yellow outfit to wear???

Topic Closed

Tim, a program that is used by a lot of California POST (Peace Officer Standards and Trainings) Dispatcher training courses is called 911CAD (available for download and uncrippled/untimed evaluation here) It might give you some ideas of what is currently out there and the methodology utilized. It's very basic, but does have some advanced features, including map look up built in. For others, I believe that program is exactly what you might be looking for until Tim completes his. It's a great training tool, and I first learned on it back in the mid 90s. It's no where near as robust or featured as a typical cities GIS based CAD, but it's perfect for kids who just want to play around and log scanner calls. Plus the price is right.

I've never seen one in all of my years, but that's not to say they don't have them. Your best bet would be to contact your local Forest, or Regional office. Mind you, most internships that you'll find in the fire service aren't "shadowing" that would assist in any educational benefit. it's more gopher work and wait outside type of stuff.

Thankfully only a few of my students will be boots in the acad, most will be experienced members trying to fill out their additional certs! Much better working and learning environment... In other news: http://www.kerncountyfire.org/news.php?id=122 "Seasonal Firefighter Employment Opportunity The Kern County Fire Department is accepting applications for Seasonal Firefighters for the 2010 Fire Season. The department is planning to staff up to six wildland firefighting handcrews in the mountainous areas of the county with the first crew starting in February. Staggered hiring will continue until May when all crews will be in place and available for fire response" As I said, NOW is the time to fill out your applications, get your certs in order, and start your workout regimen. HIKE HIKE HIKE!!!!!! In the hot, in the cold, get up, fill your pack, and start hiking! A Wildland job is a great way to get your foot in the door and get hired by a Career department.

As many of you may or may not know, now is the time when Forestry Fire Crews and Seasonal jobs are posted. For those considering applying, it's also the best time to get your certs in order! Each crew and department will have their own base qualifications, so it's important to check with them and see what you need and if not this year, you can spend the winter and spring taking the classes you'll need for the next hiring period. As a side note, I've been given the opportunity to do something that I haven't done in quite some time. I'm moving over to the training side of things and will be spending the next 6 months teaching California State Fire Marshall and National Wildfire Coordinating Group classes to help bring up the next generation of Firefighters before SoCal Fire Season returns. I better get used to a whole bunch of little kids yelling Sir, Yes, Sir again.

Well, let me help you out by showing you what the LAPD utilizes for their K9 LAPD Bite Dog Crown vic http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesphotos_us/4130842912/ Rear/Inside of LAPD k9 Crown Vic http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesphotos_us/4065445673/ LAPD Tracker Dog 2 kennel truck http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesphotos_us/3844085338/ LAPD Bomb Detection K9 Crown Vic http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesphotos_us/4065402481/ LAPD Narco/Vice Dog (non emergency response vehicle due to special nature of their mission) http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesphotos_us/4118027949/ So there ya go, Crown vics for the Bite Dogs and Bomb Detection units, a special 1 off truck for the 2 tracker dogs, and a specially modified truck for the Narco/Vice unit. LAPD does not utilize SUV's for their Canine officers.

Full walkarounds of the newer and older SWR trucks, along with the jet skis and trailer, can be found at http://www.flickr.com/search/?ss=2&w=5...ater&m=text And you asked if there was dive apertures (you do realize aperture means a small hole through which light passes right?), I took that to mean that you were asking if there were any lafd dive vehicles, and the answer is no.

I believe you're talking about the 25ft RB-S Defender Class which has a top speed of somewhere over 40-45 knots utilizing two 225 hp outboard motors. The Kvichaks are almost twice as big, and much heavier, and perform a much different task with the ability to function as a dive platform and firefighting apparatus. Their top speed is around 29knots. The Defenders are more of a high speed patrol craft and don't have the same function or capabilities as either the fire boats or the SWR zodiacs.

Normally I'd say wait for that section to be finished, but since someone has taken the time to post misinformation, I might as well clear it up now. The 39 foot Kvichack fire boats. (Fire boats 1, 3 and 5 for LAFD and nearly identical Boat 110 for LACoFD) are stationed at specially constructed fire stations on the water front in berths. Boat 1 is at Fire station 111 Berth 256 @ Terminal Island, #3 is at FS49 Berth 194 in Wilmington and #5 is at LAFD FS 110 Berth 44-A in San Pedro. These boats are not small nor are they vehicle transportable like a small personal watercraft, you really have to understand the size of what we are talking about here. The basic displacement when delivered is 32,750lbs, with all of the rescue and firefighting gear on board, it is much, much more! By comparison, a fully stocked, ready to roll, in service 2007 LAFD Pierce Arrow XT Fire Engine is 40,480lbs and 23'4" long. These boats are close in weight and double the length of a standard front line Fire engine. Imagine trying to transport that anywhere in an emergency mode, it's just not going to happen. This photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesphotos_u...57615680830315/ gives you a good idea of the size of these boats compared to other vessels in the water and with people on board. All are set up to allow for dive operations and divers will typically suit up at the station or can suit up on board if necessary. And city, like the County does, carries all of their Firefighting, and other equipment on board, including full turnouts. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesphotos_u...57615680830315/ These vessels are not used for Swift Water Rescue throughout the many cement and natural river systems within the City of Los Angeles due to the sizes and the typical lack of actual water in the majority of the systems. Instead Zodiac Mark III 15.5” inflatable boats which can be outfitted with (I think they're Johnson's) 55 hp outboard engines. Also, depending on the situation, Kawasaki STX-15F Jet Ski's are utilized. These are transported by a modified Ford F450 trucks customized by MasterBodyWorks with the ability to store the zodiac either up above the roof or (the preferred method) tow a trailer capable of carrying 1 zodiac and 2 jet ski's. So to summarize, they are berthed at stations along the water front, and the LAFD divers are assigned to that boat. They are not vehicle transportable, and there is no "dive apparatus." The Fire Boats and divers and the SWR are two completely SEPARATE entities and not all, in fact, most SWR's are not SCUBA rescue trained nor certified.

No actually, what he heard was something that few people do not realize. LAFD currently, and for a bit longer does not just dispatch LAFD! On OCD channel 7 (Fire Dispatch south of Mulholland) and 4 (EMS dispatch south of Mulholland) LAFD Dispatchers are contracted, and have been since Jan 9th 2006, to provide Dispatch services to the city of Santa Monica who utilizes Gerber ambulance. You will constantly hear Gerber on channels 4 7 and 10 (EMS tactical channel) as they respond with 120 series engines (121 122 123 and so on) which are Santa Monica fire apparatus. This is slowly dissolving as the arrangement has not worked out to Santa Monicas liking and will probably end within a few weeks. They are not an "overflow" contract provider either, with AMR and Westmed/Mcormick having that distinction during the course of a major emergency.

You said you didn't see where it was in the guide, i pointed you to the relevant sections where it was already included in the guide.