MikesPhotos

Wow, I haven't thought about the old Ithaca M37 in years! Thanks for the blast from the past, and I hate to tell you, but that is exactly what it is. The article is doing a disservice by not mentioning that the Ithaca was the standard from the 1970s till the mid-90s. Before I offer the history of the 870/UPR-Slug upgrade, let me first post this: and Now for the history lesson! This comes from Issue 4, Oct 98 of the Los Angeles Police BEAT newsletter. I just happened to still have a copy from when I worked for law firm associated with the LAPPL

Unfortunately, this is one of those times when Wikipedia isn't always a good resource. The use of the Urban Police Rifle and Slug Shotgun Ammunition is HEAVILY regulated and controlled, with only "spontaneous need" that meets very strict criteria allowed without supervisory control. More often then not, the officer will broadcast a Code-Robert UPR or Code Robert Sam to request a unit with the rifle or shotgun with slug ammunition. While I believe every patrol car carries a shotgun (they are not visibile standing upright between the front seats like in many departments), it is mostly confined to Supervisors and senior officers to carry the UPR due to strict training requirements that not every officer passes. Right now the department has 600 rifles, and over 9000 officers. With nearly 120 patrol cars on duty in just the valley alone, you can see that while 600 seems like a large number, that wouldn't account for even a majority of officers out there. More often then not, when a UPR is required, it is mostly a show of force till SWAT get's on scene to handle the unusual and higher danger threat. Mike

The FireCobra that is in service with the USFS in California and Florida is not used for fire suppression, but instead for IR mapping, Command and Control, and as HELCO (helicopter co-ordinator) on a fire. I know some Depts of Natural Resources also fly them, like in Washington State, and they're used the same way. While meant to be sleek, fast, and agile, attack helicopters were never meant to haul a lot of weight and cargo which is why you still see the venerable Hueys, Sea Kings, and Skycranes doing most of the fire suppression work. Probably the smallest firefighting helicopter I've seen is the Jet ranger with a bambi bucket like Corona City flies. The KMAX 1200 has really won over a lot of converts as well due to its small size and heavy lifting capabilities. Basically they are to helicopters what CDF Air Attack OV-10s and USFS Lead Planes/ATGS's are to air tankers. Mike --- Quick amendment, I decided to give a call to a friend of mine who is with the Florida Dept of Forestry. While the USFS birds are not used for Fire Suppresion, he did say there are a few AH1-P FireSnakes with the DOF that carry a 320 gallon bucket or a special 350 gallon foam belly tank. Unfortunatly, with those small numbers, it's more like spitting at a freight train though. They did try a smaller 25 gallon foam tank that fired through the nose cannon area as well. In his words, the helicopter isn't much of a firefighter, but an excellent HELCO.

Please see this thread for the answer to the race track question.

Speaking of the USFS Helo's. . . Today's update is 43 shots of USFS Heaps Peak Helitack and BLM Apple Valley Helitack showing both the belly tank and bambi bucket.

To Hoppah and other modelers interested, On CBS2 News website, they have a good aerial top view of LAPD's bomb squad command vehicle that is modeled as the LAPD SWAT command vehicle. You can see it here

Thanks for the compliment and yeah, over 400 pics added in 4 days has to be a new record for me. I'm going to try and edit 110 photos today, and get at least 50 of them up tonight. From the Canyon IC fire, I still have USFS Contract helos, some misc helo shots, shots of Long Beach E1 and 17 along with a couple of other Engines, about 120 scenery shots, 200 skycrane pics, and maybe salvage some of the Air Tanker pics which barely came out. After all THAT, i'll be done with the Canyon fire! Sheesh, Mike

The 400 is a great prosumer SLR. Mount a Sigma 50-500 on that and you're pretty much set, if your back and arms don't give out first. Back to the Canyon Fire! Today's update includes 52 shots of CalFire/CDF's Helicopters 301 and 404 at the Pepperdine Helispot and coming in over the ocean. I'm getting ever closer to finishing the Canyon IC pics, so if you're a fan of fire aviation, keep checking in and as always, Enjoy! (btw, I'm now over 11,000 pics on my site. Still have another 43,621 in my unsorted/unedited folder)

It helps to respond the SWAT truck with a water canon at times like that. Also never be afraid to retreat when things get crazy. There have been numerous times i've just selected everyone and pulled back to a safe zone to regroup and better understand the situation. Of course the quick and dirty solution to protestors in game is to have the sniper take out the guy with the sign, hit the water canon to clear the people out of the way, and then rush in with an ambulance and pick the injured guy up. Once he's on the stretcher they stop protesting and calmly walk away. Otherwise a nice combo of water canon and flash grenades works great.

An LACoFD Quint is a tractor-drawn aerial ladder truck (tiller) that also has a pump, water tank, and hose like a normal fire engine/pumper. Pumpers are classically known as triples due to their function of having a Pump, Tank, and Hose, and a quint being 5 things adds ladders and an aerial ladder to those three. During the Canyon Fire in Malibu, Q125 had laddered the roof of a house on the right side, laid lines into the backyard of a house on the left side for structure protection, and a progressive hoselay up the side of a hill to the right side. They were fortunate that the fire occured near a shift change and they were able to respond as an unsual 7 man truck instead of the typical 4 man. Since the Engine was already commited to the fire, they absored the oncoming engine crew onto the truck and the remaining 4 from the oncoming truck crew staffed a reserve rig. Unusual times call for unusual methods!

I've remained semi-quiet in regards to this because frankly, I wanted to play the game more before I recommended changing anything. The key question to ask is, if this item is added or changed, how would it affect the way you play the game? Is it just cosmetic for realism? Is it something to fix a deficiency existent in the game/game engine? Is it something I can do myself? The key question though is why should Hoppah spend his time and bother at all? Hopefully these suggestions include rationale and might induce some discussion on the various items. I've taken a lot of time to post in my own thread about the various lights and sirens found in LA apparatus. Hopefully that info will be useful and some things will be changed accordingly, such as the coroners and motor unit. EMS * EMS Captain (as brought up by AUX3AE and others... ) - - 1 per EMS car with the ability to request additional RA's, Air ambulance, and can heal. Would have a Red/Orange helmet, brush/turnout jacket, and black pants. LAFD *Light Force - - I'd love to see the 2nd engine converted into a "2 Car" in the light force. By this I mean adding a 2 or 3 in front of it's numbers (E288 for station 88 or E302 for station 102). Only station 9's truck ever runs alone, the rest in LA City always respond with a pumper. This would mean giving it it's own ID for scripting purposes, but would allow you to be able to change the BC call for truck command to have the 2 car and the truck respond. Most calls in game you'll find can be handled with simply a Light Force. With 6 men, a pump and a truck, you have enough man power and resources to handle all but the most stubborn of fires. * Drop Script I dont know if this is possible, but is there any way to add a drop command to a firefighter holding a hose? Not just a disconnect, but a drop. The reason for this is that I've found that my guys tend to get stuck in places and they can't disconnect or anything which means that not only are they stuck, but the engine is too! *Helicopter - - I've been playing the forest fire mission a lot lately, since it's my absolute favorite (except for the illegal forced evacuation). One thing I keep finding myself longing for is a small but radical change to the helicopter in game. First off is the idea of a Fly Crew/Helitack. Right now i'm using the National guard blackhawk to transport Guardsmen with extinguishers into the areas that are near impossible to reach via any other way. There are a few areas that have a lot of fire that need to get a bunch of men in a remote area quickly. I can think of the backyards in the NE corner of the freeplay map, the park area near the gas station of the deluxe map, and the forest fire mission where being able to land a helicopter in the small clearings and offload a bunch of firefighters with extinguishers would be immensely helpful. Right now the blackhawk/guardsmen accomplish this, but the unfortunate thing is that being camoflauged makes them hell to find and control! Frankly, camo works! It'd be nice to be able to transport firefighters via a helicopter and off load them for this kind of helitack/fly crew duty instead. -- -- Another thing would be to add helitanker capabilities by allowing it to drop water. With the airplane having a 3 minute turn around, it'd be nice to have the helicopter have a 1.5 minute turn around. Most brush fires are mostly air shows these days due to the terrain and access issues. This would allow for 2 helicopter drops and 1 massive air drop in a 3 minute period. While probably complicated, an additional feature would be that if the copter has a patient or fly crew on board, it would not be allowed to drop water. -- -- Since you already have a blackhawk model, maybe consider skinning it in LACoFD colors to mimic the Firehawk and that way you wouldnt have to adjust the Air Ambulance in the game already, but just use the new bird for water dropping and fly crew transportation. LAPD *Motorcycle -- The motor officer is probably my favorite unit to use since it has the ability to get to places easier and faster then patrol cars, just like in real life. They're great for traffic control, and they're about the only units that can get to the North west corner of the deluxe map. Unfortunatly, the unit in the game needs a bit of work. Maybe consider modeling the new harleys, or if staying with the kawasakis, remove the police from the windshield, change the lights a bit, and have the rider sit upright. *Bike Patrol units (Kimdaniel) -- As suggested by Kimdaniel, Bike patrol units would add a new dimension to the game. By having 2 officers in Bike Patrol shirts in a crown vic with a bike rack, you could then deploy them to areas with a lot of ped traffic but no car patrol area such as the NW corner of the Deluxe map and the park area. The bikes would follow the ped path instead of the car path. *Cones & flares -- Maybe consider making them a pack of 3 or 4 instead of individual ones. By doing this and adding the rotate script from the police barricade, you will speed up the time it takes to place a road block and make it easier to pick them back up afterwards. In real life, officers don't just grab a single cone, place it, return to car for 2nd cone, place it, return to car for 3rd cone, and so on and so forth. By modeling it as a 3 or 4 pack, you can grab the cones and flares at once, and lay them down and angle or move them as you need. Also would it be possible to add a toggable traffic direction script to it? *LASD -- As mentioned before, the pants should be olive green Misc -- I too would love to see LAFD HR56 instead of the crane in game as brought up by myself, MCERT1 and sww6mm. In addition to functioning as a crane, allow 2 firefighters to respond with it with extrication tool and extinguisher. HR56 responds to most major physical rescue assignments for stabilization, extrication, and removal. In game this would allow you to at least send back the truck company, usar, or LACoFD squad which worked on the topside vehicles while the HR removes the vehicle from the water which usually takes quite a bit longer. The key to the game and real life is get the units back in service and ready for the next call. -- Consider changing the tow truck to an OPG tow. OPG stands for Official Police Garage, and here in the city of LA, they are the ones called to accidents and fires and what not when the police and fire need a vehicle (or smoldering hulk) removed. Also, sww6mm, I've noticed the lights do switch off when returning to HQ, at least in the deluxe version. -- If you are interested in modeling the Swift Water Rescue truck as mentioned by mcert1 and someone else I beleive, I'll head out to 88's and grab some shots for you. -- Spaloo mentioned an LACoFD Engine. Most of the old seagraves others have mentioned modeling are being sent to the bone yard pretty fast now that the new pierces and seagraves are here. Units like the 99 Pierce Dash modeled in the game are being turned into the 2 Car and reserve rigs instead. As I'm affliated and spend most of my time with LACoFD apparatus, I'd personaly love to see a County KME engine in the game for purely personal reasons, but can see it accomplishing what others have mentioned about adding the older rigs. -- In regards to the Private ambulance mentioned by Spaloo and Chris, I have to admit I'm ambivalent. It would be nice to see along with the county squad and engine, but it wouldnt really affect game play, it would just look nice.

Yes folks, it's 3 in a row! Today's update is from Los Angeles County Fire Station 125. Home to Engine 125 and Quint 125, these shots include some of my favorites and show the classical design of the station. This make over 300 pics added in the last 10 days!

As interesting as that wikipedia quote is, it sounds like it answers your own question. You asked The answer is simply, yes. Every police officer, county sheriff, state highway patrol, correctional officer (jails), and many many others from fire investigators to District attorneys investigators are all peace officers. Here is a list of all Law Enforcement agencies in the state of California. As you can see, it's huge and diverse. In addition to that, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs department and probably the LA City General Services Department/Office of Public Safety have security officers who are trained to the PC832 standard which is the minimum requirement to be a peace officer. They do not patrol an area, nor are they police officers at such, but just provide security for certain buildings and areas like Community Colleges. They are also not trained to as high of a standards as a POST-II reservist, nor are they paid as well. That's the closest I can think of that might be related to your question, but once again, everyone who is a police officer or PC832 trained secuirty officer in this state is a Peace officer.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. All Police officers in the state are either level 1 or 2 (reservist) peace officers with training standards set by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) As for transit duty, that is handled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department for both city and county buses. You can read more about them here

The short answer is no due to weight considerations. County birds will usually pick up and deliver a Fly Crew and then fill up and return to support that crew with water drops. City doesn't have a Type 1 handcrew program so when they are requested for fire suppression, they will respond directly for water dropping. Whether they fill up on scene or at Van Nuys and respond is up to the circumstances and the weather. It takes but mere moments to refill the 412s, but because the Firehawks refill is on the opposite side and takes longer, they will usually use their snorkel at a pool/tank or pond set up for them along with other Type 1 helicopters like the Skycranes and S61s.

That's quite alright! Just to flesh out this answer a little bit more before I head to bed, the Los Angeles County Fire Department operates 3 Sikorsky Firehawks based off of the UH-60L/S70 platform. During the daytime, 4 helicopters (either 412s or Firehawks depending on area and maintenance schedule) are designated as Air Squads with the ability to respond to fire suppression and EMS calls. The fourth is configured just for fire suppression and fly crew transport. Usually around the first of July, a fifth helicopter, usually a Firehawk, is staffed as well with a fly crew and superintendent on board. Because of the specialized weather patterns we have here in California, our fire season is actually year round. Some of our worst winds and fires occur between Jan and March such as the Pines fires in San Diego and the Malibu fire that destroyed 10 homes last year. This is why all birds are always maintained and ready for fire suppression duties, and it's actually the EMS, SAR, and additional duties that are added/removed as needed. One additional note is that the Firehawk is not just limited to civilian usage. The National Guard also flies firehawks in Florida, California, and I believe in Texas as well. These are very similar to the belly tank system LA County uses, and augments the National Guards CH-47 and UH-60's equipped with bambi buckets for firefighting. Be it city or county, if you have a large fire, over the side cliff rescue, SAR mission, or air ambulance call amongst others, you can pretty much guaranty there will be either a yellow and white or red and white bird overhead. Due to the close proximity these two agencies work, there are specially crafted mutual aid agreements that allow for the best maximization of resources. Just the other day there was a bad accident involving 2 children in the San Fernando Valley. Both patients were air lifted to Childrens Hospital of LA, and County was requested to assist along with LA City Fire 4. And just to overcomplicate things, besides these two large departments, there also exists many smaller municipal departments that work day in and day out with LA City and County.

Correct. Specially modified Sikorsky UH-60 blackhawks modified for water dropping, helitack and air ambulance. You can see photos of them here.

That I don't know. I would assume it'd be someone like the FBI or a State Agency. The California Highway Patrol has 15 fixed wing aircraft and 9 helicopters. The LACoFD has 8 or 9 Bell 412s, Firehawks, and Bell 206s as well. During Fire Season, the County contracts 2 fixed wing Canadian SuperScoopers which are based at Van Nuys airport. The California Dept of Forestry probably has the biggest air fleet in the state with 23 Tankers (S2Ts), 11 UH-1H helicopters, and 14 OV-10 Air Attack/Observation planes. They also contract with the DC-10 (Tanker 910) now too. And of course you can't forget the Federal/Forest Service assets in the area. Then you have the LA sheriffs department, and many other smaller agencies like Pasadena and Hawthorne which have helicopters. Even with all of these resources, Air Assets can be stretched very thin with multiple fires burning at the same time, but for the most part, wildland fires end up being more of an air show then anything else until they get into the interface zone and threaten structures. --Minor edit: Woke up and remembered the County 206 was retired not to long ago.

A rare second update! This one is from a medical aid - injury in Calabasas with LACoFD Paramedic Squad 68, Quint 125, and McCormick ambulance for transport.

The LAPD has one of the largest law enforcement Air Forces in the United States. Current information has their fleet at 12 Aerospatiale B-2 A-STARS, 4 Bell 206 Jet Rangers, One UH1H "Huey" Helicopter, and One King Air 200 turboprop fixed wing aircraft. The LAFD has 4 Bell 412 and one Bell 206L-3. The 412's are set up for Air Ambulance, Helitack, and Fire Surpression duties. The 206 (FIRE 6) is set up for Observation and Command and Control. They've also purchased but not taken delivery of 2 AugustaWestland AW139s. In addition, the city of LA sometimes contracts a Sikorsky Sky Crane during Fire Season.

I'm guessing this question is for me. I primarily shoot digital with Canon EOS-1D Mk II's but also carry a Leica R5 Film camera and a small Olympus C-4040 pocket camera. The best part about the Canon EOS line is that they mate up with all of my Leica lenses so I didn't have to rush out an replace all of my glass when I made the jump to digital.

Updates breed updates, or so they say! The last few have been very LA City focused, so this time we're going to look at LA County! I've added 34 pictures of a minor injury traffic accident on the 101 freeway with LACoFD Q125 and S88, and 1 picture of LACoFD Engine 67 and it's crew. I'll be adding more LACoFD pics this week as time permits, so keep checking the updates and as always, Enjoy!

What about them? I think you need to read my post again. To quote what I said before: They are run by a motorola radio head, but the guy in the shop I asked said they were unitrols for the most part.

I've been under the weather with a touch of the stomach flu lately which has given me a chance to play with the game a bit more then usual. At one point I decided to play it the original way, with no mods installed just because I never have! After about 10 mins, I realized I was completely lost. I poured over the docs because I had no idea what unit to use for what type of incident. What apparatus did what, and it was such a change to my normal methods that it made me realize just how amazing the LA mod really is. Just stop and think for a second of a large city you've never lived in, never even visited, and have only passing knowledge of. London, Quebec, Sydney, New York, Detroit. Now just think to yourself about creating a mod about that town. From the smallest things like what does the police officer uniform look like to what does their fire engine look like, each piece is essential to accurately representing the city. Now I dont know about you, but I have no idea how many men are on a fire engine in London, or what they even call their apparatus. I have no idea what is kept in a normal station, what gear they wear, or what they respond to a call. I haven't the foggiest if detroit has paramedic engines, or if quebec runs their own ambulances or if they're part of their fire department. I think that is what I have found most impressive about the LA Mod in general. I have no idea what Hoppah's experience and information level was regarding the LAFD, but he was able to do something most people could really only do for their own home town. Most of the comments and requests and such reflect each persons own knowledge of their locale, because we know what we see around us. One only has to look at the discussion of the 4 way valve on the rear of LA's apparatus to see how varied the rest of the US and world is. Beyond the scripting and modeling prowess, the accuracy and detail that is found in this mod by a man who is not even affiliated with the department is the truly amazing part. I can think of very few who would be able to accomplish what he has for a department they were intamtely familiar with and even less for one they had no connection with. Just... amazing.

Fire weather planning forecast for southwestern california national weather service los angeles/oxnard ca 330 pm pdt fri mar 21 2008 .discussion...high pressure over california will maintain warm and dry conditions across the area through monday. weak offshore flow will cause locally gusty northeast winds through and below passes and canyons, especially during the night and morning hours. humidities will drop into the single digits across inland areas during the afternoon. overnight recoveries will be good along the coast and lower coastal valleys but poor further inland. a cooling trend will begin monday and continue through the middle of the week as a weather system moves into the pacific northwest. this will also bring with it higher humidities ...Saturday... Sky/Weather.........sunny. Max Temperature.....78-88. 24 hr trend......little change. Min Humidity........10-20 percent. 24 hr trend......little change. 20-foot winds.......variable 3-6 mph...except northeast 10-20 mph with gusts to 30 mph below passes and canyons in the morning. marine layer........none. LAL.................1. --- In other words, it's always gorgeous in Southern California.