MikesPhotos

Hi there, I believe I've mentioned it before either in this thread or the main one, but the LAFD has decided that for their new 100' Tillered American LaFrance trucks, that they will go with Whelen LED lightbars. A few are popping up on some of the brush patrols as well, but that is about the only apparatus that will have the whelen lightbars. Due to the size of the department and how long it takes for equipment to go from committee to bid to final delivery, there is always a mix of various lights and sirens and other equipment. Standardization is unfortunately, just not possible.

Hey Hoppah, as I've said before... ask and ye shall receive! I've uploaded 89 photos of the LAPD and LASD's arjent as well as a walk around video to youtube so you can see the flash pattern of LASD's. LAPD Arjent LASD Arjent LASD Arjent video (note steady burn red/blues, flashing take downs (clear center lights) and flashing alley lights.) I won't have much time to check the board for the next few days, but if you'd like the higher-res pics, email me and I'll get those to you. Mike

I still can't get used to the new MARPAT and ACU's to be honest. Heck, you can't even polish the new boots! Where's the fun in that???? But he's absolutely correct Hoppah, the California National Guard has switched over as well to the ACU's for all of their units. I have to agree with LAPDguy in that I wouldn't necessarily call them fancy, but yes, most of the vehicles in service now have them. LASD, CHP, and most other departments in this area run the small chrome cap style that you refer to and honestly, I think it was just another way for LAPD to stand out in an area that is awash in various law enforcement agencies. No there aren't. While I usually try to take an informative tone on this board, if you'd all permit me to put my tongue firmly in cheek, my best guess is that when it comes to Chief officers in the fire service, the less directing they do the better! Here are some shots of LA City BC's and DC's Battalion 10 Battalion 3 Battalion 17 That list you posted is a bit outdated unfortunately. It's the old one that's been floating the net for quite a while now, and is originally from Policescanner.com I believe. Missing is the newest division of the LAPD #19 Mission area which has been in service since 2005. Also, the LAPD ceased use of Code 2 High back in 2004. You can read their original press release about it here. Harry Marnell, a very respected former LAPD Police Service Representative (dispatcher) has posted the current LAPD radio Manual on his web page at this location. As for the Officer Needs Help being the same as a backup call, the two are very different in fact. To quote from the LAPD radio manual: Thankfully, an officer needs help call is a rare occurrence and is an emergency call, whereas a backup call is a routine call when officers need additional resources for whatever reason. For those of you interesting in monitoring the LAPD's radio communications over the internet, I recommend going to Public Safety Feeds and the Scanner Buff Network if you prefer teamspeak. As you can see from the manual and listening even for a short time to the feeds, almost all of the codes are going by the way side as time progresses. You will still hear the standard Code 6 and Code 3 for the foreseable future, but dispatches are now going out as burglary in progress instead of 211, and disturbance instead of 415. Mike

I'm not exactly privy to the exact budget figures the County has, but none of the ambulances were actually purchased. Instead they all came over with various city contract acquisitions over the years. Instead of selling them, a few were kept for special occasions and emergency duty. You are absolutely correct though in the fact that there are no County medics who are in favor of going to a transport model like Los Angeles City and Long Beach, but instead these units are pressed into service due to special needs in some areas. None are fully staffed year round or even weekly, but instead they are specially staffed during occasions when ER/ED saturation is at a critical level. Even with the new private ambulance contracts through out the county, there are times when every available private transport in that contract is stuck holding up the wall and the next companies transport cannot respond in a reasonable amount of time. When that occurs, the MA will be staffed as well as at times when additional paramedic resources are needed in an area. Station 41, as of this week, now has it's own squad, and expect more changes in that area soon. The truly unfortunate fact is that with todays ER/ED crisis getting worse and worse daily, it is left to the Men and Women on the front lines of pre-hospital emergency care to shoulder the burden. Mike

The Arjent was chosen over the Fed Sig Vista as the bar of choice. As far as detailed photos go, give me till tuesday or wed and I'll give you some close ups of every inch of it in full res. Can you give me some ideas of what angles and details you might be looking for? As for the shots I have now, here are some that might be helpful: LAPD With Arjent 1 Detailed walk around of the LAPD Fed Sig Vista I actually own a Vista as well, so that one will be quite easy to get pics of any angle and measurement. Mike

The use of wooden ladders is actually still quite popular here on the west coast. Of the 16 departments that still use them that I am aware of, 12 are in California! I'd like to point you to this article regarding some of the reasons for their continued favored use out here. The major pro's are that in a highly dense urban landscape like you find in Los Angeles, the fact that they are non-conductive, retain their strength when exposed to heat, and that defects like scorching and cracks are readily visible make them very attractive options. While weight, cost and upkeep are issues, they are easily mitigated by proper training and a good department maintenance plan. While I cannot speak for LA City's upkeep, I know that in the County we have a great program that starts in the station and progresses to the maintenance shops. LA County is a special department in that we have everything from regular fire stations, to a large air force, and a forestry program with inmate and paid crews. Even the life guards are part of the los angeles county fire department! With such diversity and territory, the added requirements that wooden ladders place on us are easily managed and the benefits outweigh the required man hours and special needs. Mike

Hey everyone, Instead of making a bunch of posts, I'm going to reply to the relevant ones that caught my eye just here... Los Angeles (in general) tends to be one of the stingiest when it comes to lighting, truth be told. Be it Sheriff, Police, Fire, or even DOT, you'd be amazed at how the phrase "do more with less" seem's to be the order of the day. In fact, the slicktop with just 1 red steady burn light, flashing headlights, and an amber and a blue light in the rear as the ONLY lighting is very common! Compare that with the videos you show and the set ups of other states and you'll see what I mean by stingy. While CHP is slowly rolling out new units with additional lighting (see here) it is still a rarity at best and seems to be just limited to the Commercial Enforcement Units. Also LAPD & LASD utilize just the Code 3 MX7000 on older vehicles, and Fed Sig Vista and Arjents on newer ones. They have no Whelen equipment. LAFD has recently purchased a few whelen LED bars for their new ALF's and some have popped up on a few brush patrols. No worries Mav, I didn't take your comments to be critical, I was just stating that the level of training and manpower of the Los Angeles Fire Service, both City and County is on par with some of the best in the world. As for how long, I honestly don't know. I haven't read the incident report, just caught the initial notification. As mentioned earlier in this thread, LAFD Station 51 is at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Due to FAA regulations, all ARFF and airport based apparatus have to be painted Lime Yellow if purchased with federal funds. I'm not quite sure what your question is. The Water Tender in the game is based off of LAFD's Foam Tenders, I beleive Hoppah stated he used pics of Foam 112 as his guide. Actually LAFD does not have any KME apparatus and never has. Their aerial ladders are all LTI or ALF's. LACoFD uses KME apparatus for both Quints and Engines, amongst many others that came across with aquisitions. To LAPDguy, before commenting directly on your posts I would like to first start by saying that I am not trying to be disrespectful in any way, but I think you need to speak with your father first to confirm what you post. Misinformation is rampant on the internet and it is the one thing we all need to strive to avoid as best as possible. I am sure hoppah and everyone appreciates you're help, and that goes without question, but accuracy is important. This is correct. LAPD slicktops do not have rear direction bars that I can recall. You can see a full walk around of an LAPD slicktop that I shot Here You'll notice the ENTIRE lighting package is just 1 amber, 1 blue rear deck light, 1 STEADY burn EES Coplight rear view mirror lite, and wig wag headlights. I may be misreading your description, but on the lower deck what you are seeing is the clear intersection light (they wig wag 90 degrees from center out at a fast rate to send a beam of clear light flashing through the intersections) and the steady burn blue and red. In the center are the takedown lights which are not on in that picture. LAPD Code 3 MX7000's have 4 whereas most departments use just 2. To be blunt, that video is PURE hollywood fiction and should be taken as such. Especially the absolute INCORRECT lighting featured in it. While I will grant that it does show the rear deck lights accurately, the fact that the LAPD motor units have flashing red lights and the unmarked steady burn was "pulsing" as you state below is 100% fiction. The law is very specific when it states what a California Steady Burn light is. It is a light that neither flashes, blinks, or pulses but burns steady. The reason for the law, which is particular to california is that in the old days of slow flashers and gumball lights, law makers were worried that someone would look into their mirror during a "black/off" part of the flash sequence and not see the unit was responding emergency. They crafted the law that stated that all Emergency apparatus, regardless of agency would have at least 1 steady burn red light that could not be missed. While I have no direct knowledge of the two blue lights in the grille, I have to greatly stress that you ask your father, or just go out and about town for a bit and you'll see the light does NOT pulse like in that music video. Hollywood fiction is just that, fiction. Mike

As the French members of this board might say Quelle coïncidence!! The Los Angeles City Fire Department responded to a confined space rescue at Berth 94 in Fire Station 112's area today. A man was injured after he fell 12' into an empty fuel tank aboard the "Lane Victory." Firefighters imobilized him and removed him from the tank using a crane and then transported him to a nearby hospital. The pride of being a Firefighter comes not from the equipment, but from the ingenuity, experience and training of each member of the department. Between the Truck Companies, USAR teams, specialized equipment like Heavy Rescue 56, and the helicopters, I am confident that due to constant drilling and preparation, there is very little the department can't handle. For more information on their practices and utilization of the stokes basket in the LAFD, I recommend reading this training bulletin. The LAFD and LACoFD also utilize the Sked system as well which can be viewed here. By the way, Hoppah, You might find this TB a wealth of information on the Foam Tender. They are truly a specialized piece of equipment and fill a specific niche.

For the Los Angeles City Fire Department, they do not have any HP's, Quints, Telesquirts, or Snorkels in service. All of their trucks are tillered 100ft aerial ladder straight sticks with no plumbing and no platforms. Now historically, LAFD did have articulated booms and snorkels up through the 70s and possibly one or two still in reserve status into the early 80s. On July 5th, 1970, a terrible accident occurred when the boom of Engine Co. 3 (Snorkel) collapsed and killed 3 firefighters. You can read the story on the LA City Fire historical site here. After that and a second incident with a similar apparatus, the department went in a different direction and hasn't looked back. The Los Angeles County Fire Department did have a few telesquirts in service that they acquired over the years, sometimes through absorption of municipal departments. Right now MOST of the trucks in service are 75ft tillered Quints made by KME. There are a few 100ft in service, I believe, and all of the new ones on order will be 100ft quints. There were some non-tillered short quints in service for stations that were to small to park the tillers, but I believe none of them are front line anymore. Most of the Telesquirts have been replaced with the new KME engines as well. The only true articulating boom truck I can think of in the Southern California area is Anaheim City Fire Departments Bronto Skylift. Due to having Disneyland in their primary response area, they felt it justified to purchase the "specialized" equipment. Long Beach may also a tower truck, though I am not sure if it is articulated or not. Mike

I believe you are referring to me Actually what I said was In addition, many rigs carry additional agents such as wet water, barricade gel, and ARFF foam depending on their area of operations. The highlight of the older rigs, which many are still in use today as 2-Cars got me to thinking. Hoppah, would it be possible to make the 2nd Engine function like the LAFD "2 Car" in the light force? By that I mean base it more off of the foam tender in useage with an animated deck gun (or wagon battery as LAFD calls it). In function the changes would be thus: * Limit the in-station staffing to 2 on the 2 car if truck is kept at 4, or 1 if truck is raised to 5. * When chief is selected and truck is called, both truck and 2 car respond as a light force. * Engine #2 is modified to allow for deck gun useage much the way the turret on the foam tender is now. If game physics allow, limit hose connections to 2 while deck gun is functional, raise to 4 when deck gun is off. Similar to the way the hydrant button is now for the foam tender. Other option would be to require a fireifghter to man it the way the aerial master stream requires. Even if not seen by the player, it would still handicap the player by 1 man accurately. If nothing else, it would allow for a better distinction between the 1 and 2 engines currently modeled giving each their own special usage and abilities. It would also accurately represent the Los Angeles City Fire Departments Light Force/Task Force concept. I've found that most calls in game can be handled with a Light Force or a Task Force. With 10 firefighters, a aerial master stream and a deck gun (ahem.. Wagon battery), there is very little that can't be resolved quickly. Just some thoughts for 2 or 3 or 4.0 Mike

Well, I had a feeling something was fishy. The car in the 2nd set of pics was a "demo" car used for a photo shoot about the LAPD testing the charger. As of right now, it will be a very very limited test and the reaction has been very negative from what i've been told. LASD tested them in 2006 along with a few other cars, and you can see there results here Also, I don't know if spaloo checks this forum anymore, but this is a pic for you of an LACoFD Medic Ambulance. (Not Mine) (taken by LA Fire photo)

I am going to preface this post by first stating that these are NOT my photos, and secondly, I have heard nothing, nor have I EVER seen one of these in person. I don't know if these are test cars, if they're for a movie, or if they're figments of my imagination for that matter. But apparently, there are a couple of LAPD chargers out driving around! So cal Metro Pic 1 So Cal Metro Pic 2 and 7 shots on this website So.... take it for what it's worth. I'll ask around but so far, it's taken me by complete surprise.

I think this post would probably fit better in the main thread, but I'd like to comment on this part. The City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation includes a Parking Enforcement and Intersection Control Division. Their responsbility is to respond to all traffic control issues where PD is either not needed or to busy to respond. The LAPD does NOT respond to non-injury accidents, instead DOT will be requested for traffic control and to call a tow. They basically function just like you mentioned but respond in various small cars instead of trucks. They all have traffic cones, barricades, can erect lights, call for tow, divert/stop traffic. Here are some pics of the Traffic officers doing what they do best. Notice the white gloves, lime green vest with Traffic officer on the back and pershing hat. Traffic Control Back of Vest Doing what they do best On Scene of an accident Vehicles: Notice the amber lightbar, these are NOT police officers and do NOT respond with sirens. 1 2 Good series of an LAFD incident with Parking Enforcement on Scene Hoppah, if you'd like to add LADOT, just let me know if you need any other shots. Mike

Sorry for the delay everyone, It's been hectic here in the south land again with the recent rains and all. During those times, I just check the board via my cell which isn't very conducive to long posts. As everyone knows, Southern California has 4 seasons just like the rest of the world. The only difference is that ours are named Earthquake, Brush Fire, Mud Slides, and Riots! As a member of the press once said, Here in Los Angeles, we are truly the Masters of Disasters! Some points raised in the thread that I'd like to comment on: The white over red ambulance is the older style as Hoppah said. No chevrons or anything will be added to the current fleet, just the new purchases. If my memory serves me right, LAFD is getting 10 new ALF Tillers with Whelen Liberty LED lightbars (like the pics of Truck 9 I took at the Canyon Fire), 13 new Pierce and 13 new Seagraves, plus an order of over 10 new engines to be spec'd out for delivery in the coming years. The Los Angeles City Fire Department is benefitting greatly from some recent bond measures that have allowed them to grow along with the needs of its citizens. New stations, new apparatus, and most importantly, new personnel. For all the excitement we have over the equipment, the truth is that none of it could be accomplished without the brave Men and Women who are on the apparatus! As for the lights. I have to admit, I never really noticed the lights before in either real life or in the game. They're red and yellow and they blink is about as far as I go! The only thing that I would love to see added would be the addition of steady burn red lights on all Emergency apparatus. The LAPD lightbars have a single red and blue front facing steady burn light in the lower level of the Code 3 MX7000s, and the same in the single level of the Federal Signal Arjents. The LAPD slicktops have just 1 steady burn next to rear view mirror and flashing headlights. The LAPD Kawasaki motor units have a steady burn red light on the right side as in this picture (also note how the Officer sits upright not leaned over sportbike style.) And the new harley's the LAPD have seem to have a different set up every time I see one! The LASO follows the same pattern with their Code 3 MX7000's, and the CHP have a mix of 2 setups on their Federal Signal Vision bars. Either the #1 (center) pod is Steady burn red or the two Outer ones are. The LAFD engines have a mix of 2 steady burn in the lightbar, or two on the front face of the engine on each side of the grille. LAFD Ambulances have a mix of front steady in the grille or front steady in the lightbar similar to the Engines. There is no real rhyme or reason, just whatever was spec'd for that model. The SUVs are almost always in bar, same with Crown Vics. Also, speaking of lights, Ambulances do not have flashing white lights to sides or rear due to safety considerations. All white lights are scene/flood lights. A quick question for you Hoppah, As you can see from various pics and videos on the net, for safety reasons many times a crown vic will be parked or responding with just it's flashers and Steady Burns on. Is there any way to modify the flashing/warning light script to incorportate that feature? It'd be just for looks and totally useless as far as game play goes, but it's one of those nice touches that when you see it in real life, and in game, makes a ton of difference and gives it that unique LA/California flair. In regards to LAFD's pump and hose setup, the LAFD runs numerous different makes and models of apparatus, each with a different setup. To see how each one is layed out, I recommend viewing this website. They have the log books, with details about each Engine that is in or has recently been in service with the LAFD. In regards to the "thing on the back" that has caused such consternation and commentary in this thread. The LAFD has on the back of all of it's Fire Engines a Large Diameter Akron 4 way valve. To quote from their training manual "The large diameter 4-way hydrant valve (LDHV) permits the first-in engine to lay a large diameter supply line directly from the hydrant to the fire and start pumping water. Later if more pressure is required a second engine can connect to the hydrant valve and augment the pressure without interrupting the flow." The valve itself is not connected to the apparatus. LACoFD got rid of their 4 ways and now uses Hydra Assist which is similar. As for hose layout, I can honestly say I can not remember ever seeing any LAFD hoses connected to the rear. They're almost always coming off the sides, but feel free to check the log books. 99% of the fires we deal with can be handled with the cross lays. Also, no the LAFD does not run any CAFS engines. They have a 30 gallon tank (usually) of Class A foam on each Type 1 Engine. LACoFD has recently recieved a few CAFS engines that are designated by a black top cab. (They looks a lot like Chicago FD rigs) As for the Hazmat and USAR pics, it might be a bit. We're going through about a week of some nasty rain hitting the south land which means I'm a bit swamped in more ways then one! I'll do my best to get them shortly though, if not in time for 1.5 then definetly for 1.6. I wont be able to get any of the older style USAR rig though. I'll ask around and see if anyone else has any of it. The new light tower looks great, and glad you figured out a way around the animations issue! That should open up some great new avenues for the game. Also looking around I came across this vid of an LACo Coroners van. You can see how it has the amber lights. The ones on my webpage with red lights are for mass casualty incidents only. That site has a lot of good videos on it that might be of interest to everyone on this site. If nothing else, it might give you a better idea of the way the lights are on various apparatus more then a still picture can. Mike

Well no new pics from me this time, but I do have some information that you might find useful. Not to long ago I convinced a good kid I met at the market to go for his EMT certification. I checked in on him a couple times and was very proud when I learned that not only did he pass the class but also joined the LAFD explorer program. It has been a while, but I ran into him the other day and found out that the Los Angeles City Fire Department is finally catching up with County in one regards! They have started their own Type II hand crew. Type II means they only do mop-up/cold trailing, not direct fire attack or suppression, and the crew is made up of Explorers who have passed their wildland certifications. They've even purchased a couple of older county crew buggies and stationed them at Fire Station 88 in Sherman Oaks. These are NOT my pics, but you can see them here and here I'll try and stop by 88's during the week and grab some shots for my own collection if nothing else. With the City of LA having jurisdiction over the Hollywood Hills as well as the Wildland Urban Interfaces in Chatsworth, Tujunga, and Sunland, this crew is definetly a step in the right direction.

You can do that now. Edit fp_params_endless_d.xml in \Mods\Los Angeles Mod v1.4\Specs and scroll down to the events Change enabled value to "0" to turn off the events you don't want. ------------ On a seperate note, I stopped by City 102's today Hoppah. I was there for other reasons and asked a few questions about the way they do things. On City engines, they do not carry any extrication tools, just on the trucks. Also while County's rules prohibit taking off the deck gun, Cities are actually hard mounted and non removeable. Only the trucks have a monitor that can be ground deployed. Btw, the new squad looks great. I think i'm looking forward to that and the new brush patrol more then anything else. Mike

Thanks! I can definitely see the resemblance to the cake.

I'm curious about the checkers. Having never seen anything like that on this side of the pond, are both the yellow and green reflective or just the yellow?

Some thumbnails of my more recent updates: Stop by MikesPhotos.us anytime and Enjoy!

Yes it does, that was from August 29, 2006 at a Cabinet/Furniture shop in North Hollywood (LAFD Battalion 14). If memory serves me right, that fire went major emergency almost immediately due to first in units thinking that the large loom up was due to an aircraft incident since it was so close to the Burbank airport. The biggest problem was that many of the companies who would have been normally in the area were tied up on a Brush Fire at the same time, but the brave men and women of the Los Angeles City Fire Department as well as assisting companies from the Burbank Fire Department were able to do what they do best and keep the fire to the original structure and put it out safely. Mike

Just a quick add on Hoppah. I'll be at LAFD's FS 102 later this week. If you need any detail shots of anything on the apparatus or uniforms, let me know, i can probably find time to get them for you.

Hey Hoppah, I just wanted to give you a heads up about the latest batch of pics I posted on my website. These are from an Apartment house fire in LAFD's 88's area. Battalion 10, EMS 10, Light Force 102, Light Force 88, Engine 78, Taskforce 39, Rescue Ambulance 88 and 78 were on scene. You can view all 95 pics here But just some things to point out: LAFD-VDM-002 & 003 <-- LAFD Paramedics changing into SCBA and turnout gear 008 & 009, 099. 100, 105, 107, 114 <-- Battalion Chief with White Helmet and old style brush jacket and black pants, EMS 10 Captain with Structure Jacket. You can tell the difference between the Structure and the Brush gear from the rear by the Reflective striping. Structure gear has the Square Box, Brush gear just has the horizontal stripes. One thing to note in 99 is the Captain Driver in the BC SUV. He is bassically the assistant to the Chief and does everything from monitoring the radios, watching the clocks, and acting as an additional set of eyes and ears on the incident. The biggest reason for drivers is that it allows the Chief to focus on the radios, computer, maps and such while enroute since the captain is driving. 010,097,098, 109, 110 <--- Deck gun on Engine 239 (part of Light Force 39) with the long smooth bore nozzle on it. 013 & 014 & 120<-- Rear of Truck 102 with arrow bar at the top of the tillermans cab. 019 <-- No arrow bar at all on T88, so you can pretty much choose whether or not to have one on your truck 021 <-- Firefighters on the left have changed into a brush jacket just for comfort while packing up their gear, Firefighters on the right have Structure gear on. The brush jacket is light weight and feels almost like a long sleeve shirt. 022 <-- Close up of the SCBA gear, notice the firemans axe on the hip. 051 <-- 3 different angles of the Phenix helmet. Orange signifies Captain. 059 <-- Captain on the right with EM10 on his helmet and wearing the black pants is the EMS Captain 063 <-- Never seen anyone do this before, but jacket sleave has the old unofficial patch with PARAMEDIC under it. That was something new to me, even for an EMS Capt.! 092 through 096 <-- Close up of Deck gun on E288 Hope these help. Mike

The old two color red/white paint scheme is just for older apparatus. All new RA's are fully red in color with the new ones purchased having the Hi Viz added. The basic rule of thumb is that no older apparatus will be upgraded to hiviz, just new purchases will meet the NFPA 1901 spec. Being such a large department, the Los Angeles City Fire Department is constantly upgrading, improving, and purchasing new equipment and apparatus with each new budget. One talk right now is of new Battalion Chief vehicles coming into the fleet soon and EMS captains getting the old BC SUV's but that could be many years off if it ever happens at all. Mike

Those are the Antennae for the mobile radios and other equipment carried on the Rescue Ambulance.

Well I don't know where here is, but like I mentioned before, it is part of the new NFPA 1901 standard that came into effect at the first of this year. All new apparatus in the US will soon look like that. Hoppah, if I catch any other apparatus with the new HiViz, I'll grab some pics for you. Mike