Emergency Services

Mission Creep at the L.A. Fire Department

The LAFD has become a huge mobile health clinic. And that's simply unsustainable

Police 'Psychotic Disorder' Hits Some Young Cops Who've Experienced Trauma, Study Says

It would appear to most of us Christopher Dorner lost it, blew a fuse, and went on a psychotic rampage unjustified by whatever workplace wrongs he faced. But, alarmingly, a new study suggests that "psychotic disorder" for cops and other first-responders who face traumatic experiences on-the-job mig ... More >>

Mr. Clean of Hermosa Beach

An Air Force vet asks why meter maids make up to $95,000

Downey Workplace Shooting Leaves 2 Dead, 3 Wounded

Authorities now say two people have died. Headline has changed Updates at the bottom. Three Two people are dead and two people were injured in a workplace shooting in Downey today, authorities told the Weekly. Downey Fire Department paramedics responded to two locations on Cleta Street, one in the ... More >>

L.A. Fire Department to Search Within Own Beleaguered Ranks for New Data Expert (Uh-Oh)

Last time the L.A. City Fire Department relied on its own staff to keep track of emergency response times and other crucial data, here's what happened: Firefighters, office workers, dispatchers, etc. -- working on a dinosauric computer system -- hastily lumped calls that took six minutes into the " ... More >>

L.A. Fire Department's Public-Information Blackout: Is Withholding Response Times, Addresses Even Legal?

It was terrifying enough when L.A. Fire Department Chief Brian L. Cummings recently admitted to lying about his department's emergency response times to L.A. City Hall, leading to more dangerous cuts for LAFD. But the worst possible thing he could do, now that taxpayers have learned that their fire ... More >>

Whitney Houston Found 'Underwater and Apparently Unconscious:' No Comment From Police on Prescription Drugs

L.A. Weekly was the first news organization to report that it appeared Whitney Houston was discovered in a hotel room bathtub. That was confirmed today by the Beverly Hills Police Department. The department issued a statement saying that " ... information relayed to first responders was that Ms. Ho ... More >>

L.A. Fire Department's Stone-Age Payroll System Allowed Captain Eric Vasquez to Collect an Extra $77K Last Year

lavc.eduThe Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center, where Vasquez allegedly spiked his pay.​What year is this, again? Last month, the L.A. City Fire Department made the kind of upgrade to its payroll system that might have been admirable about a decade ago. In late 2011, it's just embarrassi ... More >>

Erwin Molina, Hiker in His 20s, Takes Fatal Plunge From Waterfall at Eaton Canyon Park

My Own 100 Hikes Eaton Canyon Falls​A young man who died Sunday evening while hiking with three friends at Eaton Canyon Park (located just east of Altadena) has been identified as Erwin Molina. The Pasadena Fire Department has IDed him as 26 years old, but the L.A. County Coroner's Office says ... More >>

Alhambra Arson Foul Play?

Chinese community hero Ken Toh was tried as a criminal after finding a body in the rubble

Rich Fireman Named in Shoplifting

In El Segundo, where firefighters make $210,000 a year, anger spills over

Fire and Police Unions Will Protest Fire Chief's Plan: Will Budget Decisions Run on Fear or Facts? VIDEO

Fire Chief Millage Peaks actually has a backbone​RonKayeLA reports that Friday morning United Firefighters Los Angeles City union leader Pat McOsker will lead a "massive outpooring" of firefighters to the City Council meeting. T.V. cameras are likely to follow. It's budget talk time and McOs ... More >>

L.A. Firefighters Union Threatens: People Will Die if Mayor Cuts Firefighting Budget

Fire union: Budget cuts equal death​You'd be hard-pressed to find a city worker who's happy with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's latest budget proposal, or his budget committee's follow-up: Unions are forced to choose between a fat new round of furloughs or major benefit shrinkage. But no one is ... More >>

John Hines, Long Beach Fire Captain, Arrested for Drunk Hit-and-Run After Plowing Into Seal Beach Bicyclist

KTLAFire captain and alleged hit-and-runner John Hines​A Long Beach fire captain found himself on the other side of the bars this month after an alleged DUI hit-and-run in the wee hours of April Fool's Day. KTLA reports that Seal Beach witnesses saw John Hines zooming down Westminster Avenue ... More >>

L.A. Beaches, Venice, Marina Del Rey, Could Get Tsunami Warning Sirens

Tsunami warning sirens for L.A?​Update: The county Board of Supervisors today approved the motion to have the Office of Emergency Management look into the feasibility of installing sirens on the coast. We noted recently that some of Southern California's most densely populated beach communiti ... More >>

Former Alhambra Fireman Claims his Boss Covered Up Evidence of Arson and Punished Him After Trying to Solve the Crime

​Did a former Alhambra Fire Department official knowingly suppress evidence of an arson and then punish the fireman who tried to make things right? The answer is a resounding 'Yes,' if you ask the fireman. Ken Toh, who worked at the fire department for 15 years, recently filed a lawsuit against ... More >>

L.A. City Hall Cell Phone Bill at Nearly $5 Million: City Controller Wants That Cut by More Than Half

hotgirlswithiphones.comIf only City Hall were this discriminating with its mobile phone use.​Jerry Brown's not the only Debbie Downer at the all-you-can-eat buffet known as California public employment. Wendy Greuel stepped forward Tuesday to call for L.A. City Hall's cell phone use to be cut ... More >>

Glenn Allen, L.A. City Firefighter, Becomes Grandfather One Day After Dying in House Fire

Glenn Allen, former L.A. firefighter and soon-to-have-been grandpa​Here's a bittersweet hero's story to begin what's shaping up to be one downright chilly President's Day in Los Angeles. As we reported last week, L.A. city firefighter Glen Allen died around noontime Friday at Cedars-Sinai Med ... More >>

Long Beach Man Who Set Self On Fire, Potentially IDed As Richard McGee, Dies In Hospital; Parents Haven't Heard From Him In Over A Decade

A Long Beach man committed suicide next to the Los Angeles River on Monday night​Yesterday morning, we reported that a badly burned Long Beach man had been discovered by firemen and paramedics on Monday night -- he was engulfed in flames next to the concrete channel that cradles the Los Angele ... More >>

Should Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Get All Up In The Los Angeles Fire Department's Day-To-Day Business?

LAFD​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants 51 assistants of Los Angeles fire commanders to get on the front lines and fight fires as a result of the city's tight budget situation. After LA Weekly's own Patrick Range McDonald suggested that the mayor should maybe offer 51 of his own 200-plus staffe ... More >>

COMEDY EMERGENCY!

Opponents Of Westside's Bundy Village Development Say Emergency Response Times In Area Would Go Up As A Result Of Increased Traffic

​Opponents of the Westside mixed-use development called Bundy Village on Friday cited a study they say shows a possible 4.5-minute increase in emergency response times for police, paramedics and firefighters in the area if the traffic-creating project goes forward as planned. The developer, S ... More >>

Pomona Cops Dodge a Bullet

Accepting severe pay cuts, a police department survives to patrol another day

A Betrayal in Proud Pomona

Century-old police department fears the end of its own thin, blue line

L.A. City Hall Behind On Bill Collecting -- Way Behind

​An audit by City Controller Wendy Greuel expected to be released today found that the city departments examined only collected 53 percent of the money they were owned for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Put another way, the departments billed $553.4 million but took in only $293 million of that a ... More >>

L.A. County Fire Rescuers Heading To Chile

L.A. County Fire rescuers in Haiti.​Members of the Los Angeles County Urban Search and Rescue task forces have to be some of the busiest first responders in the world. Last month they were in Haiti pulling people from the rubble of a devastating earthquake there. On Monday a task force prepare ... More >>

Villaraigosa Tours Like A Rock Star

If you were surprised to read that City Hall has once again put off the issue of whether to ask the owners of Staples Center to reimburse taxpayers for its ​Michael Jackson memorial show, or if you're angered after finding out that after two years of deliberations at least one City Council mem ... More >>

LAFD Short Staffed, But LAX Gets New Fire Station

Los Angels Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Councilman Bill Rosendahl were on hand at LAX Thursday to break ground for a more than $13 million fire station. The state-of-the-art facility will offer 27,500 square feet of space for 14 firefighers scheduled to be on-hand 24 hours a day.LAFD​The fe ... More >>

Mayor Getting Singed by Fallout from Fire Cuts

Talk about the chickens coming home to roost. Only a few weeks ago the mayor was excoriating the firefighters union for sending out mailers claiming that Mr. Villaraigosa's July fire department budget cuts would compromise public safety. The mailer, which used images from Chatsworth's 2008 Amtrak di ... More >>

San Francisco's Little Fire Engines That Couldn't

Joe Eskenazi of our Bay Area sister publication, S.F. Weekly, writes that that city's fire department refuses to honor a state request to send a five-truck strike team to help Southern California battle its fires -- even as other northern cities have generously responded to the call from the State O ... More >>

Station Fire Update: Killed L.A. firefighter's baby due

The Los Angeles County Fire Department released two sad biographies of the firefighters who were killed when a boiling wall of flames suddenly appeared near a remote road where they were driving. Their vehicle went over the side, plummeting 800 feet down a cliff. Arnie Quinones, horribly, is expecti ... More >>

LAFD Boondoggle: The Firefighting Jobs Women Don't Want

Villaraigosa's Fiscal Folly

The ant (L.A. County Board of Supervisors) and the dung beetle (City Hall)

Women Firefighters: The Gender Boondoggle

City Hall's dream of recruiting more females is a multimillion-dollar disaster

Air Inferiority

Is “Run!” the new strategy against firestorms on California's urban fringe?

What Really Happened at Fire Station 5?

A dog-food prank gone bad wrecks careers and morale as Tennie Pierce demands millions

Failing the Smell Test

City claims Westside traffic will ease, thanks to two skyscraper condos

Inherit the Wind

George W. Bush and his father’s failed federal agency

The Big Difference

Could L.A. be the next New Orleans?

Sharing Bush’s Pain

The 9/11 ad campaign and Iraq fictions

Ray Bradbury's Faust

The hellfire of Fahrenheit 451

Misguided Billions

A better way to spend the missile-defense budget