Fire Safety

Karen S. Kim NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- As the tall brown garage door of Glendale Fire Station 25 creaked slowly upward Friday morning to reveal a shiny, yellow fire engine and a uniformed Capt. Harold Scoggins, a chorus of "wows" and "whoas" erupted from the crowd. The voices belonged to 36 kindergarteners of St. Mary's Richard Tusenkian Preschool who were eagerly waiting for their field trip on fire safety to begin. It's a field trip the school offers every year, but the kindergarteners came bearing gifts this year.

Sheriff and fire sirens chirped at 9 a.m. Saturday throughout the La Crescenta neighborhood at Briggs Terrace, followed soon by a steady stream of cars winding down mountain roads to the evacuation center at Two Strike Park. This was all part of the Briggs Terrace fire evacuation drill sponsored by the Los Angeles Fire Department with the support of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station. The drill took less than two hours from the initial debriefing with emergency responders to the actual evacuation and wrap-up discussion with residents.

Firefighters gave residents a crash course on protecting their homes from the continuous threat of brush fires during a fire expo Saturday at Memorial Park in La Cañada. Residents in the “high hazard” hillside areas of La Cañada, La Crescenta and Glendale need to be prepared for wildfires like the one that burned through 60 acres of Glendale brush last week and prompted authorities to encourage voluntary evacuations in the area, said Chief Steve Martin, of the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s station in La Cañada.

A herd of goats took over a hill above Glendale Community College on Wednesday. Drivers came to sudden stops on a hillside road as they spotted the creatures, often uncertain about what appeared to be a new grazing location for the 150 animals. The goats were part of a new, “green” approach to fire prevention and trimming flammable shrubbery, said Dan Padilla, the college’s director of facilities. “We got the idea that the goats were innovative,” Padilla said.

As part of their ongoing training in a variety of areas, local Girl Scout troop 626 of St. James the Less Catholic School began work on their Tri-It badge. This triangular patch is earned by the girls after learning about basic first-aid, how to react in an emergency, how to call 9-1-1, and overall fire safety. At their recent Brownie meeting, the girls were excited to have a real firefighter walk in to talk about fire safety. Los Angeles City Firefighter/Paramedic David Flynn, who is also the father of Brownie Sydney Flynn, came to talk with the girls about fire safety, what to do if they are ever in a fire, and what it is like to work in a fire station.

Jackson Bell SOUTHEAST GLENDALE -- Cerritos Elementary School third-graders got to spend Thursday morning playing house with Glendale firefighters. But the fun outing away from regular classwork was more than just playtime. The firefighters, and actors from L.A. Troupe, taught students fire safety using an interactive play and the Kids Safety Trailer. The trailer, styled as a miniature home used to practice fire emergencies and safety, is a donation from the Children's Burn Foundation in Sherman Oaks and shared by the Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena fire departments.

Gretchen Hoffman BURBANK -- Five 1/2 years after he suffered near-fatal injuries in a Calabasas blaze, former Glendale firefighter Bill Jensen is hopeful the rehabilitation is winding down. He had his 36th surgery -- his first in more than a year -- on Monday and is headed back to the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital for more skin grafts on Friday. Since the Oct. 22, 1996 fire, Jensen has made fire safety education a personal mission.

Tim Willert CITY HALL -- Fire prevention is a year-round job, but for the next week the Glendale Fire Department will focus on spreading the word to students and seniors. Beginning Monday, firefighters will visit public and private schools and retirement homes to promote safety education as part of Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 7 to 13. "Our goal is is to eliminate all causes of accidental fires," Fire Marshal Steve Howard said Friday. Cooking, heating and electrical fires are among the leading cause of home fires, and firefighters will spend the week teaching children and adults how to inspect their homes for possible fire hazards.

The community and schools are working hand in hand, as evidenced by a recent essay contest. Zara Minasyan, a Horace Mann fifth-grader, won the Glendale Fire Department's 2007 essay contest on fire safety, for which she was awarded a bicycle and certificate. Those who volunteer at Cerritos Elementary School will be honored today during the Volunteer Breakfast. Those being honored for donating hours are people from the community, local businesses and parents. Horace Mann Elementary School's International Ballet Folklorico has been involved in several cultural outreach performances.

Ten-year-old Mahta Marefat knows the importance of fire safety so much so that she created a fire plan for her home that outlined potential hazards and easy exits. The Glendale Adventist Academy fifth-grader doesn’t want her family to be unprepared if they need to escape a house fire, so she went over her plan with her parents and then wrote an essay about it. “I made sure that in case of a fire that we especially had more than one exit,” Mahta said. Her essay was so explanatory and informational that the Fire Department named her their honorary fire chief Thursday at the Junior Fire Program Picnic at Verdugo Park, retired firefighter Fred Castro said.

T hree elementary school students became unofficial members of the Glendale Fire Department at Friday's Junior Fire picnic at Verdugo Park. The Fire Department hosted its annual picnic as a celebration for Glendale Unified fifth-graders who spent the last school year learning about fire safety. To honor the students, the Fire Department put on several games and cooked up meals at Verdugo Park. Before the picnic, students were asked to submit essays about fire safety for a chance to win prizes and earn honorary Fire Department titles.

More than 325 people attended the fourth annual Fire Department Awards Luncheon on Oct. 7 at the Hilton Glendale. The luncheon was held to honor dedicated members of the local Fire Department and students who wrote essays on fire safety. The luncheon was hosted by the Glendale Sunrise Rotary Club and the Glendale Fire Department. Rotary Club President Jorge Vasquez and Fire Chief Harold Scoggins gave inspirational welcoming speeches. Ellen Leyva , ABC7 Eyewitness News co-anchor, did a wonderful job as master of ceremonies.

Firefighters gave residents a crash course on protecting their homes from the continuous threat of brush fires during a fire expo Saturday at Memorial Park in La Cañada. Residents in the “high hazard” hillside areas of La Cañada, La Crescenta and Glendale need to be prepared for wildfires like the one that burned through 60 acres of Glendale brush last week and prompted authorities to encourage voluntary evacuations in the area, said Chief Steve Martin, of the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s station in La Cañada.

Sheriff and fire sirens chirped at 9 a.m. Saturday throughout the La Crescenta neighborhood at Briggs Terrace, followed soon by a steady stream of cars winding down mountain roads to the evacuation center at Two Strike Park. This was all part of the Briggs Terrace fire evacuation drill sponsored by the Los Angeles Fire Department with the support of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station. The drill took less than two hours from the initial debriefing with emergency responders to the actual evacuation and wrap-up discussion with residents.

Ten-year-old Mahta Marefat knows the importance of fire safety so much so that she created a fire plan for her home that outlined potential hazards and easy exits. The Glendale Adventist Academy fifth-grader doesn’t want her family to be unprepared if they need to escape a house fire, so she went over her plan with her parents and then wrote an essay about it. “I made sure that in case of a fire that we especially had more than one exit,” Mahta said. Her essay was so explanatory and informational that the Fire Department named her their honorary fire chief Thursday at the Junior Fire Program Picnic at Verdugo Park, retired firefighter Fred Castro said.

It all started with a concerned resident. Kim Mattersteig looked around her environs and wondered what would happen in case of a fire in her neighborhood of Olive Avenue, near Shields Street and Briggs Avenue. “We needed to get the community ready,” Mattersteig said she realized. She contacted Deputy Jorge Valdivia of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station and Stephanie English from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The result was a meeting held at the CV station on April 23 for Mattersteig’s neighbors and other concerned community members.

Students at Valley View Elementary School got a hands-on lesson in fire safety Monday. Groups of students took turns gathering in an educational trailer, called a Kids Safety House, then fleeing from it when it began filling with harmless smoke. The smoke was simulated, using burning corn syrup, to give students an opportunity to put their fire safety knowledge into action. Students had been taught, during an earlier fire safety assembly, to avoid inhaling smoke by crouching on the ground to breathe in clean air. They also learned to “stop, drop and roll” while hearing a skit about fire safety from L.A. Troupe.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a grad The article on Kelly Blatz (“Channeling his superpower,” March 18) was something everyone would be interested to read. It lets people know that the Toon Disney channel is changing to Disney XD and is more for boys ages 6 to 14 and also for girls who like action. It lets people also know how amazing it is that so many young teens from our local areas are becoming famous. It seems like most of the local actors now are from Burbank High.

A herd of goats took over a hill above Glendale Community College on Wednesday. Drivers came to sudden stops on a hillside road as they spotted the creatures, often uncertain about what appeared to be a new grazing location for the 150 animals. The goats were part of a new, “green” approach to fire prevention and trimming flammable shrubbery, said Dan Padilla, the college’s director of facilities. “We got the idea that the goats were innovative,” Padilla said.

SPRINKLER SYSTEM City officials will seek authorization to solicit bids on a $111,000 plan to upgrade the fire sprinkler system for the Civic Auditorium’s parking structure. Various joints and piping sections have shifted over the years as the structure “settled” and tension in the concrete garage flexed, according to city reports. As a result, the pipes have experienced minor leaking and rust. The work would bring the sprinkler system back into fire code compliance.