Fire Safety

SOUTHWEST GLENDALE — Executives from a fire-insurance company handed a $9,000 check to Glendale Fire Department officials on Thursday to help fund the department's public-education programs. "This is our way to give back, to really just say thank you," said Scott Smith, community relations manager for Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., which doled out the funds through its Fireman's Fund Heritage program. An independent agent of the insurance company Swett and Crawford helped raise the money through sales, Smith said.

Narek Hakboyan narrowly escaped a smoky bedroom on Monday morning. The 9-year-old, pinching his nose at one point, climbed out of a window, down a ladder and then ran to a designated safe place where he met a group of his Horace Mann Elementary School peers. "It felt like real smoke," Narek said. But it wasn't. Narek's escape was part of a simulated fire drill the Glendale Fire Department set up to teach students what it would be like if they experienced a real house fire.

Six fire stations responded Tuesday to a fire at an apartment complex in the 4400 block of Chevy Chase Drive in La Cañada. Los Angeles County Fire stations 11, 12, 19, 82 and 63 responded, assisted by Glendale Fire Department 29 to a fire that started in Ray Pessoni's apartment. Pessoni, 90, is the manager of the apartment complex. The fire is under investigation, however, according to Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Deputy Randy Forney, a reading lamp that tipped over onto a bed may be where the fire began.

Glendale Fire Department went to all Glendale schools and spoke with the fifth-grade classes about fire safety and what to do in case there is a fire in their homes. Each student had to fill out answers and do activities in a Glendale Junior Fire Department workbook. After they turn those in, they had to take a written exam and then write an essay on fire safety. The students with the highest scores and the best essays were chosen to attend the Glendale Fire Department Junior Picnic.

More than 200 Glendale fifth-graders stood in two straight lines facing each other across Verdugo Park Friday afternoon, tossing colored water-filled balloons back and forth. Some kept the balloons going, others let them slip from their hands and splatter on the grass. Then the children took two steps back, and those pairs that still had balloons tossed them even further. The exercise had nothing to do with fire safety, but that was not the point of the 52nd annual Junior Fire Academy picnic.

GLENDALE ? An aroma of sausages and slapjacks greeted hungry crowds at Glendale Fire Department headquarters during Fire Service Day on Saturday. The event featured a mock extrication, with firefighters using the Jaws of Life to pry a man from a wrecked car. The department also offered tours of the station to give kids a chance to meet fire fighters and see firefighting equipment, Glendale Fire Capt. Steve Parish said. Four-year-old Jared Saucedo toured the Glendale Fire Station, clad in a full-length fire-retardant suit.

Students get a mock fire drill in recognition of National Fire Prevention Week.NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- The students of Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School escaped a smoky bedroom Wednesday morning -- they climbed out of a window, down a ladder and ran to a telephone to call 911. And that's because Glendale Firefighters, in recognition of National Fire Prevention Week, pulled out all the bells and whistles to give more than 100 students a mock fire...

o7The following is from the Sept. 20 meeting of the Laguna Beach City Council. f7 SOUTH LAGUNA STREET LIGHTS No action was taken to change a previous council vote approving special street lights for South Laguna not offered by San Diego Gas and Electric that are more expensive to buy and maintain than regular lights. Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman opposed the purchase for the South Laguna Pedestrian Improvement project -- a project she had spearheaded.

Approval of a controversial hillside development on Rosebank Drive was postponed once again on Monday, after discussions pushed the City Council meeting late into the night. Residents Goran and Elizabeth Bilaver initially proposed building a three-level home overlooking the Crescenta Valley on the southwestern edge of the city in 2003. But opposition from residents and a local conservation group forced the couple to make numerous changes to their plans, including reducing the proposed home by about half the original size.

Firefighters visited the La Crescenta Library Saturday, Aug. 20, to inform a young group of children of fire safety and show them the different intricacies of a shiny, red, fire engine. Firefighters enthusiastically showed off their fire engine to children as young as 2 years old on Saturday at 2 p.m. for Crescenta Valley Library's Summer Speakers Series for Kids. Frank Vogel, a firefighter of Fire Station 63, commented on the joy of teaching children about fire safety and said, "I love it, it's part of the job. [I]