Firefighters

Firefighters on Monday morning extinguished a blaze from a second-floor apartment on Windsor Road, officials said. The blaze occurred about 10:56 a.m. at an apartment building in the 500 block of East Windsor Road, fire officials said. Fire crews arrived at the building and discovered smoke and fire inside the apartment. They put out the blaze in about 11 minutes. No one was hurt in the blaze, but a family was displaced by the fire. The family will receive aid from the American Red Cross, officials said.

GLENDALE — When two Glendale firefighters suffered serious injuries at the height of the Calabasas fire in 1996, Glendale Beautiful planted a tree at Casa Adobe and dedicated a plaque in their honor. On Tuesday, 10 years later, firefighters Bill Jensen and Scott French stood in front of the growing Valley Oak at a luncheon held in their honor. Glendale Beautiful hosted the event to serve as a reminder of the efforts the firefighters made in service to their community.

Burbank firefighters extinguished a blaze Thursday that was confined to within the exterior walls of a home. Responding to reports of smoke at 6:40 p.m. in a house on the 200 block of North Niagara Street, firefighters used rotary saws to cut into the home's exterior, where the found the fire traveling up through the walls. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and the cause of the fire remained under investigation. -- Ross A. Benson, for Times Community News

Firefighters delivered 144 toy bags Wednesday to children at the Head Start Riverdale program in Glendale. Los Angeles-based TelePacific donated the decorative bags, which contained about 10 toys each, to the Glendale Fire Department. Firefighters arrived at the campus in the 300 block of Riverdale Drive in the department's ladder truck to hand out the toys. Toy donations were down this holiday season from past years while the need for gifts increased, Firefighter Chris Mays said.

Burbank firefighters gathered Friday to pay respects to James Sheffield, the former president of Firefighters Local 778. The funeral service was held at St. Roberts Bellarmine Church. Fellow firefighter saluted his flag draped coffin, and one of his pallbearers was his son, Bob Sheffied, himself recently retired from the Burbank Fire Department. In addition to Bob, his children were Jim, Rosemary, Margaret and Helen, and grandfather to 13 grandchildren. His is survived by his brothers Robert and Jack.

GLENDALE — Glendale police and firefighters will trade their badges and ladders for a basketball this Saturday, when they’re scheduled to go head-to-head during a charity game to benefit a program for at-risk youths. Officers and firefighters will show off their skills in a friendly basketball game at the Glendale High School gym during Salvation Army Glendale’s “Hoop Heroes: Giving Hope to Kids in Need” event. “We just hope we raise a lot of money,” Glendale Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said.

Burbank firefighters were forced to use the Jaws of Life on Saturday to extricate a woman from her car after it was struck by a motorist who was allegedly driving drunk. The collision, which occurred at Vanowen and Valley streets shortly after 6 p.m., pinned the woman inside her sedan, prompting firefighters to peel pack the roof to get her out. She reportedly suffered at least one broken leg and was taken to a nearby hospital. The driver of the other car -- identified by police as Richard Wakefield, 54, of Castic -- was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.

A small brush fire that broke out at 5 p.m. Monday in Griffith Park was contained after it scorched about 5 acres, officials said. Water-dropping helicopters were called in to assist with the blaze, which reportedly started near the northeast corner of the park before moving slowly uphill. The fire was visible from the Ventura (134) and Golden State (5) freeways as firefighters, including from Glendale and Burbank, worked in steep terrain to contain the blaze. The fire snarled evening traffic as authorities closed down some freeway ramps and lanes for firefighter access.

Taking advantage of a soon-to-be demolished three-story hotel in downtown Glendale, the city's firefighters on Wednesday got a rare opportunity to hack into roofs and kick down doors. Firefighters ran through a variety of training scenarios at the Golden Key Hotel, 123 W. Colorado St., putting on heavy gear and dealing with orders from supervisors. From performing a fire attack to providing roof ventilation, firefighters practiced critical life-saving skills at the abandoned hotel.

Glendale firefighters have agreed to salary and benefit concessions that will save the city more than $3 million in the next three years, city officials announced Tuesday. The Glendale Firefighter’s Assn. voted to approve the tentative contract, which would run through June 30, 2014. The City Council next week is expected to ratify the contract, which includes no pay raises through 2013, higher employee contributions to pension plans and a higher retirement age for all new hires.

A Burbank firefighter remains hospitalized after an equipment malfunction caused him to fall about 25 to 35 feet while he was rock climbing late Monday morning in Chatsworth, officials said. Battalion Chief Steve Briggs said he and other firefighters and family members have been visiting with the 32-year-old injured firefighter, who was off duty at the time of the accident. His identity has not been disclosed. At about 10:30 a.m. Monday, the firefighter was rock climbing at Stony Point and lowering himself down from a rock face to the ground when he experienced his equipment malfunction ed and he experienced a “controlled fall ,” Briggs said.

Hundreds of people packed the stands Sunday to watch Glendale firefighters successfully defend their title against their police counterparts during the second annual Hoop Heroes basketball charity game. Although the police had practiced their game for months, they lost to firefighters, 51-37, at Glendale High School. Nearly 600 people packed the bleachers for the game, which raised $5,000 for Zone Academy, the Salvation Army's after-school program for at-risk youth. The audience was also asked to donate canned food items as part of the game's admission, resulting in an estimated 1,000 pounds of canned goods for the Salvation Army's pantry, organizers said.

Burbank firefighters were forced to use the Jaws of Life on Saturday to extricate a woman from her car after it was struck by a motorist who was allegedly driving drunk. The collision, which occurred at Vanowen and Valley streets shortly after 6 p.m., pinned the woman inside her sedan, prompting firefighters to peel pack the roof to get her out. She reportedly suffered at least one broken leg and was taken to a nearby hospital. The driver of the other car -- identified by police as Richard Wakefield, 54, of Castic -- was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Burbank firefighters extinguished a blaze Thursday that was confined to within the exterior walls of a home. Responding to reports of smoke at 6:40 p.m. in a house on the 200 block of North Niagara Street, firefighters used rotary saws to cut into the home's exterior, where the found the fire traveling up through the walls. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and the cause of the fire remained under investigation. -- Ross A. Benson, for Times Community News

The Bob Hope Airport put into service on Monday a firefighting vehicle that's the first of its kind in the country because it delivers more concentrated foam to knock down fuel-related aircraft fires, officials said. The vehicle is equipped with a compressed-air foam system that uses less water than systems now deployed at other airports in the United States, officials said. The higher concentration of foam allows the substance to adhere better to burning surfaces, which are typically more volatile when they involve aircraft carrying heavy fuel loads.

A 51-year-old homeless man was impaled in the leg Monday night as he tried to climb over an iron fence at Casa Adobe Park, police said. The man, Alfred Khodabakhshi, was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center with a piece of the fence still in his left leg, according to police reports. Khodabakhshi and a friend, who frequents the park at 1330 Dorothy Drive, reportedly entered the property for a drink from a water fountain, but when the pair tried to leave, they noticed the gates were locked.

Taking advantage of a soon-to-be demolished three-story hotel in downtown Glendale, the city's firefighters on Wednesday got a rare opportunity to hack into roofs and kick down doors. Firefighters ran through a variety of training scenarios at the Golden Key Hotel, 123 W. Colorado St., putting on heavy gear and dealing with orders from supervisors. From performing a fire attack to providing roof ventilation, firefighters practiced critical life-saving skills at the abandoned hotel.

Firefighters delivered 144 toy bags Wednesday to children at the Head Start Riverdale program in Glendale. Los Angeles-based TelePacific donated the decorative bags, which contained about 10 toys each, to the Glendale Fire Department. Firefighters arrived at the campus in the 300 block of Riverdale Drive in the department's ladder truck to hand out the toys. Toy donations were down this holiday season from past years while the need for gifts increased, Firefighter Chris Mays said.

Firefighters were able to extinguish a "well-involved" house fire in North Glendale this morning as high winds threatened to spread the blaze to surrounding structures. One occupant of the home suffered from minor smoke inhalation, but no other injuries were reported as Glendale and L.A. County firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze about 9 a.m. in the 3800 block of Mayfield Avenue, officials reported. Sustained winds of more than 25 mph, with strong gusts of up to 40 mph, in the area threatened to spread the fire to nearby structures, according to Glendale Fire Battalion Chief Greg Godfrey.

With toy donations down this year, Glendale firefighters at Station 29 were more than elated Friday to accept gifts from local Boy Scouts for their annual Spark of Love Toy Drive. Dozens of Boy Scouts delivered toys to the fire station on Honolulu Avenue, hoping to help enlarge the Fire Department's cache of gifts that will be distributed to poor and low-income children in the community this holiday season. Firefighters are also looking to gather more toy donations this Sunday at Metrolink's annual Holiday Toy Express, which will make its stop in downtown Burbank at about 5 p.m. before heading to Glendale's train station at about 5:45 p.m. -- Veronica Rocha , Times Community News Twitter: @veronicarochaLA