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 are responding to a three-alarm fire at a multi-unit residential complex in East Glendale. The fire, in the 300 block of McHenry Road not far from the Ventura (134) Freeway, was reported at about 4:30 p.m., with initial reports of smoke coming from an attic. Emergency crews were starting to block off access to the area as firefighters mount a massive response to the blaze. There were no immediate details available about possible injuries, evacuations or the number of units affected.

Firefighters from three agencies got the upper hand Tuesday on a one-acre brush fire in La Crescenta that closed two lanes of the 210 Freeway, authorities said. The fire, first reported at 12:55 p.m., burned roughly an acre next to the westbound lanes of the freeway before it was knocked down at 1:47 p.m., Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Quvondo Johnson. Firefighters from the Glendale, Los Angeles and Los Angeles County responded to the blaze, which  burned terrain east of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Firefighters are responding to a second alarm house fire in Glendale, which was reported earlier today on North Jackson Street. Crews are continuing to battle the blaze in the 1300 block of North Jackson Street. Units from Burbank Fire have been called in to assist. Information on possible injuries, or damage to the structure, was not immediately available. Heavy fire was reported in the attic, through which firefighters have cut holes to assist with fighting the blaze. [Update 1:50 p.m.: Crews appear to have gained control of the fire at the single-story house, which at one point had flames coming from its roof.

We would like to thank all the Glendale and county firefighters that responded to our house fire on Dec. 17. We had a chimney fire that went into the attic, and we had no idea it was happening. There was no smell of smoke or smoke alarms that went off. An unknown, good neighbor seeing flames from our chimney called 911, and the Fire Department arrived and started to work its magic. In no time at all, some were on our roof cutting holes to ventilate the fire while others were doing whatever they could to protect our belongings within.

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.

Capt. Matthew Luchetta sat in the hot seat and called out commands Thursday to fellow firefighters as he took stock of a smoky three-story apartment building on Cypress Street. But it could have just as easily been a plane crash, hazardous materials incident or brush fire. That's because the scene was playing out on a video projection. The rest of the team was observing the same scene on a television monitor in a separate room next door, responding to the calls over radio to simulate in-the-field teamwork.

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.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and nearly a dozen other members of Congress this week asked for an update from the Department of Defense on sending surplus military aircraft to the U.S. Forest Service, aircraft that could assist in fighting wildfires. Congress had made the allocation for the transfer in its 2013 military spending plan after the Air Force indicated it was planning to get rid of the C-27J transport aircraft, which could be used as a support platform in fighting forest fires.

Hundreds of firefighters, combined with a massive air attack, were able to contain a fast-moving brush fire in Glendale Friday just hours after it was reported. With the aid of several water-dropping helicopters, more than 200 firefighters were able to prevent the roughly 75-acre blaze from damaging any structures. No civilians were reported injured despite television footage that showed people fleeing flames whipping from nearby sidewalks. Two firefighters suffered from heat exhaustion.

Fire crews from Burbank and Glendale were called Thursday to help battle a raging 2,000-acre brush fire in Ventura County. The Burbank Fire Department sent 13 fire personnel - including a battalion chief - as well as three engines to respond to the fire, said Burbank Fire Capt. Peter Hendrickson.  Two of the engines are protecting homes on Borchard Road and Via Las Brisas in Thousand Oaks, while the third is stationed at the command post, Hendrickson said. “The state of California set this thing up where we respond and take care of each other,” Hendrickson said.

Firefighters hope to have a brush fire that burned more than 175 acres in Monrovia out by Sunday evening. The blaze started late Saturday morning in a residential backyard in northwest Monrovia and spread to rugged terrain in bordering wild lands. At one point flames came within 80 yards of homes, but no structures were damaged. "We're really fortunate we were able to stave off the fire and protect the homes," city spokeswoman Jennifer McLain said Saturday night. PHOTOS: Fire in Monrovia -- Los Angeles Times staff

A Glendale firefighter was punched in the jaw Sunday after he and his crew tried to help the mother of a 28-year-old man with psychiatric issues, police said. The man, Keristo Andresian, was arrested on suspicion of battery and released to staff at Glendale Adventist Medical Center for treatment, according to police. Andresian's mother called about 12:06 p.m. for an ambulance, but canceled it while fire was en route, police said. When firefighters arrived, Andresian was reportedly seated inside a vehicle and honking the horn.

Glendale firefighters successfully defended their basketball championship title on Sunday, outscoring police 58-33. A three-point shot from the Glendale Fire Department at the buzzer ended the third annual Hoop Heroes Basketball Championship Game at Glendale High School, officials said. PHOTOS: Glendale Fire vs. Police charity basketball game The event also raised more than $5,000 for the Salvation Army's Zone Academy, according to event chairman Rick Dinger. The after-school program provides tutoring and improves literacy for students ages 8 to 14. More than 200 pounds of canned goods were also donated to the Salvation Army during the basketball game.

Firefighters were able to contain a fire in a third-story apartment unit from spreading Tuesday afternoon, officials said. Fire crews arrived about 3:35 p.m. to find flames rising from the third-floor apartment window in the 600 block of East Chevy Chase Drive, said Brandy Villanueva, Glendale Fire Department spokeswoman.  The building's residents were quickly evacuated, she added. No one was injured in the blaze. Fire officials are still trying to determine whether any residents have been displaced from their homes as a result of the fire, Villanueva said.

A 12-year-old cat that was resuscitated by Glendale firefighters during an apartment fire last month is now an orphan. [Updated 5:30 p.m.: At about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the cat, Glinda, was adopted from the Pasadena Humane Society. Ricky Whitman, a spokeswoman for the shelter, said she was unsure whether the new owners had read about her plight. Even so, "She's on her way home," Whitman said. ] The owners of the black cat, which was found unconscious during the Feb. 18 blaze at the Fort Dearborn Home complex on West Doran Street, did not come forward to claim her, despite, according to fire officials, being contacted.

Glendale firefighters were able to revive a cat that was pulled from a burning second-story apartment unit on Monday. No one was injured in the blaze that was reported just after 10:17a.m. at the Fort Dearborn Home complex in the 400 block of West Doran Street, said Glendale Battalion Chief Vincent Rifino. Flames from the second-story unit quickly spread to the apartment above, but firefighters were able to contain the blaze and keep the fire from spreading to other units. After pulling the unresponsive cat from the second-story apartment, firefighters administered oxygen atop a nearby car and were able to revive the feline as crews continued to battle the blaze, Rifino said.

We would like to thank all the Glendale and county firefighters that responded to our house fire on Dec. 17. We had a chimney fire that went into the attic, and we had no idea it was happening. There was no smell of smoke or smoke alarms that went off. An unknown, good neighbor seeing flames from our chimney called 911, and the Fire Department arrived and started to work its magic. In no time at all, some were on our roof cutting holes to ventilate the fire while others were doing whatever they could to protect our belongings within.