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Why you should hate juniper plants as much as firefighters do.
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Junipers are often planted next to houses, they
easily ignite and catch the house on fire.
They ignite as easily as dead weeds and burn hot, like pine trees. They are one of the most hazardous plants you could put around your home. The plant doesn't drop its dead growth to the ground and it has many of the same volatile oils found in pine trees. Pull aside the green branches and you will see the brown, dead material which can easily catch fire. When the dead material catches fire, it starts the rest of the bush on fire. |
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Next time your home is threatened
by a brush fire, you might ........
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If you are ready to evacuate (see Evacuating Before the Fire) and have a minute of time, it would be a good idea to quickly walk through your house with the video "rolling" (or series of pictures) showing how your house is furnished for insurance purposes in the event you have to report a loss after the fire. |
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When are burning houses a good
place to hide from the fire?
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Never!
However, if firefighters are working to defend a house from an oncoming brush fire and they need to take refuge quickly, it may be safer/cooler to go into the house, even though it is on fire, than to stay outside and be overrun by the brush fire. The hope is that most of the brush fire will pass before it gets too hot inside the house. |
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What people don't realize when they decide not to evacuate before a
threatening brush fire........
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They don't realize how hot it can get outside
their house. By the time radiant heat from the brush fire starts
houses on fire, they will likely be burned by standing anywhere outside.
They don't realize that the smoke can get so thick, you can't see road signs or cars stopped in front of them. They don't realize that carbon monoxide and fear can cause them to become disoriented. They don't realize that flames from burning vegetation, smoke, emergency vehicles, slow moving traffic, etc. can block their escape. They don't realize how many more accidents will occur during a hasty evacuation. And...they don't realize how fast fire can move! |
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Are all firefighters good cooks?
Do we publish our recipes?
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NO!
All firefighters are not good cooks; we just let the talented ones in the kitchen. Some firefighters just have a few specialties, but others could, or have been, professional chefs. Surprisingly, for as much concern as we have for health, I have never seen cooking classes designed for firefighters. Each engine company in La Verne FD, sets up their meals differently. We have several good cooks on my shift and so we seldom want to eat out, but other shifts eat out pretty regularly. We have never put together a La Verne Recipe Book, but if we did it would have to be a combination of good dishes and gags. |
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What is an "ABC" fire extinguisher and what do the numbers, 2A
10BC mean? (12-13-02)
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Fires are categorized into 4 groups; A or common combustible fires
(including burning paper, wood), B or flammable liquid fires (gasoline,
cooking oil, etc), C or electrical fires and D which are flammable metal
fires (including magnesium, sodium etc). An "ABC" fire
extinguisher would be affective on those three types of fires.
However, a "BC" fire extinguisher would not be very affective on
A-type fires such as burning paper. "D" fire are not very
common and "D" extinguishers are not usually sold for home
use.
The numbers in front of the letters represent the relative amount of that type of fire which the extinguisher will put out. So a 2A 40BC fire extinguisher will put out 4 times more of a "B" fire (flammable liquid) than a 2A 10BC fire extinguisher. |
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We also send the fire engine because the 2 paramedics often need help at the scene to do CPR, collect important information about the patient and then load the patient for transport to the hospital. These additional firefighters have to take the fire engine in the event we have an additional alarm. |
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Why wait for a helicopter? Just get that injured person to the
closest hospital as soon as you can.
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Only certain hospitals in the Los Angeles County area are equipped and
staffed to treat people who are traumatically injured. Our closest
hospital is not one of those "trauma centers" and it takes less
time to have a helicopter fly a victim to a "trauma center" than
it does to drive them in the medic unit. The only time we transport
seriously injured people in the medic unit is when the person can not
breath.
We do use the medic unit to transport people with heart problems, illnesses, broken bones and cutes, etc. which are not considered "traumatic" injuries. A "traumatic" injury is usually a serious injury to the head or torso. |
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La Verne Fire Department has never serviced fire extinguishers. We advise you to look in the Yellow Pages for Fire Extinguisher companies to help you. If your fire extinguisher has a plastic handle, it may be less expensive to buy a new fire extinguisher than have the old one serviced. We advise you to get one with a 2A 10BC rating or one with larger numbers. |
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When will you be hiring next? |
We hire firefighters periodically. You must have your paramedic certification. See Job Opportunities for more information. |
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How many calls do you have a day? |
We respond to 2,500 alarms a year which averages about 7 calls a day and 80% of those are for medical assistance. |
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Does your city have additional fire codes besides the
Uniform Fire Code? |
We adopt the current Uniform Fire Code and we have three additional fire related ordinances: 1 We require fire sprinklers in new commercial buildings of 5,000 square feet or more. 2. We do not allow wood roofs in new construction. 3. We have a Hillside Ordinance that requires additional fire safety features in hillside areas. |
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My neighbor's yard looks like a mess. Isn't it a fire
hazard? |
It may be a mess, but it may or may not be a fire hazard; we would have to see it and make that determination. |
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What can you do about weeds? |
We can usually have weeds removed during fire season if they are taller than 3 inches, and create a fire hazard within 100' from a structure (more than 100' if in a required fuel modification zone). Los Angeles County Department of Agriculture takes care of weed abatement on unimproved land (vacant lots) and we take care of other property. Regardless, you may call the fire department (596-5991, Mon-Thur, 8-4) and discuss the problem. |
