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La Fire Department Pitches In During Wildfire Crisis
California wildfires again riveted the nation's attention during a roughly two-week period beginning in mid-October 2007. When wildfires strike the Golden State, overall responsibility for fighting the blazes is in the hands of CAL FIRE, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. However, CAL FIRE pays several local counties, including Marin, Kern, Santa Barbara, Ventura,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Los Angeles and Orange, to provide fire protection for areas that nominally fall under the umbrella of the State's responsibilities.
While most of the damage caused by the October 2007 wildfires was in San Diego County, firefighters from the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) nevertheless responded to several wildfires in Los Angeles County. According to the LAFD website, firefighters from the city's fire department rolled out to both the so-called Buckweed Fire near Agua Dulce, about twelve miles north of Los Angeles,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and the so-called Canyon Fire, a brush fire about eight miles west of Los Angeles near Malibu, California. Overall,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the LAFD deployed five Strike Teams comprising some 150 firefighters during the October wildfire crisis.
The Los Angeles Fire Department is considered well-equipped to serve the fire-prevention and fire-fighting needs of America's second biggest city. Launched formally in 1886 through the amalgamation of several volunteer fire companies founded as early as the 1870s, the LAFD has grown from its original complement of four fire stations and a Los Angeles population of just 50, 000 to become one of the country's largest firefighting services. Today's force levels top out at slightly more than 3, 600 uniformed firefighters, who man more than a hundred fire stations. More than 4 million L. A. residents currently rely on the LAFD for fire prevention, fire fighting, EMC services, hazmat mitigation and disaster response.
An often overlooked but nevertheless extremely important part of the force is comprised of five fire boats that protect the Port of Los Angeles from fire. Perched on the shores of San Pedro Bay, about thirty kilometers due south of downtown Los Angeles, the Port of Los Angeles is the busiest container port in the United States with a container volume of 7. 4 million TEUs in 2004, the last year for which figures of this kind are available. The Port also has the West Coast's largest cruise ship facility, which handles in excess of one million cruise ship passengers annually.
Five fire boats guard the Port of Los Angeles from fires that have the potential to be just as devastating as the California wildfires of 2007. The latest of these, the Warner Lawrence, is a 105-foot powerhouse capable of pumping 38, 000 gallons of water per minute at heights of up to 400 feet. The Warner Lawrence replaced the LAFD's oldest fire boat,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the 78-year-old Ralph J. Scott, in April 2003.Topics related articles：


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