Media/Photo Op: Los Angeles County Firefighters to Lead Multi-Agency High Angle Technical Rescue Exercise

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Media/Photo Op: Los Angeles County Firefighters to Lead Multi-Agency High Angle Technical Rescue Exercise

Los Angeles County firefighters will lead a multi-agency “over the side” high angle / technical rescue exercise off of Angeles Crest Highway in the Angeles National Forest.

The Forest’s extremely steep terrain has been the location of a large number of technical rescue operations throughout the history of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Last year, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Teams completed a record 560 missions, including many involving County firefighters and Forest personnel conducting over the side rescue operations on the Highway.

This exercise will provide excellent opportunities to film County firefighters and technical rescue specialists known internationally for their recent missions in Haiti, Japan and New Zealand as members of California Task Force 2. Multi-agency training is designed to ensure that these life-threatening mountain accidents end in lifesaving rescues.

WHO: LACoFD Air Operations, Engine, Truck & USAR Companies, LASD Air Operations, Montrose/Altadena Search and Rescue, USFS-ANF Firefighters

WHAT: Multi-Agency Technical Rescue Exercise

WHEN: Friday, April 26 – 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

WHERE: Angeles Crest Highway, mile marker 30.16

VISUALS: High angle cliff rescue operations showcasing the multi-mission LA County Fire Department’s Firehawk helicopter and LA County Sheriff’s Air 5 Super Puma helicopter

CFN - California Fire News 2013

No comments:

How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

CFN - CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS - CAL FIRE NEWS

Thursday, April 25, 2013