Thursday, February 25, 1999
Battling Blazes
REALBRUINS: Where there’s smoke, there are the firefighters of
Westwood’s station No. 37
working to answer emergencies while staying involved in their
community
By Michelle Navarro
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The firefighters of station No. 37 have one request of Los
Angeles drivers: move to the right and stop when an emergency
vehicle is in the vicinity.
Don’t try and beat it, don’t keep driving – just move.
Unfortunately, Westwood’s firefighters are in a city where
drivers are often too busy talking on cell phones, blaring their
music, or just too important to stop and let the firefighters have
a clear path during an emergency.
"We have the busiest intersections in the nation, and people
don’t pull over," said Mike Brown, a Los Angeles Fire Department
paramedic. "Half the time they don’t hear us, and half the time
they don’t even care. It’s really frustrating because I need to be
there in minutes. How in a hurry can you be not to take the two
seconds to pull over?"
But such a problem is just one part of what these firefighters
must deal with in their daily lives. In a crisis-related job where
a series of three 24-hour shifts comes every nine days, there are
bound to be other difficulties.
To the cars whizzing by early Saturday morning on Veteran
Avenue, fire station No. 37 looked aged and abandoned.
The world behind the garage door, however, was very much alive
because the C-shift firefighters, one of three teams of 13, had
just rolled in for their 24 hours of duty.
From the small kitchen, the sweet aroma of coffee emanated
throughout the cavernous building. Behind its creaky door came 13
baritone voices flowing past the tops of open newspapers and
steaming mugs.
The designated cook for the day, Willie Caijiao, was mixing up a
large tray of Jello for that evening’s dessert.
"A hungry fireman is like a camel without water after 40 days,"
Caijiao said, grinning and swirling the tray full of dark red
liquid and fruit.
Caijiao has worked as a firefighter for five years and says he
chose to be a one because of the nature of the job.
"I went to work an eight to five job and I hated it," Caijiao
said. "I wanted a place to work where every day is different, and
I’m not sitting behind a desk all day."
Sitting behind a desk for 24 hours is definitely not what his
job entails. Instead, Caijiao and the other firefighters cook,
clean and most importantly, try to save lives.
But that morning, they were able to take care of business
undisturbed. Around 8 a.m., the C-shift settled down with their
coffees to listen to the chief go over the agenda.
Bruin, the station’s dalmatian, roamed in as well – probably
driven more by the smell of food rather than by the meeting.
After going over who was working the next day and any special
bulletins, the team pulled out all the trucks for drills at the
Veterans Administration Hospital parking lot.
On the way over, Brown talked about the hardships of his
job.
"Every time we go out it’s someone’s crisis, and it’s probably
the worst thing that has happened in their life," Brown said. "To
be in this job, you have to be the kind of person where things
don’t really bother you – the misery and pain of people’s worst
situation. I can’t say it doesn’t bother you, but you have to
understand what you need to do and get the job done."
Some things have disturbed Brown. One tragic fire that that
occurred 17 years ago and resulted in numerous deaths still haunts
his memory today.
"There were 26 people piled up on the stairway. The fire had
burned up all the oxygen, so when someone opened the door the fire
just consumed them," he said. "There was a lady holding a baby in
her arms. They had died that way. I’ll never forget the smell or
the image."
Although Brown said he knows every rescue mission won’t be
successful, often for reasons beyond the firefighters’ control, he
said doubt still eats away at his conscience.
"Even if you do your best and someone gets killed, you
second-guess yourself," he said. "You think, ‘I could have gotten
there faster.’"
Regular drills are performed to prevent other technical problems
from interfering with a rescue. Beneath a bright sun, all the
firefighters dress in their heavy uniforms to do just that.
"We go over basic firefighting operations so we’re in tune with
what we’re doing," Brown said. "We train constantly so when we’re
in a fire we’ll automatically know what to do. We all have to be
proficient."
When the crew returned to the station, Caijiao started preparing
for a group of visitors that were arriving within the hour – the
YMCA Indian Guides from Torrance.
Caijiao belongs to the father-son group and invited them to take
a tour of the station. The 6- and 7-year-old boys, dressed in vests
with patches, spilled into the station shortly after the drills.
Wide-eyed, they stared at the trucks and went wild over Bruin.
In a plain racquetball court behind the garage, Caijiao spoke to
the group about being a firefighter. The highlight for the children
came when Caijiao offered the boys the chance to try on a
uniform.
Throughout the talk, Caijiao’s son stuck to his father’s side,
shyly asking questions about why his dad has to go to the fire. And
when Big Flame, Caijiao’s Indian name, put on the uniform, his son,
Little Flame, was there to button him up.
While the tour was going on, firefighter Tim Sharma was hovering
around the work-out equipment.
"We try to work out every morning," said Sharma, who fought
fires in London before coming to Los Angeles. "It’s a condition of
our employment. If you fall below a certain fitness level you get
disciplined."
Sharma explained that all the equipment they have to carry, from
the uniform to the compressed air tank, can weigh more than 150
pounds. Add to that the force of the fire hose and the obstacle of
climbing a ladder, and it becomes clear that enormous physical
strength is necessary.
"It looks easy, but it’s not," Sharma said.
After a lunch of hot dogs topped with Captain Mike Rodriguez’s
special chili, Brown climbed 80 feet up the ladder as a
demonstration for the children.
"I used to have a fear of heights, but I cured it by going
skydiving," Brown said.
As if the day were on a timed schedule, emergency calls came in
to the office immediately after the children’s departure.
The first two were for the paramedics. Brown and Al Naole headed
out to the 405 freeway for an accident on the center divider. As
Brown said, several cars didn’t stop despite the siren and flashing
lights. On the freeway, onlookers slowed their vehicles and
intently stared at the car smashed up against the divider.
Following the trip, the duo at the wheel of the ambulance went
in search of a mocha from a nearby Coffee Bean.
"Cops know where all the donut shops are and firemen know were
all the coffee and ice cream shops are," Brown said, laughing.
The coffee break was soon interrupted by another emergency call,
this time for an elderly woman with a serious ailment.
"Eighty-five percent of the calls here are emergency medical
service," Naole said. "In certain areas it’s more trauma, but here
it’s more medical because of the elderly population. We get more
people with chronic illnesses and problems."
Later that evening, while waiting for dinner, Sharma mulled over
one problem many firefighters have.
"Firefighters have the highest rate of divorces," Sharma said.
"We do have a lot of people with alcoholism problems too. It’s just
a fact. A lot of guys keep what they see during the day inside and
don’t talk about it with their wives."
Sharma explained the need to build a sort of roughness or
callousness to handle the trauma that goes with the job.
Unfortunately, much that can also carry into their personal
lives. Aside from the physical stress, there is the emotional
stress as well.
"A lot of the guys, with multiple incidents, don’t do well
because they want to save everyone," said Ron Spears, another
firefighter for the station. "But that just makes it tougher for
everyone else."
For calls in which several people are injured, the standard
operation is to assess everyone and determine who is in most need
of the medical attention. But as Spears pointed out, some have
difficulties only helping those in need of immediate care. Also, if
the situation is too dangerous for a rescue mission to be
performed, the firefighters must forgo it.
"Our No. 1 priority is to take care of our own, then to help
everybody else. We want to be part of the solution not the
problem," Caijiao said.
"Firemen have a lot of priorities," Naole added. "We have to
gain control, process things properly and not get hurt. Sometimes
all or none of those get accomplished."
At the same time, the rough parts of the job are balanced out by
the fun they all have when they are together.
"It’s fun coming to work. We’re all just a bunch of kids who
never got tired of chasing fire trucks," Rodriguez said.
Perhaps another added side perk is the overwhelming admiration
they get from the female population.
Brown spoke of an incident in which a group of sorority girls
came to the station just to visit him. But, he made it perfectly
clear that such things don’t inflate their egos.
"To be honest, the guys are really humble," Brown said. "We’re
in it because we like to help people; that’s all the gratification
I need. If you save someone or save their house, you can just look
in their eyes and see, and it makes you feel good."
When the firefighters sat down for dinner, they all watched the
boxing fights on TV that preceded the Oscar De La Hoya match.
It was the end of a long day, yet their shift would continue
until 6:30 a.m. the next morning.
But perhaps Brown described their shift best.
"It’s hours of sheer boredom, punctuated by moments of sheer
terror," Brown said.Photos by JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin
Senior Staff
The firefighters play a game after dinner to determine who must
do the dishes. In the game a small ball is thrown up a flight of
stairs, and as it falls they try to catch the ball in a cup.
Cheerleaders look on as their friend is removed from a car by
firefighters and paramedics of station No. 37.
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