Dramatic photo of "Heroes" lives on the Line
One finds it hard to concentrate on the follies of our assorted politicos. Many places that have burned or are endanger from the advancing flames, are part of my "Memory Chip"of life experienced.The above photo was taken by a Los Angeles Times Photographer in Orange County. A group of firefighters are being overrun by advancing flames. Calling upon their training, they make their "LAST STAND" in the protective shields that they carry. When the flames passed, they all survive and return to duty.
Heroes
Labels: firefighters
Posted by Red Spot in CD 14 @ 10/23/2007 01:09:00 PM
14 Comments:
That was a magnificent photo. Wonderful that the firefighters survived through their traing. Think of the photographer who didnt have the fire blanket and took the picture. They say that "Fear can make hero's of us all". A wonderful example.
Thank you to all of them!
God Bless those firefighters. The hell with the Mayor and city council who will now have no conscience and USE THEM to threaten to cut back the police and firefighters to pass the phone tax. Assholes!!! They have no conscience whatsoever when it comes to real human dignity or integrity. All their parents should be ashamed they raised such horrible children who became nothing more then corrupt, selfish, greedy, lying adults.
Speaking of the Mayer he has been conspectuses by his absence
You can bet he took Mirthala with him.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spent Sunday in Reno campaigning for Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. The Mayor walked through neighborhoods and talked with voters one-on-one about Senator Clinton's message of change for America.
But was he carrying a toilet brush?
Antonio is a toilet brush snifter
The Mayor needs to get back to Los Angeles, I saw Mirthala at the Beverly Center with another man. I wish I had a camera on my cell phone !!!
Well said, 3:55 p.m.!!!
I wonder if Tenny Pierce ever left the fire station to fight a real fire! I would love to grab his ill-gotten money out of his dirty, filthy hands and divide it up among the TRUE heroes who are putting their lives on the line to save our homes!
And as far as the greedy, slimy, sleazy midget Mexican so-called 'mayor' is concerned, I would love to kick his skinny, brown ass back to Mexico along with the rest of the Mexican mafia.
Corrupt American politicians have a long way to go before they can outdo the shameless, blatant, corrupt, amoral politics of Mexico! When is America going to wake up to the fact that we are being fleeced like never before in history!
I believe that the firefighting "management" took a more conservative stance, this time, to protect people, citizens and firefighters, at the expense of property loss. We've had fire and conditions this extreme in the past without such high property loss. We seem to have run out of firefighting resources and "the powers(especially in OC)" decided not to pay the expense of calling up more high-cost, waterdropping aircraft. I heard on the news that they were available, but were not called up.
Mayor Sam et al,
Thanks for your kind words regarding our mission - and your rightful reminder that there are other issues within and parallel to the Fire Service that need to (and will be) addressed.
Among the greatest rewards for Firefighters, was the clear evidence of neighbor helping neighbor and stranger making friend. It is sad but true that nothing brings Californian's closer than battling a common nemesis.
That much said, none of us can yet fully understand or appreciate the scope of the firestorms, and trust that in the months to come, we will remain committed to acting upon the many lessons learned.
Oh... the Mayor (Antonio not Sam) was indeed at the City's EOC on Monday afternoon.
Respectfully Yours in Safety and Service,
Brian Humphrey
Firefighter/Specialist
Public Service Officer
Los Angeles Fire Department
LAFD,
God Bless you guys for protecting the citizens of this city. Instead of the 15 leeches sitting at City Hall (14 councilmembers except for my chocolate Princess Perry and Mayor Beaneraigosa) using you guys as pawns in their petty little game of chess.
"Oh... the Mayor (Antonio not Sam) was indeed at the City's EOC on Monday afternoon."
His picture was not on the LA Times.
Yes, Brian Humphrey
Firefighter/Specialist
Public Service Officer
Los Angeles Fire Department,
what you and your compadres did is to be commened and will be.
As a community 'Californians" are a unique group. It was said the we are the only group who can throw a disaster, have a party, and get to know a lot of new friends. They say the food in Qualcomm was wonderful, an enormous potluck from multiple ethniticies, supported by Wal-Mart, Vons, a host of other caterers.
The Fires and the Blame Game
The big story in the US at the moment is the fires that have engulfed southern California from Ventura County to the Mexican border. As I write this, we have had about 20 declared fires. Since I live in Orange County, it affects me, though, as yet, not to the extent that it has affected others who have been evacuated and/or lost their homes. Where I live, we have 2 fires burning about 3 miles away from us, but we appear to be safe. As I keep my fingers crossed and pray for my fellow Southern Californians, I would like to make a few observations for the benefit of those of you not living here.
First of all, I am proud of the response we have received from our fire-fighters, National Guard and law enforcement. Their work has been nothing short of heroic. Whatever you may have heard elsewhere, coordination between the local, state and federal agencies has been great, a far cry from what happened during Hurricane Katrina, especially in New Orleans.
Governor Schwarzenegger has perfomed admirably. He is on the scene and making sure that everything that should be done is done. The responsible agencies are performing their duties in a professional manner.
The people, those who have been evacuated or lost their homes, have also acted admirably. Everyone has come together and helped each other without complaints. At this time, about 20,000 persons are being sheltered at QualCom Park in San Diego (home of the Chargers). There are no disturbances, no violence-nothing but good citizens who are grateful for the help they are receiving. Nobody has been shot-nobody has been raped. No first-responders have deserted their posts.
At this point, there has been only one report of looting-two teenagers, who were quickly arrested. Arson is now known to be the cause of the fires in Orange County.
As critical as I have been about conditions in my state, today I am proud of the manner in which the authorities and public have responded to this disaster.
Yet, regrettably, some have pounced on this disaster to make political points. One of our senators, Barbara Boxer, made a statement today criticizing President Bush for the fact that members of the California National Guard are presently serving in Iraq, thus not available to help out in California. Our Lt. Governor, John Garamendi, made a similar statement, adding that when President Bush arrives (Thursday), "we will be polite", but stating that Bush will simply "be in the way".
Today, I watched an interview with the Commander of the California National Guard, who explained that at present, about 2,000 National Guard troops are deployed with over 15,000 standing by and available. (There are about 2,000 in Iraq.) Memo to Senator Boxer of California and Lt Governor Garamendi: Why don't you do your homework? It's your state!
Then there was ABC National News reporter, Claire Shipman, who today corralled Governor Schwarzenegger with a microphone and asked him about "those who complain that not enough resources are reaching those in need quickly enough". To his credit, the Governor put her in her place, explaining that although she was looking for problems, everything was working as it should.
So what we have here is the Democratic Senator of California and a member of the good ol' mainstream news media trying to score political points against Bush and Schwarzenegger at a time when we are still trying to put the flames out. Similarly, the left-wing blogs are all over Bush. The enviromentalists, predictably, are attributing this to Global Warming and the errors of Man living so close to nature, etc. etc,... Never mind that the environmental lobby has prevented the Forest Service from clearing out old, dead trees and underbrush, which in our dry areas, has undoubtedly contributed to the rapid spread of fires in our state.
For those of you not familiar with Southern California, ours is a land with not much rainfall and much dry acreage. We also have the so-called dry Santa Ana winds, that come every year and contribute greatly to the fire hazard. Thus, we have an annual fire season. This is nothing new, just the worst.
At this point, there is absolutely no comparison to Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. Unlike New Orleans and Louisiana, our governor and local leaders have performed in a professional manner. The Feds have learned the lessons of Katrina and are coordinating well with their state and local counterparts. The point is that it should not matter who is liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. We are trying to save lives and property here. Those who are standing on the sidelines and trying to assess blame for political advantage should be ashamed.
In being fair to the people in New Orleans, we were frightened, but we werent wet, we werent stuck on the top of buildings,WE COULD GET AWAY, we had a good infastructure, we have many "neighbors", not all of one type in one area. We had a chance to sit down, relax, wait to see what happened.Out friends and neighbors helped. In New Orleans EVERYONE WAS IN THE SAME BOAT. Those people didnt have the same chances we had. Be generous and be thankfull for what WE HAVE.
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