LA County Santa Clause Tragedy/Fire

[Andy Thomas]

Did any of you LA County FP's make it to that fire? Also I was looking
at someones pictures of the Universal Studios Fire and noticed there
was about 4 photographers in gear, how many official photographers
does LA County have and does everyone get along?

[Brent Bollar]

I believe LA County Fire now has (2) paid full-time photographers and (2) paid full-time videographers. Also there is approx (50) members of the Volunteer Photo Unit and with every group most get along and there are few that don't, but all in all a good bunch of people to work with.

 

Brent

---

From: Andy Thomas <athom...@hotmail.com>
To: Fireground Action Photography <Fireg...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 9:34:46 AM
Subject: [Fireground Action Photography] LA County Santa Clause Tragedy/Fire

[Andy Thomas]

So does the Volunteer Photo Unit work with the Fire Department? Does
the department do anything to assist ie: radios/pagers/etc. Does the
Vol Photo Unit have meetings etc? Do the full time guys drive POV's or
do they have Dept issued vehicles?

On Dec 29, 11:42 am, Brent Bollar <brentb...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I believe LA County Fire now has (2) paid full-time photographers and (2) paid full-time videographers. Also there is approx (50) members of the Volunteer Photo Unit and with every group most get along and there are few that don't, but all in all a good bunch of people to work with.
>
>  Brent
>
> ________________________________

> From: Andy Thomas <athomas5...@hotmail.com>

[Craig D.]

Andy,

LACoFD issues Volunteer Photographers department ID cards as well as
dash placards for their POVs. They are also now issuing safety vests
and helmets. No pagers or radios but most members either listen to
scanners or use their own two-way radios/pagers/notification systems
for incident notification.

I'm also a vol. photographer for the Pasadena Fire Dept. They've
issued us (about five of us) brush jackets, helmet shields, dash
placards and dept. ID cards. Although we have radio call signs,
radios have not yet been issued. A few of us already have our own
radios that are compatible with the system and we use those to
communicate with each other on back channels. Pasadena is great in
that they provide us with equipment as the budget allows. LACoFD is
very careful about what they issue and typically doesn't offer much in
that regard.

Also, I was on scene at the Universal Studios fire and have posted a
few on the Flickr Group. I used my LA County creds to get onto the
property (which is in county jurisdiction. LACoFD also has a station
on the lot. I recall at least 8-10 photographers being on scene at
one time or another.

Craig