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, a number of local counties, ranging from Marin, Kern and Santa Barbara to Ventura, Orange and Los Angeles County, are paid by CAL FIRE to provide wildfire services nominally considered the State's responsibility.



While San Diego County was hardest hit by the October 2007 wildfires, it was nevertheless necessary for firefighters from the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) to respond to several serious but less damaging wildfires in Los Angeles County. According to the LAFD website, Strike Teams helped battle the so-called Buckweed Fire near Agua Dulce, about a dozen miles north of L.A., and the Canyon Fire, the name given to a virulent brushfire near Malibu, about eight miles west of Los Angeles. All told, five Strike Teams totaling about 150 firefighters drew wildfire duty during the October crisis.

By all accounts, the Los Angeles Fire Department is well-equipped to serve the fire-fighting needs of America's second largest city. Launched formally in 1886 as a paid firefighting service amalgamated from several volunteer services first formed in the 1870s, the LAFD has grown from its initial complement of four fire stations serving 50,000 residents to rank among the nation's biggest fire departments. Today, more than 3,600 uniformed firefighters man over 100 fire stations throughout metropolitan Los Angeles, where more than four million residents rely on the LAFD for a wide range of fire prevention and firefighting services. The Department also provides EMC services, hazmat mitigation and disaster response services.

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 with the ability to pump 38,000 gallons of water per minute at heights of up to 400 feet. The Warner Lawrence replaced the LAFD's oldest fire boat, the 78-year-old Ralph J. Scott, in April 2003.