Fire Department

Officials responded to two traffic accidents on Pacific Coast Highway off Main Street last week that sent several people to the hospital, officials said. The Huntington Beach Police Department was called out to a multi-motorcycle accident Friday and, along with the Fire Department, responded Saturday to a two-vehicle accident where four people were trapped in a car. The Police Department was called to the scene after a woman fell off a motorcycle after the driver attempted to do a wheelie at 12:05 a.m. Friday at PCH and First Street, said Lt. Russell Reinhart.

-- Torus Tammer FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- The Fire Department received a new Holmatro Vehicle Extrication Rescue System, with funding provided by a $33,833 grant from the California Office of Traffic and Safety. Fountain Valley Fire Chief Bernard Heimos said the new equipment will be replacing the department's old "Jaws of Life" equipment. "It has twice the cutting and spreading capacity of the previous technology and it's lighter and more maneuverable than the previous one," Heimos said.

The Huntington Beach Fire Department is investigating a playground fire believed to have been started by an arsonist early Friday. Deputy Fire Marshal Jeff Lopez said firefighters responded to the blaze at the Heritage Montessori School's playground, 15881 Goldenwest St., at 3:42 a.m. "They found some indications that point to the possibility of it being an arson," Lopez said. One of those indications is the time the fire had started. No one was injured, and Lopez would not say if the entire playground was destroyed due to the ongoing investigation.

Anyone who's anyone in Newport Beach has heard of the old Rendezvous Ballroom -- the place to be in the early- and mid-20th century. Most everyone in the city over the age of 40 remembers the fire that destroyed the popular hangout in 1966. Milt Meehan had a close view of the disaster. He was born in Orange, but his heart was always in Newport Beach. Meehan and his friends made the coastal city their destination nearly every weekend. "We'd all chip in for gas, one of the seniors would drive his Ford, and we'd drive down to the beach and back," Meehan said.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE FEES The City Council is holding a hearing to consider a proposal by the Fire Department to raise the cost of emergency medical services. It is expected that fire officials will ask for an increase in the FireMed program -- an insurance system run by the city that covers residents in the event of an emergency and allows insured patients to pay no out-of-pockets costs for response. The Fire Department is also asking to raise the costs it charges to respond to emergencies.

Huntington Beach was reminded recently of how much a selfless act can mean in a life-or-death situation. The 37th Annual Public Safety Awards Oct. 9 at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach recognized many Gus Santos: Good Samaritan Gus Santos, of the Huntington Beach Building and Safety Department, received the department’s Good Samaritan Award for his efforts in spearheading a team of volunteers to help with...

Two residents and three of their pets escaped a house fire Friday morning in Huntington Beach. Just before 9 a.m., the Fire Department received a call about a bedroom fire in the 6100 block of Medford Drive. Responders put out the fire, which had spread to the hallway, at 9:08 a.m., Deputy Fire Marshal Jeff Lopez said. A middle-aged woman and a girl were treated at the scene and transported to a local hospital. Two dogs and a cat were also rescued and put in the hands of animal control.

The Huntington Beach city administrator announced the replacement today for retiring Fire Chief Duane Olson. Orange County Fire Authority Deputy Fire Chief Patrick McIntosh was selected by the city as the new fire chief. McIntosh’s appointment must be approved by the City Council at its Dec. 21 meeting. “Chief McIntosh was selected from a very qualified group of candidates who were gathered from a national recruitment,” said City Administrator Fred Wilson in a statement.

The 500-page "Basic Emergency Plan" is the city's bible in disasters. "Disaster preparedness guidelines are for the residents, but the emergency plan is for the staff," City Manager Ken Frank said. The plan spells out what is expected of each city department in the event of a man-made or natural disaster, right down to who will handle public information and the press. Police Capt. Danell Adams was the face and voice of emergency operations for displaced families and the media after the June 1 landslide.

Despite the loss of $1.4 million in redevelopment funds, Fountain Valley is once again balancing its budget and is expected to end the next fiscal year with a surplus and no layoffs or major cuts of services. The City Council on Tuesday passed a $36-million operating budget, with a projected $132,000 surplus by the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year. "We're operating everything on a shoestring, but we're still providing all the services and we're living within our means," said City Manager Ray Kromer.

The Huntington Beach Fire Department hazardous materials team has determined that a sandy substance found in an envelope delivered to City Hall on Monday is not dangerous, according to Fire Capt. Bob Culhane. Police and fire officials will be allowing workers back into the building after the haz-mat team and Orange County Sheriff's Department bomb squad have packed up and cleared out. The envelope was delivered to the fire department on the fifth floor of City Hall around 8:30 a.m., according to Culhane.

The Huntington Beach Fire Department rescued an Orange County Sanitary District worker who fell into a 9- to-10-foot trench Thursday. Fire Capt. Bob Culhane said a worker was injured after he fell while pouring concrete into a vault at the district's Brookhurst Street site. Paramedics went into the trench to treat the worker, who had significant injuries but was conscious, according to Culhane. Search and rescue workers used a crane and a basket to lift the man from the trench.

Tuesday evening, the concrete steps by the Huntington Beach Pier were filled with men in blue: police, firefighters and others in uniform. As Police Chief Ken Small was keen to point out, they were lucky men in blue. Each of them had lived another day to attend the ceremony. At the city's Patriot Day Ceremony, held on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden got only a brief mention, as did the War on Terror and global politics in general. The majority of the attention focused on those who gave their lives in the line of duty - for whom heroism was, before anything else, a job. That meant that, in the course of honoring the first responders on 9/11, Small also paid tribute to Kenyon Youngstrom, a California Highway Patrol officer who was fatally shot during a traffic stop earlier this month.

Despite the loss of $1.4 million in redevelopment funds, Fountain Valley is once again balancing its budget and is expected to end the next fiscal year with a surplus and no layoffs or major cuts of services. The City Council on Tuesday passed a $36-million operating budget, with a projected $132,000 surplus by the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year. "We're operating everything on a shoestring, but we're still providing all the services and we're living within our means," said City Manager Ray Kromer.

The Huntington Beach Fire Department is investigating a playground fire believed to have been started by an arsonist early Friday. Deputy Fire Marshal Jeff Lopez said firefighters responded to the blaze at the Heritage Montessori School's playground, 15881 Goldenwest St., at 3:42 a.m. "They found some indications that point to the possibility of it being an arson," Lopez said. One of those indications is the time the fire had started. No one was injured, and Lopez would not say if the entire playground was destroyed due to the ongoing investigation.

Fountain Valley has opted to stick with its own municipal fire service rather than partner with Huntington Beach or the county. The City Council directed staff in October to study the possibility of drafting a contract with the Orange County Fire Authority or merging partly or completely with the Huntington Beach Fire Department. Both were options to potentially save costs for the city. In the end, the city opted to maintain the status quo because it could better control costs in-house, City Manager Raymond Kromer said.

A helicopter made an emergency landing in the parking lot of Huntington State Beach on Monday morning after the pilot noticed smoke coming out of its electrical equipment. No one was hurt in the landing, authorities said. The Huntington Beach Fire Department responded to the emergency landing at Pacific Coast Highway and Magnolia Street after receiving a call from John Wayne Airport about it, said Deputy Fire Marshal Bob Culhane. Culhane originally said there was only the pilot in the helicopter but later said there were two people on board.

Two residents and three of their pets escaped a house fire Friday morning in Huntington Beach. Just before 9 a.m., the Fire Department received a call about a bedroom fire in the 6100 block of Medford Drive. Responders put out the fire, which had spread to the hallway, at 9:08 a.m., Deputy Fire Marshal Jeff Lopez said. A middle-aged woman and a girl were treated at the scene and transported to a local hospital. Two dogs and a cat were also rescued and put in the hands of animal control.

Thanks to the payouts for sick pay and vacation time he received upon retirement, Huntington Beach's former fire chief earned the highest paycheck among municipal fire chiefs statewide in 2009 - the most recent year for which there is data - state controller's office records show. Duane Olson's compensation that year, $363,608, eclipsed the total compensation for fire chiefs in Los Angeles, San Jose and San Diego - the three largest cities in California. However, because Olson received his large payment in the year of his retirement, it is difficult to make apples-to-apples comparisons with California's still-working fire chiefs.

The fire that gutted the Woman's Club of Huntington Beach's headquarters April 30 was accidental, according to a release from the Huntington Beach Fire Department. Deputy Fire Marshal Jeff Lopez said arson did not cause the fire, which burned the building at 420 10th St. nearly to the ground and took decades' worth of artifacts and paper records with it. However, investigators have not determined the actual cause and are still testing items from the scene, Lopez said. The Woman's Club operated out of the 101-year-old building since 1916.