MikesPhotos

UPDATED 05/04/2008: LACoFD and AMR It's that time of month everyone. During the month of May various cities throughout the Los Angeles area host Fire Service Days showcasing their equipment, Emergency Management, and do their best to educate the public. Today's update comes from the Santa Clarita Emergency Management Expo and includes images of LACoFD Battalion 6, Hazmat 43, AMR Ambulance, and an extrication demonstration by LACoFD Q126. All told, there are 137 new pics, so Enjoy! Click Here To Go To: --Emergency Expo

OPG stands for the Official Police Garage of Los Angeles. Due to the size of LA and the amount of money a private tow company can make dealing with the city of Los Angeles, they decided to certify certain garages as Official Police Garages for different areas. This was to stop companies and tow truck drivers from stealing each others calls and the fights that occurred elsewhere and has worked out well for all parties involved. You can read more about their history here and if you go to my website just put OPG in the search window and it'll show you some examples including close ups of the logo. Glad you like the idea. I was thinking that for each unit it would be a time consuming nightmare and why maybe having a gear drop option after they rappel might work. Like with the trailer, they'd just be able to grab what they need from it. I gotta admit, the new pose is awesome. All of these new animations are really opening up a new door to this game. Even the rappel looks great, though the hands are a bit off, I can't wait to helitack a crew into the fire and pick up those stubborn hot spots. Mike

Glad you found time to still play around even with the workload you've been under recently! Looking great. I could see this coming in handy in the barn fire mission! Are you planning on modeling any FBI HRT (one of their versions of SWAT) officers? I have some detailed shots of the outfit on my site, though its pretty standard as to what the LAPD uses as well, just with FBI on it. Looking good with the new animations. Hopefully we'll get an OPG paint scheme on it soon too! Great! I am curious though, is there any way they can come out carrying any equipment? For example, the National guardsmen can use chainsaws and extinguishers for forest fire missions. Would it be possible for them to rappel out with the gear, or perhaps have the helicopter be able to release a gear bag for them to be able to grab equipment from? Another possiblity might be to do it somehow similar to the sharpshooter who carries a rifle as part of his model. Could the game be able to have a national guardsman with a backpack pump or chainsaw in that regard? I'm pretty big on the idea of Helitack and not having to find a landing spot will make it even better! I can't tell from that angle, but I'm curious what rifle you are modeling? I know as recently as 2005 the FBI sniper's were utilizing bolt action rifles, with the FN SPR being the most common. It's looking great, including the arjent on the patrol car. The new toys will definetly be fun to play with in the missions and free play. Mike

The experimental truck that went to B5 and EMS14 was not purchased fleet wide. There were a lot of complaints about the EMS version, and the last decision I heard was that within the next few years, when the Chiefs get new SUV's, the EMS captains will probably get their old ones as hand me downs depending on their serviceability. The B5 vehicle was basically due to the special area of the Hollywood Hills interface zone and I've heard mixed reviews of its usefulness there. As far as the County unit goes, I'll let you know in a month. So far I've yet to come across it in the field, and never even saw it in the shops so I can't even tell you if it's been delivered yet. With May being fire service month, I'm sure if it's been delivered, it'll be hauled out to one of the dog and pony shows, but anything is better then the silver airstream trailer we've been using. That thing is just sad. Judging by that site, I wonder if it will be used as a Mobile Command post, or some other function. This is the LACoFD Infrared/Mapping unit used by the GIS section on large incidents. I wouldn't be surprised if the new unit gets turned into some other type of specialty vehicle as well. Mike

As Mtrucker said, It has been requested before here and here amongst other places. The quick answer is the LAFD doesn't use SUV's for their EMS captains, they use the car you see in the game. For a more in depth answer, look here and using the search function.

The other shot was just a teaser, here is the sample of what's been added, apparatus wise. All told, there's a lot to see, and a lot more to still be added! Mike

UPDATED 04/25/2008: Huge LACoFD Update & 1 Cloud Today's update is probably my biggest in a while, so hopefully there is something for everyone. There are 68 new shots of LACoFD Engine 144, Patrol 144, Fire Station 144, and Repair 5. 12 Shots of the new Fire Simulator training aid at Fire station 89. 53 Shots of a Traffic Collision with minor injuries and 30 shots of an Overturned Vehicle accident with Ventura County Fire. Also updated are shots of a Snake call, Smoke in a Structure, and 2 medical aids. And just for those who only go to the general folder, there is a new Cloud/sunset picture. All told, there are 252 pictures added, Enjoy!

Love the ARFF rigs. Between spending most of my time assigned to MCAS El Toro before joining the FD, and my first fire station being at French Valley Airport, I've always had a thing for specialized ARFF. and now, another update! UPDATED 04/24/2008: LACoFD B5, E65, E144, S89 & FS89 As promised, here is the first of a series of LACoFD Updates over the next few days and weeks. This update is 38 pics of LA County Fire Battalion 5, Engine 65, Engine 144, Squad 89 and Fire Station 89. Enjoy! Click Here To Go To: -- LACoFD --

LOL I wish I had more time, I'm swamped with unedited pics that are all due Saturday. As for the ambulance, it's actually one of the older ones. 909 means it's the BLS, non-paramedic, ambulance from Fire Station 109. Most of the newer ones are Paramedic (ALS) rigs with even more coming soon including new heavy-lift capable ambulances.

LAFD E92 & RA909 The next few updates are going to be very heavily LACoFD focused so I thought I'd throw in an LAFD one first to break it up. Today's update is 35 pics of LAFD's E92 and RA909 in Sherman Oaks on a medical aid. E92 is one of the new 2007 Seagraves and I have to admit, I was very impressed! Enjoy! Click Here To Go To: -- LAFD Medical Aid --

Hey Hoppah, The American Heroes Air Show is july 12th this year by me. That event usually brings out at least 6 to 8 different S70 based variants from the US Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, National Guard and LACoFD. Let me know if there is any angle or detail you are looking for and I'll add it to my list of things to focus on while I'm there. Mike

Just a quick heads up, I've been very busy shooting pics the last week or so and here's a list of what to expect coming up: Coming up that might be of use to the LA Mod and other mods. 2008 Expo Pics -USFS ANF Engine 31 --walk around of the engine as well as the Patrol -CHP --close up of lightbar and new push bumper strobes. I've only seen these on units in the Santa Clarita valley so far and just in the last few weeks -County animal control truck --Someone mentioned Animal Control -County EMS Mobile Field Hospital --10 bed hospital with 2 bed operating room. This semi is used to respond in 48hrs to a cripled hospital and work in conjunction with a 100 bed tent system for a period of 6 months. Only kind in the US, NC has a similar one, but older style, not as capable --Also pics of their EMS medical doctor response SUV. used to transport doctors around disaster areas -LACoPD --Hoppah mentioned he liked the pics of the SUV, so I tried to get some more for him, as well as pics of the officers uniform. They're very similar to the LA Co. Sheriff's and rumors are they'll soon be absorbed by them. -LASD --Interior of the Crown Vic, Walk around of Kawasaki motor unit showing shotgun, radar gun and other details, LASD patrol boat, recruitment PT Cruiser, and Ford Expidition tow SUV for the boat -USCG --Auxillary patrol boat -LACoFD --lots of pics, though not really anything that is game related. B6, North Ops, E124, S124, Q126, Hazmat76 and gear, USAR 130, Swift Water 130, and SAR K9 LAFD Pics -couple of shots of LF88, LF102, RA102, and USAR 88, no roof yet though. LACoFD 24hr shift @ 144's -Pics from fire simulator training at Fire Station 89 -Pics of Paramedic Assesment Engine 144, Patrol 144, Water Tender 144, Repair 5, including detail shots, E65, S89, B5 -Couple of medical aids and traffic accidents, 1 snake call -Pics of thousand oaks PD (ventura county SO), Ventura County S31 and Engine 31 and 33, LASD and officers, and AMR paramedic Ambulance for Ventura County All told i've got over 1100 pics in my "to do" file. They're all tagged and renamed, but they still need to be edited since I shoot in RAW. Mike

Whoops, I missed part of the question. The Class 1 rating is an ISO (Insurance Services Office) rating that insurers have in the past, and possibly still do, base insurance premiums and rates on. LAFD is no longer a Class 1 city, and very few across the nation are, as the classes are based on a wide variety of factors and elements that are almost impossible for a large city with a brush area to meet. You can read more about it as well as commentary from LAFD's own PIO Brian Humprhey here.

Heh, I haven't seen that in a while. They actually kind of fibbed a bit and used a Voice Dispatch instead of the Digital Voice system since with a filming like that, it'd be too much of a hassle to have dispatch constantly run it over and over and over again. The steady burn light is just like any other emergency light on the vehicle. It is only activated when you are involved in a situation the would require emergency lights and sirens. I think you may have it confused with what are called "cruise lights" which are small semi-dim lights inside of a lightbar that remain on constantly to make the vehicle more noticeable. These are typically found in Code 3 products used by security vehicles at malls and shopping centers. Mike

You'll have to post a pic/video of the vehicle in question. I can tell you that I spend about half of my week in Hollywood division and due to County covering West Hollywood, we run mutual aid into both areas quite often. In all of that time, I've never seen anything but a standard LAPD unit that we've all seen thousands of pics of. Without seeing it, I can't say what it is, who it belongs to, or why it was there. Also in regards to that show being unscripted, well... I guess the magic of Hollywood is still alive!

LAFD stations use a Digital Voice Dispatch system by Locution Systems. In the station you hear a solid alerting tone followed by the digitized voice dispatch. You can hear an example of it in this video on myspace along with Command traffic. Notice how he doesn't ask for additional alarms but asks for task forces and RA's. The only beeps are from the mdt's waiting for acknowledgement/enroute. Neither City nor County use pagers for their regular personal. Remember, Emergency! was representative of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, not city. As far as I am aware, Los Angeles City has never had those kind of tones. While LACoFD has changed their system in recent years, they still do utilize a tone-out system for major incidents like structure and brush fires. You can hear an example of the tones for a brush fire here I warn you first, TURN DOWN the volume! It's enough to wake the dead and piss off the neighbors dog. The basic rule of thumb, the more tones you hear, the bigger the incident. A normal structure fire would just have the ones for the Battalion Chiefs, in this one you hear the county copters, chiefs, special units, camps, and others. As far as the unmarked SUV goes, let me first start out by saying that when it comes to unmarked, virtually anything can go! You have so many different special groups in the LAPD that utilize something other then the standard black and white patrol cars. From Narco to SIS to detectives and crime lab officers, you are going to find a great mix of vehicles that don't conform to the general marked units. Now, there is a big difference between unmarked and undercover! Not everyone gets lights and sirens, and not everyone gets a crown vic or something that looks official. I've seen more then a few Narcotics units driving Land Rovers and Acura's simply because their whole point is not to be identifiable. For standard detective units and such, they usually drive an unmarked crown vic as I've mentioned before, but they also show up in vehicles like this one in the middle that had no emergency lighting but held 2 LAPD detectives. One thing to note though, since I'm sure someone will ask for it to be covered in a billion blinky lights, these vehicles, when outfitted with emergency lights, will rarely have more then a visor/dash light to the front with a steady burn red/blue flashing light, and maybe corner strobes or some other minor warning light. Sorry guys, we're just not a big blinky light place.

Today's update is 53 pics from a reported structure fire in Calabasas. LACoFD Q125, E65, E68, B5, and LASD responded to a 2 story single family dwelling that was being built when a fire broke out in the wall. It was pretty much out by the time fire resources responded on scene, and LACoFD units ovehauled the area and made sure it was out and safe. Since this is an apparatus thread, here is a mix of the best of the units on scene. Click the pic or the link below to see the Firefighters in action. Enjoy! Click Here To Go To: -- UPDATED 04/11/2008: LACoFD Structure Fire/Fire Out --

For the most part, LAPD does use Suburbans for 99% of their SUV's, but they do have a few Ford Explorers that I've seen with their K9 units, Bomb Squad (though most are white Suburbans), and Off Road enforcement. Since you've never seen one, check out this pic at Police Car online to see an LAPD Ford Explorer. Yes, they do exist, but they are rare compared to the others. Just curious what places are those? On my daily run today, I passed by 3 CALTRANS (California Department of Transportation) vans, 3 LA DOT (Los Angeles City Department of Transportation) vans, and 1 LA DWP (Los Angeles City Department of Water and Power) van. I didn't see any SUV's, and only 1 pickup truck driven by a DOT engineer. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a DOT SUV, the closest would be a Rec's and Park one at Griffith park. It's almost always the older style van as seen in the game, or a cherry picker/work utility large truck. I personally like the idea of a large Traffic Collision. While they are far far far more common in the rest of the US, they're pretty rare in Los Angeles. While we do get fog along the beaches and coast at times, even while living in Huntington Beach, you'd only get 2 or 3 vehicles involved. We really just don't have the weather issues other places do. No snow for white out and fog isn't too much of a problem simply because we have so much traffic driving around that it clears the freeways and streets. One of the most amazing sights is to drive on the 405 freeway through Seal beach and have the lanes be completely clear but it is socked in 0 visibility on either side of it. If I was to guess the cause of a major collision like that, I'd go with a few out of recent memory. A few weeks back we had a wrong way driver that went head on with a Semi on the 118 freeway. Multiple cars involved, took out the center divider, and lit the brush along the freeway on fire as well. On the I5 not to long ago there was a bad Semi accident and fire in the I5/I14 truck tunnel that involved a number of vehicles and forced a rebuild of the tunnel. PCH in Malibu gets quite a few bad head on collisions as well as rock slides/mudslide. Due to traffic and the nature of the two lane road, most accidents there tend to be 2 or 3 vehicles at most, and it's also Counties area for much of the stretch.

in Mods\Los Angeles Mod v1.5\Specs\fp_params_endless.xml or Mods\Los Angeles Mod v1.5\Specs\fp_params_endless_d.xml for deluxe map, you want to scroll down to the bottom where it says climate and you can either remove the other weather patterns just leaving Fair, or change the fog intensity, rain intensity and storm intensity to 0.0 for each one. Mike

A Personal note you won't read anywhere else... I am SOOO glad this I'm done with the Canyon Fire pics!!! I still have about 30 air tanker shots to go through, but it'll be a long time coming before I bother with them. This is pretty much my last bit I had from that fire and I'm just glad it's done! UPDATED 04/4/2008: CanyonIC Pt. 2: Misc. Apparatus and Scenery Hey everyone, today's update is a little bit of everything for everyone. We have 12 shots in the Misc. Apparatus folder of Long Beach City Fire's Engine 1 and 18, LASD's special command vehicle, LAFD Fire 3, USFS H534, and LACoFD Engine 106. Also in this update are 30 scenery shots of the smoke, fire, and area around Pepperdine and the Pacific Ocean. The destroyed vehicles in the pics belonged to the campus and were parked near the Tower and shows just how close this fire came to devastating a larger part of Malibu then it did. Enjoy the pics!

I'm curious what specifically you are asking for since the unmarked car can already park at the police station and carry SWAT officers. My personal preference is to use two of the unmarked cars, 1 with 2 SWAT officers that are my grab team, 1 with a Negotiator and a Scout as my intelligence team, and then follow that up with a van for heavy equipment and more resources if necessary.

Thank you! I was never very good at art such as drawing, painting, and such. Coming from a very technical background with my college studies in Computer Science, BioChem, and Geographical Information Services, photography really appealed to me due to the fact that it is 50% science of light and 50% artistic creativity. I just let the events happen for themselves, and nature takes care of the creation and beauty. My goal is to just find the best way to capture it and find a way to make what I see really stand out and pop. Ah now I understand your question better. If you look at my website, you'll see that whenever possible, I'm pretty well known for my "pics from above" angle. I tend to avoid going to the same places other people do, and maybe it's my former military background, but I find taking the high ground is always advantageous! I'll climb hills, onto roofs, and shimmy up a tree whenever possible. I even paid a guy 10 bucks once to let me shoot from the top of his semi! For the Pepperdine helispot pics, the helispot just happened to be lower then then the surrounding area. Instead of staying at the HS, I drove around a bit until I found a good area that had a view of it and wasn't too dangerous. The problem with this kind of thing is you don't want to be directly in their path since more then a few times you'll see them take in a full tank of water and as they're pulling away, the debris and stuff is still falling from the donkey dick. A lot of the area is also kept clear simply because going from a hover to foreward flight with a full tank can lead to other issues, especially with a strong wind and you need to be aware of that for your own safety. Beyond that, it's just about looking around, seeing their flight path, knowing the safety issues involved, and making sure you have the right kind of light from the sun. A really good pair of boots and having the proper focal length lens helps too! Mike

UPDATED 04/4/2008: CanyonIC: CWN Erickson Air-Cranes First update of April and this time it's 64 shots of Erickson Air-Crane HT732 and HT742 at the Canyon Fire in Malibu. These shots were taken at the Pepperdine Helispot where it snorkled reclaimed water from the schools pond. Enjoy!<br />

Both CDF and the USFS do use portable pumps and I know that in California at least, it is a requirement that Type III engines carry one that will pump at least 35GPM per an OES agreement. It's been a while, but if memory serves me right, CDF uses the Waterous Floto Pump and the Pacific Marine pump. As far as Indian tanks, otherwise known as backpack pumps or bladder bags for those not familiar with the term, they are much more popular in other parts of the US then on the West Coast. CDF does equip their helitack crews with them due to the nature of their duties, and I beleive the USFS helitack and hand crews use them too. Like you said, they're more for small grass fires and not the fuel load we have out here. They do have their place though, like in Cold Trailing by Type II teams. Mike

Since it is a bigger hit on my server to link to each thumbnail individually and load each one every time, I go through the latest pics I upload, pick out a handful that I feel showcase a good representation of the update, and then just copy the urls into notepad. Using some basic html, I can make a grid like you see and then just screen cap it into a small jpg. If you want to do it with local files, I recommend using irfan. It has a great thumbnail to jpg feature.