3 Brothers Are Battalion Chiefs : Firefighting Family: Like Father, Like Sons

Richard Olsen, a battalion chief with the Los Angeles Fire Department, remembers the big industrial fire downtown, when he had to tell the command post how he had deployed two other battalion chiefs and their units.

“I said, ‘Chief Olsen has the rear and Chief Olsen has the inside,’ ” Olsen recalled with a chuckle.

Olsen, 47, and his brothers, Raymond and Robert, are all battalion chiefs. Richard works in the building administration section and his brothers are assigned to the fire prevention and fire suppression sections, respectively.

Blood relations are common in the firefighting business, Richard Olsen said, but they are the only brothers that have risen to the rank of battalion chief together in the department’s history.

They followed in the footsteps of their late father, Walter Olsen, who served as a battalion chief at the Los Angeles International Airport station during his 33-year tenure with the department.

“Pop never encouraged any of us to become firemen,” Richard said. “But there was something about the respect that he had for the Fire Department. And we figured there couldn’t be anything better than becoming what he was.”

Although their co-workers constantly confuse their names--Richard is always getting Raymond’s mail--the Olsens are known as quite distinct individuals.

Richard, who is currently working on updating the earthquake tolerance of 15 fire stations throughout the city, said he is proudest of his involvement in a research project commissioned by the federal government in 1976 that resulted in a manual that has helped cities evaluate fire risks and develop optimum prevention and firefighting systems. The soft-spoken Richard is the one most like their father, his brothers said.

Raymond, 43, who works one floor below Richard in City Hall East, the Fire Department headquarters downtown, is said to have distinguished himself as an expert in emergency hazardous waste and public safety. Sliding his chair back and forth across the floor, the youngest brother said he has probably been the “most daring” firefighter of the three because, unlike his brothers, he has not been a family man. Raymond was married last Saturday.

Robert, 48, known for strong and consistent leadership, oversees the 145 firefighters of the San Pedro harbor station. He worked in the same building as his brothers until October, and had helped implement the 911 emergency dispatch system for Los Angeles in 1984.

Those who work with them said that the brothers’ personalities are as different as their specialties.

‘Heart of Gold’

“Bob is the gruff-and-tough guy with a heart of gold,” said Chief Jim Young, a friend and colleague of the Olsens. “Dick is the sophisticated manager, and Ray is enthusiastic and does everything very well.”

Reared in West Los Angeles, the brothers attended parochial schools together, helped each other through the Navy, and boosted one another up the ranks of the Fire Department.

As boys, they heard about their father’s work only occasionally. As men, the three fought fires alongside him in the 1960s and ‘70s. The brothers studied together for the chief officer’s examination and passed it in 1977. Within the next year, they were successively appointed to the position along with about 20 others, Raymond said.

“Because of dad, we all wanted to aspire as far as we can on the job,” said Robert, who in 1959 became the first brother to join the department.

In the summer of 1965, the four Olsens, working different shifts, battled the fires set in the Watts riots. Robert said he remembers waiting for his father’s car to return and worrying about his brothers every time he heard that someone was hurt.

Hazards of the Job

“I didn’t realize how dangerous dad’s job was until I tried it myself,” he said. “If mom ever worried about him, she never told us about it.” Walter Olsen died in 1981 from work-related acid burns in his lungs.

“I am not afraid for them,” their mother, Kay Olsen, said from her home in Mission Hills. “But I do pray for them a lot, especially if I know something is stirring.”

Nevertheless, the brothers are quick to see the humor in firefighting as a family business.

At meetings where two or more of them have been present, Richard said he would poke fun at his sibling by announcing, “Mother sent me to keep an eye on him.”

The Olsens’ presence has given the department a sense of family pride, colleagues said.

Ed Leland, the senior Olsen’s former aide, said he and many others shared Walter’s pride the day that the last brother joined the other three Olsens in wearing the chief officer’s brass.

“He was just overjoyed,” Leland said. “He thought it would never happen, and he was as proud as a person could be.”

Without their father, and without each other, none of them would have come as far, Raymond said. “It is like farming. You’re a better farmer if your dad was, because you live with it and there is an understanding about it.”

Robert added, “Our work gives us a lot in common, but our mom and our wives really suffer whenever we get together because we talk about it and swap stories.”