A Bit of Smoke Gets in Their Eyes : Nostalgia Reigns as P. V. Estates Firefighters Join County

Firefighters here were packing up their memories this week.

For Chief Monty Cookus, a 28-year department stalwart, there was the Malaga Cove brush fire of 1970, when the rugged hillside burned on and off for a day and a half. “We’d get it subdued, and then it would flare up again,” he said.

For Capt. Dennis Colmerauer, whose city service started more than 21 years ago, the etchings on his mind were of violent deaths on the city’s rugged seaside cliffs--times when the department was too late to the rescue.

Christmas Eve Suicide

“There was a suicide one Christmas Eve,” he recalled. “A guy drove his Volkswagen over a cliff. We had to cut him out of it and when we did, we found Christmas toys in the back seat. That was hard to take at Christmas, because I had to be away from my family and here was this guy who felt so bad he had to kill himself.”

And there was the teen-age girl who ran so fast down a trail that she couldn’t stop, fell 100 feet and died. “She had a bottle of wine in one hand and a guitar in the other,” Colmerauer recalled.

Joe Felando, a department youngster with less than two years in uniform, had more pleasant memories--about the first time he was sent in to rid a house of a pesky peacock.

Wearing protective clothing--”they can really bite”--he blocked off hallways and stalked the alternately walking and flying bird through the house. “When it took off, I could really feel the power of the wings,” he said.

The rush of memories was understandable. So was the sign changing and the taking stock of equipment. And so were the goodbys, for most of the men--some co-workers for years--were about to be scattered around Los Angeles County.

After nearly half a century--including many years as an all-volunteer force--the Fire Department marked the end of its independence and joined the county Consolidated Fire Protection District, which already includes the three other Palos Verdes Peninsula cities of Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills Estates and Rolling Hills.

In ceremonies Monday, county Chief John W. Englund welcomed Palos Verdes Estates--one fire station, 4.7 square miles and 14,500 people--to the county district: 130 stations, 2,100 square miles and 2.5 million people.

Mayor Ruth Gralow, in turn, said the county now will “be able to serve in the most beautiful city in Los Angeles County.”

Officials said that the change--in the works for months and officially approved in May--means better fire protection from more stations with more men and more equipment. But it also ends a long chapter in the city’s life in which people knew their firefighters by first names and kept them well supplied with cookies and cakes.

Last Group Photo

“We’ll miss our special boys,” said Councilwoman Barbara Culver as the 18 men of the department, wearing blue shirts and ties, stood in line and faced a battery of photographers--some professional, many family and friends--for the last time as a group. Earlier, the City Council gave them plaques.

Firefighters say that in recent weeks, many residents have come by the station. “They wished us well and said they were sorry to see us leave,” said Tom Cook, a city firefighter for 19 years who has transferred to Carson.

“I’m sad to leave the city where I grew up and spent my career in, but I’m excited about the new job,” said Chief Cookus, whose father was assistant fire chief during the volunteer days. Cookus has gone to Carson as a captain.

Six of “our boys” are staying at the Palos Verdes Estates station, and they have been joined by nine men transferring in from other county stations, for a full complement of 15. In its contract with the county, the city stipulated that six men with good local knowledge--two on each shift--remain to help the new ones learn the local street system and community lore and ensure quick responses from the start.

After all, who but a local knows that “crack in the pavement” is the nickname for the 500 block of Paseo del Mar, where surfers have a trail down to the beach. “The road used to be cracked, but it’s been paved for years,” said Colmerauer, who has transferred to the county Windsor Hills station.

Many city firefighters requested transfers to other county stations to be nearer their homes. But Cookus said of the six who are staying, only one wanted to leave the city.

Widely Dispersed

Besides Carson, the remaining Palos Verdes Estates firefighters have gone to county stations in such locales as Lawndale, Commerce, Whittier, Lawndale and San Dimas. One, Bill Rankin, now works in Lancaster, where he has lived during his four years with the Palos Verdes Estates department.

One man, Fire Inspector Don Winton, was placed on disability retirement by the city, said City Manager Gordon Siebert.

Cookus said the others wanted to transfer for career advancement or to be nearer their homes.

Most of the department supported the change to the county, and Gralow said the council, after extensive debate, decided the move was best for the city and for career-minded firefighters who felt limited in a small-town department.

Better Service

“The residents will be served as well as before,” she said.

Assistant Chief Ray Brunstrom, who commands the fire district division that includes Palos Verdes Estates, said the service--from three stations instead of one--will be even better. “The district has more resources and we can kick off a heavier first response than a small city can,” he said.

The city is paying the county $1.28 million for fire services this fiscal year, which is slightly less than the city department cost last year.

Chance for Promotion

Felando, who has switched to Carson, said he is “ecstatic” because he wants to go as far as he can in firefighting and can’t do that in a small, one-station department.

George Hemmingsen, with nearly 24 years of service the oldest city firefighter to stay in Palos Verdes Estates, said the change is good for most of the men, but he would have chosen to stay with the city because he had a better retirement plan than the county offered.

“I’ll have to work three more years for the same benefit,” said Hemmingsen, who said he will be 55 in August and would have been able to retire if the department had not gone county. He said a few other men have the same retirement problem.

With its sea breezes, ocean views and opulent homes, Palos Verdes Estates has always been a beautiful place for firefighters to work. But it can be slow--some say dull--with an average of two or three calls a day. Most are for paramedics and involve traffic accidents and suspected heart attacks.

‘Slower’ Area

Capt. Dale Lincoln, who came to the station this week from Huntington Park, said he put in for the transfer because it is a “slower, lovely area.”

But slow is not always dull.

City firefighters got used to rappelling down sheer cliffs to snatch panicky people stuck on ledges. “We have more cliff rescues than anyone else,” said Cookus.

Typically, all that is ever lost to fires are garages and gazebos. Cookus said the city has only had one home burn to the ground over the years, but he added, “In this city, a bedroom fire can be $15,000 to $20,000.”