Countywide : Fire Chiefs to Draft Riot Safety Policy

In the wake of the rioting in Los Angeles, Orange County fire chiefs said Thursday that they will begin drafting a policy to ensure the protection of firefighters dispatched to violent situations outside the county.

The proposal, to be drafted by the Orange County Fire Chiefs Assn., would most likely seek to provide continual local police escort for the county’s firefighters who are sent into an unstable situation, said Laguna Beach Fire Chief Rich Dewberry, president of the association.

“It is a new concept to include police as a part of local (firefighting) strike teams,” Dewberry said.

Fire chiefs began to rethink safety issues after firefighters encountered gunfire while battling blazes during the riots.

Dewberry said the county’s fire chiefs hope to draft the proposal and work with the county’s police chiefs to put into place a framework for a joint response to future disasters.

The issue of protection was hotly debated after Westminster Fire Chief D’Wayne Scott, fearing for his firefighters’ safety, decided not to send them into riot-torn Los Angeles on April 29.

Had they been escorted by local police, Scott said Thursday, that would have “resolved the fear factor.”

“You cannot guarantee their safety unless they leave here with protection,” Scott said after the association meeting, which was held in Anaheim. “Had that been available, I would have not hesitated to send them.”

That first night of violence, Orange County authorities dispatched 11 strike teams and a total of 55 fire engines to the aid of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Firefighters traveled from blaze to blaze under escort of the Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol.

Despite police protection, several firefighters were wounded by gunfire, including Santa Ana firefighter Lenny Edelman, 32, who was shot in the left thigh while fighting fires April 30.

Some of Scott’s staff members, frustrated at not being sent to help in the crisis, formed a unit as a part of the Westminster Firefighters Local 2425 and went north during their off-duty hours to help fight fires. The next day the Westminster City Council voted to overrule Scott’s decision, and a team of 16 city firefighters was sent to Los Angeles.

Orange County fire departments were among about 50 agencies in Southern California that helped during the riots, under a statewide mutual-aid agreement. The agreement provides a fire chief with the option of refusing to respond with resources should a situation be deemed too dangerous, officials said.

A five-member committee made up of Fire Chiefs Dewberry, Michael Dolder of Huntington Beach, Jeff Bowman of Anaheim and Larry Holms of the Orange County Fire Department will draft a policy that may alter the way local fire departments participate in mutual-aid situations.

Such a policy would have to be approved by the association before being taken to the county’s police chiefs.

“I think this will show a universal care for the safety of our firefighters,” Scott said. “We all realize that importance.”