OXNARD : Firefighters Blaze Trail With TV Show

Once or twice a month, Oxnard Fire Capt. Luis Beltran changes into a sleek navy blue uniform, puts on makeup and shuffles through his script.

The 39-year-old firefighter must look his best for the cameras as a host of the Fire Department’s new weekly TV show, “Fire Line.” Launched in January as an educational and publicity vehicle for the department, the 30-minute show now beams into about 43,650 area homes.

“For years we were always the department that never said anything or never caught the public eye,” said Oxnard Firefighter Ron Brubaker, “Fire Line’s” editor and director. “Our first goal is education. Our other goal is to get some recognition for the Fire Department.”

With firefighters operating most of the equipment, the show is taped in a Jones Intercable Inc. studio designed to look like a bona fide fire station. Behind where Beltran sits, firefighters’ coats hang from a row of pegs to give the set an authentic feel. Over the past eight months, show topics have included water rescues, the hazards of fireworks and the dangers of drunk driving.

Next Wednesday, firefighters will spend a full day in the studio filming “The Chain of Survival,” an episode about how bystanders can help in emergencies.

“Bystanders are probably the most important link. They can save a life,” said Brubaker, who first learned about directing and editing through classes offered by Jones Intercable in January.

Brubaker, Beltran and other firefighters on the “Fire Line” crew volunteer their time for the show--more than 50 hours a month--on their days off. Jones Intercable broadcasts “Fire Line” on Fridays at 6 p.m. on public-access Channel 19 free of charge to the department, so the show costs little to produce.

Modeled after the Oxnard Police Department’s TV show called “Street Beat,” “Fire Line” was the first weekly TV show in the country started by a fire department, according to Jones Intercable and Oxnard fire officials.

The show generally spends about 15 minutes discussing a theme such as smoke detectors and ends with several minutes of footage of actual fires and emergencies in a package called “City Update.”

Pablo Ortiz, Jones Intercable’s advertising sales manager, said viewers give the program a thumbs-up.

“We get calls on it all the time,” Ortiz said. “People always tell us to keep up the good work.”

Beltran said the show has turned him and host Richard Hodge, a Fire Department engineer, into small-time celebrities. Twenty to 30 people recognize Beltran in the store or on the street every week, he said.

“It’s hard to go anywhere without kids coming by and saying they’ve seen you on TV and could they ride the firetruck,” Beltran said.