Dangers of Job Brought Home to Firefighters

When the Fire Department helicopter slammed to the ground Monday, the city’s firefighters were brought face to face with the perils of their vocation and policymakers were left to ponder the consequences of their decisions.

After more than a decade of saving lives without sacrificing any of their own, city firefighters have seen four of their colleagues die in the line of duty this month.

The fatal accident Monday, and the firefighting death of a captain March 8, served as painful reminders of the dangerous work firefighters undertake, as well as a wake-up call to city officials who have cut the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget over the last several years.

The mayor and other city officials have not only cut the Fire Department’s budget, but have rejected the agency’s requests since 1993 to replace aging helicopters like the one that went down Monday.

“My impression is that the Fire Department has very much been given direction that we don’t have a lot of money for you,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, chairwoman of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee. “For years we’ve been saying there’s no money for equipment--nothing, nothing, nothing. Now, we’re trying to play catch-up. . . . Unfortunately, this is the way the city does business. It’s management by crisis.”

David W. Fleming, a fire commissioner, agreed, saying that the department has been shortchanged by the city.

“It’s all catching up to us--thanks to the city’s reluctance in spending money for public safety,” Fleming said. “These [helicopters] should have been replaced some time ago. It would not surprise me if it was a mechanical malfunction that caused this. . . . Maybe the Fire Department hasn’t squeaked enough. Consequently, it’s out of sight, out of mind.”

However, other city officials--including the fire chief and union representatives--were cautious about linking Monday’s crash to cutbacks in the Fire Department’s budget.

“To connect these two dots--aging of the equipment and the cause of the crash--at this point is a stretch,” said Noelia Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Mayor Richard Riordan.

Investigators are still trying to determine why the helicopter, which was on a rescue mission, crashed in a wooded area of Griffith Park, killing paramedics Michael A. Butler, 33, of Santa Clarita and Eric F. Reiner, 33, of Carson; Michael McComb , 48, a flight crew member; and a 12-year-old girl, Norma Vides of Sun Valley.

Rodriguez said the mayor is looking hard at the Fire Department’s budget for the coming year, as he has during previous years.

“Obviously, we’re taking a look at stretching and skimping and pulling together every penny to give the Fire Department what it needs--in light of the fact that there are competing needs in the city.”

Stung by repeated budget cutbacks, fire officials have been forced to prioritize their requests for funds--against their department’s competing internal needs. Fire engines, pumpers and other vehicles were made higher priorities than helicopters, officials said.

Last week, the City Council restored $3.6 million to the agency’s budget after a preliminary departmental report linked the recent death of Capt. Joseph C. Dupee, in part, to budget cutbacks. Dupee died while battling a blaze in a commercial building.

On Monday, city officials said they also were considering a request by the Fire Department to purchase four newer helicopters from the Department of Water and Power; those discussions are underway.

In an interview, Fire Chief William Bamattre said helicopters are of critical concern to the department, “because the margin of survival is so slim” in air crashes. But he added that the helicopter that crashed probably would not have been grounded, even if the department had already received the additional aircraft from the Department of Water and Power.

No amount of city funding or new equipment would have minimized the sense of tragedy that hung over Los Angeles’ firefighters Monday.

“It’s been a terrible month,” said Pat McOsker, a member of the board of directors of United Firefighters of Los Angeles Local 112. “It’s horrible. Just horrible.”

Fire stations throughout the city had just raised their flags from half-staff last week after formally mourning the death of Dupee. On Monday, the flags were lowered again.

“It’s like losing three brothers,” McOsker said. “It feels like a battlefield around here. We just went through this [with the death of Dupee].”

Firefighters and paramedics said they are well aware of the dangers of their jobs.

“When I left home this morning, I made sure to kiss my wife and kiss my kid,” said Capt. Dwayne Golden, 40, a 14-year veteran of the force. “I don’t walk out the door in fear, but I know something could happen and I might not come back home.”

Dan Terry, president of the California Professional Firefighters Assn., said that across the nation about 100 firefighters die in the line of duty each year.

“We have the dubious distinction of being one of the most dangerous professions around,” he said. “Los Angeles has certainly had more than its share of it in recent weeks.”

Over the last 75 years, Terry said, more than 500 firefighters have died in the state. In Los Angeles, 51 firefighters have died since the department was formed 112 years ago. Until, Dupee’s death, however, the department had gone 13 years without an on-duty fatality.

The fatal accidents hit firefighters particularly hard because of the amount of time they spend together at their stations and the nature of their high-risk jobs. Moreover, most in the department are somehow connected through transfers and joint training sessions.

“They are more than just colleagues at work,” said Los Angeles Fire Capt. Bob Mihlhauser of Station 26, who knew Dupee and two of the firefighters killed in Monday’s crash.

“They are like members of your own family and we lost them in two incidents so close together,” he said. “You put yourself in those shoes, and you can understand how we feel.”

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Times staff writers Abigail Goldman and Daniel Yi contributed to this story.