Fire Department Adds Drama to Graduation

Twenty-two recruits of the Glendale Fire Department graduated to the position of firefighter Thursday, but before they received their badges, they engaged in a bit of drama.

As a woman engulfed in flames stumbled out of a burning building, the new firefighters extinguished the blaze.

Firefighters in a burning red brick tower climbed out the third-story windows and spider-crawled down a rope to safety.

Both fires, fortunately, were stunts, set up by a special effects crew to add color to the otherwise standard pomp and circumstance.

“For dramatic effect, we threw in some pyrotechnics,” said Don Biggs, the department’s battalion chief in charge of training. “Otherwise, [the graduation] would be boring.”

Firefighters also extinguished a car set on fire, peeled open the roof of a car like the top of a sardine can to “rescue” an accident victim and climbed a 35-foot ladder held up by six firefighters using only rope tension.

The graduation event not only gave audience members a show, but also allowed the recruits to demonstrate what they learned during their 11 weeks of training, Biggs said.

The fabricated drama was presented by Ira Katz, president of Tri-Ess Sciences, and his team of stunt and pyrotechnic experts who frequently put together such effects for fire department graduations.

This display was the first for the Glendale Fire Department, said Biggs, who got the idea from Burbank Fire Department’s graduation last year.

The event appeared to be a hit with the more than 200 friends and family members of recruits who attended the ceremony along with city officials, firefighters from other departments and Bill Jensen, a 29-year Glendale firefighting veteran and Malibu brush fire survivor.

Lori Butterfield, mother of recruit Brian Butterfield, 26, said her son’s graduation was much more exciting than her husband’s from the Los Angeles Police Department.

“I thought it was great,” she said. “I get to see what he’s going to be doing and what I have to worry about.”