471 replies to this topic

[MikesPhotos]

Doesn't the CHP user "Vector" lightbars, not "Vision"?

-d

In short, No. As you can see in these two pics, they're all visions.
Pic 1
Pic 2

The Vision series has 7 smart pods which allows for the CHP to have such a varied degree flash patterns. The Smart Vector has 2 smart pods, and the regular vector has none.

El Segundo PD uses the vision as well, and Anaheim uses the Vector, I believe smart vector, on some of their units.

[MikesPhotos]

Hey everyone
Here is the long promised LAFD post as well as a Coroner update as well since I had the unfortunate experience of being near a fatal suicide jumper call in Sherman Oaks.

Let's start with the LAFD first


* Chief Officers

GMC 2500 Suburbans & Chevy Suburbans
--MX700 on Roof
-- -- Red/Clear/Red domes with center section having a red filter to the front and amber filter to the rear
-- -- Clear Intersection lights
-- -- 2 front red Steady burn lights in lower section (LED in newer bars)
-- -- 2 amber rear flashers in lower section (LED in newer bars)

--Other lighting
-- -- Red/Red or Red/Amber halogen flashers over front tires
-- -- Red/Red halogen flashing lights on rear doors
-- -- Headlight flasher

Pics:
--B10
--B10
--B10 Rear
--B10 all lit up
--B12 side
--B12 with LEDs and filters
--B15 with LEDs
--B17 rear
--D3
--D3

* EMS Captains

Crown Victoria
--MX7k on roof same as chiefs
--Headlight flashers

Pics:
EMS10 rear all lit up
EMS10 front all lit up
EMS12 rear
EMS14 all lit up
EMS14 Rear all lit up
EMS14 front all lit up

*Ambulances
Newer style red box
--MX7K on top of cab
-- -- Red/Red/Red/Red with 6 rotators
-- -- Red Intesections in lower level

-- Front grill red steady burns
--Side red flashers above front and rear tires
-- Large red side flashers on box that are synced together to slow flash
--White flood and spot lights on the side of the box do not flash, but are for scene lighting

--Rear bar
-- -- 4 red rotators on the ends
-- -- 2 amber alternating flashing lights
-- -- 2 Clear lights for lighting up the area in back of the rig (do not flash)
-- -- 1 intensely bright brake light in the center

-- On the corners of the box are LEDs that look small, but are amazingly bright. In the front they are amber and red to the rear
-- Headlight flasher

Pics:
RA20 all lit up
RA20 Rear
RA827 (EMT) rear. Notice the corner lights lit up
RA9 side
RA107 Rear (new style with chevrons)
RA88 rear
RA88 Side

White box ambulances
-- Same except 8 (I believe) rotators to in the front bar with 1 steady burn in the center and grille lights flash. These boxes have mostly been relegated to 800 (EMT/BLS) duties and reserve rigs.


Pics:
RA102 front
RA102 Side
RA102 Rear
RA88 front
RA98 Front (notice corner lights)

Engines and trucks are a crap shoot since they're bought en masse from different manufacturers in one order like the recent Pierce and Seagrave split. Almost all of them have MX7k's on top with red intersections and red steady burn lights in them. Most of the newer rigs also have either a halogen or LED arrow bar to the rear and are one of the few that do. On the new trucks with the LED/Strobe bar, it runs Red/Clear/Red/Red/Clear/Red in its lightheads and the red lighthead above the headlight on the drivers side is set to steady burn. Most of the 1999 Pierce Dash's like the one modeled in the game have been relegated to 2-Car status in Light forces (Engine 288, Engine 302).

Pics:
E273 Pierce Dash
E35 Seagrave
E83 Pierce
E89 and 289
E88 Up close
E88
E88
E288
E99


Sirens: All Fire Engines have an electrical siren (unitrol for the most part) and a mechanical FedSig Q siren as well as air horns. All Ambulances have the same electrical siren, plus a small timberwolf mechanical siren , though the new rigs being purchased will have an Electronic Q instead. They also have air horns with the older ones actually having Hi-Lo sounding air horns. All chiefs have the air horns and electronic sirens.

*LA County Coroners
99% of all coroners vehicles are NOT emergency response vehicles and therefore just have amber lighting.

Crown victoria slicktop - Investigators vehicle
-- Flashing amber rear view mirror light
--alternating amber rear deck lights

Pics:
Rear
Front

Ford Van
--Amber Federal Signal Vista
-- -- all amber domes
-- -- 2 clear take downs, 2 amber flashers to the front, alley lights
-- -- 2 rear amber flashers
-- Traffic advisor on the back
-- Corner strobes in tailights and front turn signals
Pics:
Side
Rear
Front

They also have a few special vehicles for mass casuality incidents like a plane crash or such and those vehicles have red lights on them. I've only seen them at air shows, never on scene so I can't really comment on them.

As far as the water tenders go, they're all old junkers for the most part. In regards to the Foam Tender, I haven;'t had a chance to drive to 60's so.. No idea.


*LAPD addendum
Unmarked cars:
Newer ones have a red steady burn LED with blue flashing led next to it on the rear view mirror, and a single LED light on the rear deck. I didn't see it on, but I'm guessing it's either a solitary amber, or amber/blue combindation. Also Headlight flasher
Pics:
Front with blue
Rear off
Front with blue off


Older ones have a single steady burn red halogen rear vew mirror light and large amber blue rear halogen alternating deck lights

Pics:
Front
Rear
Rear

I mentioned in my last post about the new Harley bikes, as you can see, it's blue on the riders left hand and red on the right, and more lights then an xmas tree.
Pics:
Front with truck 88
Motor Officer
Right Side
Rear
Left side
Left Front

Also in regards to the LAPD Arjent, It seems that the 2 flash patterns I've seen the most are:
-- All lights on: rear amber flashes 1256 with 3 and 4
34
1256
--Front steadys and rear amber or rear amber only: 1 alternates with 6
1 lamp


LAPD SUV
Had a chance to see a LAPD Tahoe on the fatal suicide
-- MX7000
-- -- Red/Clear/Blue
-- -- Lower level 4 takedowns, 1 red steady burn, 1 blue steady burn, intersections
-- -- Two amber rear flashers
-- Front grille red and blue flashing lights
-- Rear doors have amber/blue blue/amber flashers

Pics:
Front
Rear doors
Rear


One thing I have noticed more and more is a few MX7000's with LED arrowbars:
LED arrow


Let me know if I missed or forgot anything.

[C.F.D]

Great details!!

Let me know if I missed or forgot anything.

The sirens!

[MikesPhotos]

Great details!!




The sirens!

What about them? I think you need to read my post again. To quote what I said before:

Sirens: All Fire Engines have an electrical siren (unitrol for the most part) and a mechanical FedSig Q siren as well as air horns. All Ambulances have the same electrical siren, plus a small timberwolf mechanical siren , though the new rigs being purchased will have an Electronic Q instead. They also have air horns with the older ones actually having Hi-Lo sounding air horns. All chiefs have the air horns and electronic sirens.

They are run by a motorola radio head, but the guy in the shop I asked said they were unitrols for the most part.

[C.F.D]

My bad, i missed that part.


Alright thanks for the information.

[C.F.D]

I have one question for you Mike:

How many Choppers does the LAPD have? What Kind?

Please include the LAFD and Medical aswell.

[MikesPhotos]

I have one question for you Mike:

How many Choppers does the LAPD have? What Kind?

Please include the LAFD and Medical aswell.

The LAPD has one of the largest law enforcement Air Forces in the United States. Current information has their fleet at 12 Aerospatiale B-2 A-STARS, 4 Bell 206 Jet Rangers, One UH1H "Huey" Helicopter, and One King Air 200 turboprop fixed wing aircraft.

The LAFD has 4 Bell 412 and one Bell 206L-3. The 412's are set up for Air Ambulance, Helitack, and Fire Surpression duties. The 206 (FIRE 6) is set up for Observation and Command and Control. They've also purchased but not taken delivery of 2 AugustaWestland AW139s.

In addition, the city of LA sometimes contracts a Sikorsky Sky Crane during Fire Season.

[C.F.D]

My God! That's one hell of a Fleet.


Do you know who's the 1st largest?

[C.F.D]

My God! That's one hell of a Fleet.


Do you know who's the 1st largest?

[MikesPhotos]

My God! That's one hell of a Fleet.


Do you know who's the 1st largest?

That I don't know. I would assume it'd be someone like the FBI or a State Agency. The California Highway Patrol has 15 fixed wing aircraft and 9 helicopters. The LACoFD has 8 or 9 Bell 412s, Firehawks, and Bell 206s as well. During Fire Season, the County contracts 2 fixed wing Canadian SuperScoopers which are based at Van Nuys airport. The California Dept of Forestry probably has the biggest air fleet in the state with 23 Tankers (S2Ts), 11 UH-1H helicopters, and 14 OV-10 Air Attack/Observation planes. They also contract with the DC-10 (Tanker 910) now too. And of course you can't forget the Federal/Forest Service assets in the area. Then you have the LA sheriffs department, and many other smaller agencies like Pasadena and Hawthorne which have helicopters.

Even with all of these resources, Air Assets can be stretched very thin with multiple fires burning at the same time, but for the most part, wildland fires end up being more of an air show then anything else until they get into the interface zone and threaten structures.

--Minor edit: Woke up and remembered the County 206 was retired not to long ago.

[C.F.D]

Fire hawks-Black hawks?

[MikesPhotos]

Fire hawks-Black hawks?

Correct. Specially modified Sikorsky UH-60 blackhawks modified for water dropping, helitack and air ambulance. You can see photos of them here.

[MikeyPI]

It is a varient of the Blackhawk Equipped to address fire related issues (though I believe during it's off season it is used for SAR and Medivac usage).. I am not sure but I believe that it is swapped over to pull other duties when it is not needed in fire suppression. The Blackhawk has many varients, some of which are just nicknames granted by their owners, the ones I am aware of and 100% certain exist from the varient list are:
Blackhawk
Pavehawk
Seahawk
Jayhawk
Firehawk (civilian varient for fire suppression/multirole)

EDIT:
Sorry MikesPhotos, I guess we posted at the same time, but we both have the same answer... I responded while you were posting apparently:(

[MikesPhotos]

It is a varient of the Blackhawk Equipped to address fire related issues (though I believe during it's off season it is used for SAR and Medivac usage).. I am not sure but I believe that it is swapped over to pull other duties when it is not needed in fire suppression.
Firehawk (civilian varient for fire suppression/multirole)

EDIT:
Sorry MikesPhotos, I guess we posted at the same time, but we both have the same answer... I responded while you were posting apparently:(

That's quite alright! Just to flesh out this answer a little bit more before I head to bed, the Los Angeles County Fire Department operates 3 Sikorsky Firehawks based off of the UH-60L/S70 platform. During the daytime, 4 helicopters (either 412s or Firehawks depending on area and maintenance schedule) are designated as Air Squads with the ability to respond to fire suppression and EMS calls. The fourth is configured just for fire suppression and fly crew transport. Usually around the first of July, a fifth helicopter, usually a Firehawk, is staffed as well with a fly crew and superintendent on board. Because of the specialized weather patterns we have here in California, our fire season is actually year round. Some of our worst winds and fires occur between Jan and March such as the Pines fires in San Diego and the Malibu fire that destroyed 10 homes last year. This is why all birds are always maintained and ready for fire suppression duties, and it's actually the EMS, SAR, and additional duties that are added/removed as needed.

One additional note is that the Firehawk is not just limited to civilian usage. The National Guard also flies firehawks in Florida, California, and I believe in Texas as well. These are very similar to the belly tank system LA County uses, and augments the National Guards CH-47 and UH-60's equipped with bambi buckets for firefighting.

Be it city or county, if you have a large fire, over the side cliff rescue, SAR mission, or air ambulance call amongst others, you can pretty much guaranty there will be either a yellow and white or red and white bird overhead. Due to the close proximity these two agencies work, there are specially crafted mutual aid agreements that allow for the best maximization of resources. Just the other day there was a bad accident involving 2 children in the San Fernando Valley. Both patients were air lifted to Childrens Hospital of LA, and County was requested to assist along with LA City Fire 4.

And just to overcomplicate things, besides these two large departments, there also exists many smaller municipal departments that work day in and day out with LA City and County.

[C.F.D]

is is why all birds are always maintained and ready for fire suppression duties

Does that mean the Choppers are already full with Water or a Chemical?

[MikesPhotos]

Does that mean the Choppers are already full with Water or a Chemical?

The short answer is no due to weight considerations. County birds will usually pick up and deliver a Fly Crew and then fill up and return to support that crew with water drops. City doesn't have a Type 1 handcrew program so when they are requested for fire suppression, they will respond directly for water dropping. Whether they fill up on scene or at Van Nuys and respond is up to the circumstances and the weather.

It takes but mere moments to refill the 412s, but because the Firehawks refill is on the opposite side and takes longer, they will usually use their snorkel at a pool/tank or pond set up for them along with other Type 1 helicopters like the Skycranes and S61s.

[C.F.D]

weight considerations.

I should of thought that...lol.

I'm curious about something: Does Los Angeles has Peace Officers? Maybe for City transit or something.

[MikesPhotos]

I should of thought that...lol.

I'm curious about something: Does Los Angeles has Peace Officers? Maybe for City transit or something.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. All Police officers in the state are either level 1 or 2 (reservist) peace officers with training standards set by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST)

As for transit duty, that is handled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department for both city and county buses. You can read more about them here

[C.F.D]

A Peace officer (also called law enforcement officer), in North America, is any public-sector person charged with upholding the peace, mainly police officers, customs officers, correctional officers, probation officers, parole officers, and sheriffs or marshals and their deputies.

Modern legal codes use the term peace officer to include every public-sector person vested by the legislating state with law-enforcement authority—traditionally, anyone "sworn, badged, and armable" but, basically, who can arrest, or refer such arrest for a criminal prosecution. Hence, city police officers, county sheriffs' deputies, and state troopers are usually vested with the same authority within a given jurisdiction.

Jurisdictions may restrict the powers granted to those who have "peace-officer status" as opposed to "police status". For example, in New York State, all New York State Court Officers,[1] as well as Court clerks,[2] assigned to the 1st and 2nd Judicial Departments are classified as Peace Officers. However only the Uniformed Court Officers of the New York State Unified Court System may carry firearms without a pistol license.

[MikesPhotos]

A Peace officer (also called law enforcement officer), in North America, is any public-sector person charged with upholding the peace, mainly police officers, customs officers, correctional officers, probation officers, parole officers, and sheriffs or marshals and their deputies.

Modern legal codes use the term peace officer to include every public-sector person vested by the legislating state with law-enforcement authority—traditionally, anyone "sworn, badged, and armable" but, basically, who can arrest, or refer such arrest for a criminal prosecution. Hence, city police officers, county sheriffs' deputies, and state troopers are usually vested with the same authority within a given jurisdiction.

Jurisdictions may restrict the powers granted to those who have "peace-officer status" as opposed to "police status". For example, in New York State, all New York State Court Officers,[1] as well as Court clerks,[2] assigned to the 1st and 2nd Judicial Departments are classified as Peace Officers. However only the Uniformed Court Officers of the New York State Unified Court System may carry firearms without a pistol license.

As interesting as that wikipedia quote is, it sounds like it answers your own question. You asked

Does Los Angeles has Peace Officers?

The answer is simply, yes. Every police officer, county sheriff, state highway patrol, correctional officer (jails), and many many others from fire investigators to District attorneys investigators are all peace officers. Here is a list of all Law Enforcement agencies in the state of California. As you can see, it's huge and diverse.

In addition to that, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs department and probably the LA City General Services Department/Office of Public Safety have security officers who are trained to the PC832 standard which is the minimum requirement to be a peace officer. They do not patrol an area, nor are they police officers at such, but just provide security for certain buildings and areas like Community Colleges. They are also not trained to as high of a standards as a POST-II reservist, nor are they paid as well.

That's the closest I can think of that might be related to your question, but once again, everyone who is a police officer or PC832 trained secuirty officer in this state is a Peace officer.