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Guests and residents in front of the Mayne Events Center in Bellflower that houses the LACFD Museum.
By Tammye McDuff
Thousands of people walked Bellflower Boulevard this past Saturday in anticipation of the grand opening of the long-awaited Los Angeles County Fire Museum at the Mayne Events Center.
LA County Supervisor, Janice Hahn, representing the 4th District applauded the hard work and perseverance of the Bellflower City Council for their focus, “not only do we have the real-life heroes who spend their careers saving lives, we have those that portrayed them on the television show Emergency!”
This TV show holds a special place in Hahn’s heart, and that of the Hahn family, because the premise of the show was about specially trained firefighters that were a part of the first ever paramedics team in the Nation.
“Right here in LA County my Dad and former Supervisor Kenny Hahn, was recognized as the father of the paramedic program.” It was very controversial at the time, but was eventually accepted and embraced.
Special guests included Brendon McDonough the sole surviving Granite Mountain Hotshot; Randolph Mantooth, Kevin Tighe, and Mike Stoker of the Emergency! TV Series.
Inside the museum visitors can see photos of what it was like to fight fires before there were fire hydrants, when water bags had to be handed person-to-person.
The museum has a display of everything from a horse drawn steam engine, fire apparatus dating back to the mid 1800s; motorized fire engines form every decade and the world-famous Engine and Squad 51.
The vehicles are complemented by a vast collection of photographs, tools, early paramedic equipment, uniforms, firefighting gear, helmets, badges and documents. Artifacts on display from LACOFD’s past are fire service artifacts such as helmets, turn-out, uniforms, badges, nozzles and alarm equipment.
One section of the museum is dedicated to the Granit Mountain Hotshots who died on June 30, 2013 while battling the Yarnell Hill fire, northwest of Phoenix, Arizona.
LA County Fire Chief Daryl Osby called the opening of the museum a particularly auspicious day for the LA County Fire Department both past and present.
“When you think about the LACFD, they are the premiere fire department in the world. And for us to have a museum to fully capture our history is monumental.”
“On behalf of my City colleagues and myself, this is a great day for Bellflower,” says Mayor Dan Koops,” This journey began well over a decade ago. The partnership that we have had with the LACFD is a model for what cities can do when you strive to work together.”
The museum is located at the Mayne Event Center in Bellflower and is open Wednesday through Saturday 9:00am to 2:00pm.
I can remember when the area was served by a volunteer fire department, when there was a fire alarm, Bells would ring out, a little bit like an air raid siren, volunteers would gather for the fire.
Remember when there was a large argument between:South Gate, Paramount, Hollydale, Downey fire departments, they were just starting to unionize at that time.
I remember when Bellflower Boulevard used to be a weekly evening Cruise strip for a lot of custom cars and Hot Rods, and yes, time to time, fire engine would join in on the car cruise nites.
605, 91 and 105 did not exist.
Remember when my cousin was a firefighter in BF, they had extensive employment questionnaires to determine if the fireman were females, gay or lesbian, and whites. BF wanted a 100% lily white service by straight men, that time, very few new about bi-sexuals, 2 of my firemen cousins were bi sexuals.
Remember, some of the BF firemen, would attend catholic mass as a group at St. Raymond’s Catholic church.
Remember when some of the Iowa firemen, would join in annual Iowa picnics in Long Beach and Banning Museum in Wilmington.
https://www.loscerritosnews.net/2018/07/17/los-angeles-county-fire-museum-opens-inside-bellflowers-mayne-events-center/