People Who Made a Difference:
Glenn G. Griswold
In 1919 Glenn Griswold joined the Colorado
Springs Fire Department. Earlier, he had been educated as
a hydraulic engineer. In 1924 he moved west to join the newly
formed Los Angeles County Fire Protection Districts. He quickly
rose to the rank of Captain and was assigned to Station 17
in Santa Fe Springs.
While at 17s, Captain Griswold applied
his education to the process of extinguishing fire. At the
time, application of water with solid streams was the standard
technique. Griswold experimented with an innovative nozzle
designed to break water into tiny droplets. Eventually he
patented the design under the name “Fog Nozzle.”
Griswold reasoned that applying water
in the form of fog would have two simultaneous effects. First,
the tiny droplets would absorb heat more efficiently than
a solid stream. Secondly, when those water droplets reached
212 degrees F they would expand at a ratio of 1,100 to one,
thus smothering the fire. This was especially effective for
fires in confined spaces.
In 1942, as World War II raged in Europe
and Asia, Griswold was promoted to Battalion Chief in Los
Angeles County. A year later, he took a leave of absence to
join the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Griswold was in Europe
when allied forces liberated Italy and he was appointed as
acting fire chief for the City of Naples. While fighting a
dump fire in Naples, Chief Glenn Griswold was killed when
a chemical explosion occurred.
In 1999, David Griswold (son of Glenn)
contacted CLAFMA. Mr. Griswold reported that he possesses
the two original fog nozzles that were invented by his father.
He intends to donate them to our museum, where they will be
preserved as examples of an important innovation that revolutionized
structural fire suppression in Los Angeles County and nationwide.
The Griswold fog nozzle was one of the
first examples of innovative tools and techniques that have
been developed by personnel of the Los Angeles County Fire
Department. It would not be the last.
(adapted from a story by David Boucher in volume 8, issue
2 of the Fire Warden newsletter)
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