The Rescue Squads

This 1937 photo of Rescue Co. #1 was taken in front of the original Fire Station 11 on Lake Ave. in Altadena. (Photo courtesy of Dale Magee)

In addition to forcible entry tools and salvage and overhaul equipment, LA County’s first rescue unit carried a Stokes stretcher and an inhalator – possibly the primitive Pulmotor device. In other areas of the county, in response to heart attack or breathing difficulty calls, the on-duty Fire Captain would load the station’s inhalator into his personal car and respond to the scene.

Following World War II, rescue service became more important and most Southern California fire departments placed special rescue vehicles in service. The LA County Fire Department purchased as many as twenty 1/2-ton panel trucks and strategically located them. Initially staffed by one firefighter, some of the rescue squads would always operate with a lone firefighter. In stations with crews of five or more members, a second firefighter often would be detailed to the squad, depending on the nature of the call. Later, all the County’s rescue squads were staffed with two firefighters each per shift.

The equipment carried on these units included salvage covers; mops; brooms; bags of sawdust; a smoke ejector; electrical cord; manilla rope; life belts; self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA); Porto-Power hydraulic extrication tools; an E&J resuscitator-inhalator; a portable oxy-acetylene cutting torch; an asbestos blanket, portable lights and, in later years, two Geiger counters.

Each of the rescue squads responded to emergencies in the territory covered by four or five nearby fire companies. They assisted engine crews on structure fires, setting up lights and smoke ejectors, and performing salvage and overhaul work. In some areas, the engines didn’t carry SCBA. On occasion, when the local fire company couldn’t make entry to a fire building, the rescue squad and its firefighters would don their SCBA equipment, make entry, and put the fire out.

In 1947, the County purchased at least ten 1947 Fords to serve as rescue vehicles. One of those was assigned to Station 11 and it replaced the original 1922 Lincoln (Rescue 1).

Rescue 11 (a 1947 Ford), with Engine 11 (a 1948 Seagrave) in front of station at 2521 No. El Molino in Altadena. This photo was taken in about 1958.

None of the County’s rescue squads have ever been used as ambulances but they have always been used as first-response units to provide medical aid to sick and injured people. That medical aid was very unsophisticated until CPR was invented in the mid-1960’s and the first firefighter paramedics were trained in 1969. In 1960, Chief Keith Klinger arranged for E&J Lytport resuscitator/inhalators to be placed on every one of the department’s engines and trucks. This occurred nine years before the paramedic level of emergency care was proposed.

All the 1947 Fords were 1/2-ton panel trucks delivered with standard 16-inch wheels and tires, as seen on the above photo of Rescue 18 (Lennox). Eventually, the fire shops retrofitted them with split-rim 15-inch wheels and heavy duty tires. Fully equipped, these vehicles were overloaded and under-powered, but they served reliably until the early 1960s.

Rescue 9 gets cleaned up between runs in 1950. Station 9 crew members (left to right) were Paul Major, Ed Olson, Harvey Graham, Hayden Swingle, and (fireman) Turner. (Photo courtesy of Gordon Garrett, son of Arval Garrett)

Ford rescue trucks and E&J resuscitators were used by fire departments all over the country. This ad appeared in the April 1945 issue of Fire Engineering. Apparently, the Allentown (Pennsylvania) Fire Department carried this equipment on the Assistant Chief’s 1942 Ford panel truck. Due to World War II, the body style of Ford trucks did not change from 1942 through 1947. The heavy suitcase-style E&J was used by L.A. County firefighters till the Lytport units were purchased in 1960.

CLAFMA Vice President Jim Page has ‘reincarnated’ Rescue 11 with modern suspension and running gear. Since 1997, it has been driven to 38 states. In this photo, Rescue 11 was visiting Washington, DC’s Fire Station 13 (first-in company for the White House).

This photo illustrates fifty years of progress in fire rescue vehicles. The 1947 Ford version of Rescue 11 stands next to its 1997 successor in front of Fire Station 11.