I just want to take a moment to exploit this public forum to send out some very personal gratitude to the LAFD’s emergency responders.

Thankfully, it was only water spurting out under high pressure this morning and not blood, but the intrepid (and so handsome!) dudes appeared in a jiffy and had the situation under control in short order.

Did I mention they were gorgeous? And that after battling the water I looked like a drowned rat?

Oh and before you downgrade my IQ by 50 points you should know that They couldn’t find the water shutoff to the house either.

In fact, now that daylight is upon us and calm is restored, I’d really like to know where that shutoff is….

(and PS, kids: if you’re gonna sleep naked, maybe have some clothes in your handy emergency kit. Just sayin.)

On Saturday, May 14, 2011 from 10:00AM to 4:00PM all Neighborhood Fire Stations in the City of Los Angeles will be holding open houses for people of the community to come by and say hi! You can find your local station using the handy Fire Station Locator. From the Official LAFD blog post:

To increase awareness of our services, the Los Angeles Fire Department designates the second Saturday of May as Fire Service Recognition Day. This year, the focus is on Emergency Preparedness:
“Your Safety is Our Mission”
Neighborhood Firefighters are using this year’s Open House as a timely opportunity to help you be prepared for disaster.

They encourage your to bring your cameras although no word on if you can shoot your own calendar while visiting. All the stations are open to the public but the stations below will have something a little more special planned with demonstrations and enhanced displays.

• Fire Station 88 5101 North Sepulveda Blvd Sherman Oaks
• Ports O’Call Village San Pedro
• Fire Station 86 4305 Vineland Ave Studio City *Pancake Breakfast from 8:00AM to Noon
• Fire Station 56 2759 Rowena Ave Silver Lake
• Fire Station 27 & adjacent LAFD Museum 1327 North Cole Ave Hollywood *Pancake Breakfast from 8:30AM to 1:00PM
• Fire Station 34 3661 7th Ave Jefferson Park
• Fire Station 69 15045 Sunset Blvd Pacific Palisades
• Fire Station 65 1525 East 103rd St Watts

If you can’t make it on Saturday there are a few Stations that will be open on Sunday, May 15, 2011 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

• Fire Station 102 13200 Burbank Blvd Valley Glen
• Fire Station 58 1556 South Robertson Blvd Pico/Robertson
• Fire Station 61 5821 West 3rd St Fairfax District

I saw this on the LAFD blog and I just had to share it with you all because it’s damn heartwarming. It seems a hawk got tangled in some fishing line or nylon thread of some kind too high up for animal control or anyone else to be able to reach it, so the LAFD came to the rescue. It’s like the badass version of getting a cat out of a tree. Go LAFD. Thanks for being so awesome.

Either that or somebody there is a Bradbury fan.

Check out the box number for the Brush Clearance Unit.

The Thirty-Eights used to call it the Old Fire House. Others also called the Los Angeles Plaza building home, as a hotel and saloon.

The year was 1920.

Photo from the USC Digital Library

Men came to the aid of their neighbors for little to no pay. There were no trucks. No digital mapping systems or GPS. No Twitter updates. They pushed their horse-drawn fire engines uphill on dirt roads into the belly of the beast.

They were L.A.’s bravest. The year was 1900.

Photo from the USC Digital Archive

A shout out to the LAFD’s Brian Humphrey for appearing in the print version of Wired magazine, in a feature on marshaling the power of web technology to help fight fires, instantaneously alert for emergencies, and integrate the community with the Fire Dept. I can’t find the piece online but I’m sure it’ll be up in a week or so, or you could just suck it up & grab the magazine.

Also, do I spy a letter to the editor penned by our very own Will.I.Am? I believe I recognize that pointed, emphatic and elegant prose in service of a finely-tuned rant. Good show, gents!

• Dave Byers calls out a fire department official for reckless driving. LAFD’s Brian Humphrey responds, and informs Dave that the make of the vehicle in question isn’t even in the LAFD fleet. Then random commenter dude questions LAFD for “wasting his time blogging.”

• Just when you thought you’ve gone on every possible tour of L.A., Travelhouseuk’s Travel Blog tells us about the Toxic Tour. No lip-syncing pop stars – just an eco-unfriendly tour of the biggest environmental blemishes throughout our fair city.

• JustJENN heads to the CAA building in Century City in search of melons. Ripe, juicy, hot-damn-those-are-huge melons. Talent Agency + Farmer’s Market = Fruit

• What do L.A. radio DJ’s dream about? As ArcherVox illustrates, it involves radio and money. And hitting the post.

• And the better half of Metblogs‘ The 8 Track Kid has been nominated for The Hot Blogger Calendar. They just celebrated their Discoversary. Her name is The Slackmistress. She wears the pants.

Photo from DaveByers.net