Firefighters

The giant fire in Angeles National Forest continued its slow-motion rampage through the mountains Sunday, causing the deaths of two firefighters as it bore down on the semirural community of Acton and threatened to overrun Mt. Wilson. The two firefighters were killed when they drove off the side of a treacherous road in the Mt. Gleason area, south of Acton, around 2:30 p.m., said Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief Mike Bryant. He did not release their names or other details. "This accident is tragic," Bryant said, choking up as he spoke Sunday evening.

It wasn't just that his fellow firefighters put dog food in his spaghetti at a fire station and watched him eat it, laughing. It was what happened in the months after former Los Angeles Firefighter Tennie Pierce reported the incident that led him to sue his department for racial harassment, Pierce and his lawyer said at a forum Saturday in Leimert Park. "As I've always said about this case, it's the retaliation, stupid," said lawyer Genie Harrison. "The dog food incident was really the catalyst.

In 2005, veteran Los Angeles County firefighter Crystal Golden-Jefferson died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. At first her death was a mystery: The 41-year-old Inglewood mother had always prided herself on her fitness. But now Jefferson's parents believe long-term exposure to brominated chemicals used as flame retardants in household furniture foam caused their daughter's death. Studies show that when burned, such compounds convert to brominated dioxin.

Carlos Saldana spent Friday morning hoisting ladders and lugging heavy hoses in front of a trio of sharp-eyed firefighting instructors. Seven hours later, he exchanged his firefighting gear for a U.S. Marine Corps reserve uniform and began training for deployment to Iraq.

A volunteer firefighter who fell ill while battling a fire in Mendocino County apparently died of a heart attack, according to a preliminary coroner's report. Robert Roland, 63, had joined the Anderson Valley Fire Department two months ago, said Chief Colin Wilson. Roland was taken to Ukiah Valley Medical Center on Wednesday after having breathing problems on a fire line northwest of Philo. He died Thursday morning.

It followed the common pattern. At first, details were few: nine fatalities in the crash of a helicopter ferrying firefighters in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Seven of the dead and three of the injured were contract firefighters, hired hands brought down from Oregon to bolster the lines in an onslaught of Northern California fires. Later in the week names and ages were released, followed by face-shot photographs posted on a company website.

Four firefighters who are suing the city were humiliated by taunts and sexual gestures from parade watchers after being forced to participate in last year's gay pride parade, their attorney told jurors Tuesday. "For three hours, it was a very unpleasant experience," Charles LiMandri said during his opening statement as the firefighters, in uniform, watched from front-row seats.

A six-man, six-woman jury is set to begin deliberations Wednesday in a lawsuit brought by four San Diego firefighters who allege they were subjected to sexual harassment when they were ordered to participate in the 2007 gay pride parade. In closing arguments Tuesday, the firefighters' attorney asked the jury to order the city to pay each firefighter $500,000 to $1 million for the damage they suffered from being taunted by spectators.

A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of four San Diego firefighters who alleged that they were sexually harassed during the 2007 gay pride parade. Jurors deliberated for four days before telling San Diego County Superior Court Judge Michael Anello that they were unable to reach a verdict. One juror told reporters that the jury was split 8 to 4 in favor of the firefighters, one vote short of the nine needed to decide a civil case.

It was one of those moments firefighters fear most. Los Angeles Fire Capt. Scott Gould was riding inside Engine 228 as it maneuvered along a winding canyon above Porter Ranch. He was talking on the radio with Capt. Richard Brunson, who was just ahead in Engine 8. Commanding the first two units to arrive at the Sesnon fire Monday morning, the captains were coordinating their assault on the wind-whipped blaze. What had been a half-acre fire only a few minutes earlier was now 20 acres and growing.