Firefighters Orange County

"Just call me lucky," Santa Ana firefighter Lenny Edelman told his buddies Thursday after he learned that the jolting gunshot in the thigh he received while fighting fires in Los Angeles was only a gaping flesh wound. Late in the night Edelman, walking on crutches, was waiting at Station 2 in Santa Ana for his girlfriend and sister to drive him to his home in Fallbrook.

Seven firefighters from throughout Orange County will receive the "Courage Under Fire" award for dedication and professionalism at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Chapman University's Argyros Forum, 333 Glassell St. Tickets at the door will be $5, with proceeds going to a local shelter for victims of domestic violence. Information: (714) 921-5271.

Local firefighters, weary of the dizzying pace of blazes they have had to battle both here and in Malibu, have asked for assistance from a county stress-counseling team to help them work through the tension. "We're already starting to see some stress built up," Laguna Beach Battalion Chief Joe McClure said. "I even feel it myself." It's easy to see why, considering the chaos in the last two weeks. Laguna Beach Fire Capt.

Gerry Clark, a captain at the Orange County Fire Authority's Station 35 in Placentia, is celebrating his 70th birthday this week and his 34th year serving the city. Clark is well known around town, and all three of his children are graduates of El Dorado High School. He has served as a captain since 1972 in what was then the California Department of Forestry, which was later renamed the Orange County Fire Authority. Clark says his love of helping people keeps him on the job.

When Marisela Fierros jumped out of a window to escape a house fire, she believed that once she was outside, it wouldn't be difficult to get rescuers to save her 5-year-old son who remained inside the house. Fierros, a 24-year-old Spanish-speaking mother with limited English skills, said she coaxed, then begged rescuers--firefighters, police and paramedics--in Spanish to please enter the burning home and save her son.

There was talk about the electric blue convertible George Bush recently bought her, jokes about the time the former President threw up on Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and plenty of references to the former first dog, Millie the spaniel. But in an early morning speech Saturday to several thousand credit union employees and shareholders, former First Lady Barbara Bush tempered her humor with her trademark messages of family, faith and volunteerism.

Jerry Austin never thought about becoming a firefighter until one day about 20 years ago when a high school clerk said he would make a good one. "I thought to myself, 'I can't be a fireman,' " Austin said, recalling that day at Valley High School in Santa Ana. "I've never seen a black fireman." And through 19 years of working his way up the Anaheim Fire Department's ranks, he had never seen a black battalion chief from Orange County--until he looked in the mirror Friday morning.

City firefighters have joined other fire departments in the county to sound the alarm about an Orange County-based organization that allegedly solicits residents on the telephone to buy tickets to a fund-raising event for disabled firefighters. Garden Grove Fire Capt. Bill Dumas said he has received many complaints for three or four years from residents who allege that the Foundation for Disabled Firefighters Inc. claims to represent the Garden Grove Firefighters Assn.

Firefighter Lorenzo Abundiz had always been popular at Fire Station 3, where he was once best known as an irrepressible practical joker and the undefeated burrito eating champion. Now, Abundiz is best known as a hero. This week, the 15-year Fire Department veteran was honored by the Santa Ana City Council for saving the lives of two fellow firefighters during a blaze that destroyed the B.F. Goodrich store at Bristol and 1st streets.

Despite some improvements, fire and police departments in Southern California remain overwhelmingly segregated by race and sex and are largely the domain of white males, according to a study conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union. The report, released today, found large disparities between the racial and gender makeup of departments and the populations they serve.

Santa Ana firefighters are rallying to help one of their own by raising funds and finding potential donors for a bone-marrow drive Saturday at Centennial Park. Rene Paquin, 39, a 14-year member of the department, received a non-Hodgkins lymphoma diagnosis last February. Doctors predict he has only a few months to live unless a bone marrow transplant can be performed. Non-Hodgkins lymphoma is cancer of the lymphatic system, which works to fight infections.

Firefighters collected more than 2,000 new toys for low-income children during the weeks leading up to Christmas. They participated in Spark of Love, a Southern California program that gathered such toys as stuffed animals, board games, basketballs, bicycles and skateboards for children in Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties. The toys were distributed to the city's needy families and nonprofit organizations that help the homeless, abused women and young children.

Bobby Becker was young, and tougher than a knot of wood. Back then, before he knew that flames can climb a hill faster than a man, his job was about being the good guy in the yellow fire suit. All his life, Becker wanted to be a hero, and he fought fires until he was. Now he's 57, on the edge of another fire season in the foothills of Silverado Canyon, scrubbed dry by wind and ready to burn, and he still is fighting them--"chasing the devil," he says--past the usual retirement age of 50.

Bagpipes wailed and feet scuffed pavement, but otherwise all was eerily silent Saturday as some 1,800 firefighters marched along Santa Ana's Tustin Avenue to pay homage to a fallen comrade. Firefighters traveled from as far as Oregon and Oklahoma to take part in services for Orange County Fire Capt. Thomas O. Wall, 44, who died Monday after suffering a heart attack protecting a home in the Taylor wildfire in Riverside County. It was a grand if somber procession.

Smoke-darkened hallways, endless flights of steps and a high-rise hotel full of guests were all elements of a drill Tuesday in Garden Grove to train firefighters for the real thing. "It couldn't have been more real unless we lit one of the rooms," Garden Grove Fire Chief Warren Hartley said. In addition to Garden Grove, the drill included departments from Anaheim, Orange, Fullerton, Santa Ana, Brea, La Habra and Laguna Beach, for a total of 78 firefighters.

Leonard Goodwin was honored this week by the Orange County Fire Authority for serving as both a volunteer and a paid, on-call firefighter for 45 years. A special ceremony was held Wednesday at Goodwin's San Juan Capistrano home. Goodwin, who retired in January, began his career in 1953 working as a volunteer firefighter in San Juan Capistrano. He was called to help extinguish some of the county's biggest fires, including the Paseo Grande Fire in 1967 and the Laguna firestorm in 1993.

Leonard Goodwin was honored this week by the Orange County Fire Authority for serving as both a volunteer and a paid, on-call firefighter for 45 years. A special ceremony was held Wednesday at Goodwin's San Juan Capistrano home. Goodwin, who retired in January, began his career in 1953 working as a volunteer firefighter in San Juan Capistrano. He was called to help extinguish some of the county's biggest fires, including the Paseo Grande Fire in 1967 and the Laguna firestorm in 1993.

Two Orange County firefighters hope to lift public awareness of Orange County burn victim programs this week by raising themselves 30 feet in the air for three days. Starting Friday, the firefighters plan to perch themselves in the bucket atop a firetruck extension ladder to draw donations and attention to the Orange County Burn Assn., organizers said. The annual stunt at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa follows 9 a.m.

Firefighters here raised $7,160 for the local chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. by asking passersby to fill their boots with spare change. The firefighters stood at Harbor Boulevard and Orangethorpe Avenue on Feb. 21 and asked for the donations. The money will help the association continue providing services to more than 400 Orange County residents who have muscular dystrophy. The organization is a volunteer nonprofit health organization and is funded through private contributions.

Smoke and darkness enveloped Joe Cucinotti as the rusty door of a burning warehouse clanged shut behind him. But for the first time in his career, the veteran Fountain Valley firefighter on Thursday was not blindly facing the danger ahead. Wearing a helmet equipped with an infra-red sensor, Cucinotti could see walls, obstacles, the fire ahead of him and, most importantly, another firefighter playing the part of victim in this field test of the device. "It was like daytime," Cucinotti later said.