To call them simply “firefighters” is an understatement. The men of Station 6 of the Sacramento Fire Department in Oak Park do more than put out fires. Out of more than 20 stations within the Sacramento Fire Department, the station is the busiest. Year after year, the station has also been ranked as one of the busiest in the nation. During their time at the house, firefighters are on-call to respond to a wide range of calls. Many are legitimate life-threatening emergencies, but a number of them don’t necessarily warrant a 9-1-1 response. A faked seizure, a man unconscious in the bushes covered with ants and foaming at the mouth, a woman who claimed she had been assaulted by six men and a

Sacramento- When firefighters arrived at Discovery Park Sunday afternoon, Buddy was on a small piece of beach surrounded by water on one side and a dirt wall on the other, with no way out; whimpering and whining, looking up at everyone staring down as if to say, "don't just look at me, get me out of here." Sacramento Fire Department's Engine 14 and Rescue 20 responded to Discovery Park Sunday afternoon for the rescue. Buddy, a 9 year old Wiemaraner, was with his owner for a Sunday walk in Discovery Park. Wiemaraners are known for their hunting and love of water. Buddy, took off for the water and jumped about 10 feet down to the river. His K9 senses weren't calculating "how am I going to

Sacramento, CA- While training on the American River Thursday, Sacramento City Firefighters, aboard Sac Fire Boat #5, discovered a body floating amongst the logs across from Tiscornia Beach, per Capt. Jim Doucette. Doucette stated that they do not believe this is the body of George Ho who drowned just a few hundred feet downriver Sunday. Ho was wearing shorts at time he disappeared in the water; dark pants and footwear were on the body that was recovered today. Per Doucette, "the Sacramento Police Department and the Sacramento County Coroners Office responded. Firefighters assisted with the retrieval of the body." The case is currently under investigation.

18 year old George Ho went under the water and never surfaced at Tiscornia Beach in Discovery Park Sunday afternoon at the confluence. Jim Doucette of the Sacramento Fire Department,stated "at 2:54 PM, we responded to the beach at Discovery Park for an 18 year old male that went under and never surfaced." "Ho and his friends were swimming about 25 yards off shore. Some boats came by, created a wake, he went under and never came up" said Doucette. This occurred right where the Sacramento River and American River meet, the area known as The Confluence. Doucette stated that it is very deep there with a lot of logs and rocks. He further stated that in the past an abandon car had been found

Sacramento, CA- Were you listening to Disney Radio Wednesday and wondered why all of a sudden it dropped off? At about 11:51 A.M. Wednesday morning, Sac Fire received a call for a vegetation fire in the wild land are off of Commerce Circle and Lathrop Way. This area is located between Discovery Park and the Cal Expo area, just west of The Radisson Hotel and bordered by the bike trail on the south side of the levee. Firefighters arrived to find difficult terrain to access off the levee, but were able to attack the fire within ten minutes of the call. In this wild land area were three radio towers over 200 feet high belonging to ABC Radio. One of the tower's collapsed and a witness stated

Sacramento, CA- 19 year old Sarmeet Singh is not only lucky to be alive today, he escaped his vehicle landing upside down in a drainage ditch without even a scratch. Friday morning Singh called 911 from his cell phone at 8:16 A.M. stating "I just flipped my car". Per Singh, he was exiting Highway 99 on the Florin Road West off ramp when his car slid off the road, under the fence and flipped over in the cement storm drain. Emergency crews at first were not able to locate the vehicle because it slid under the fence and out of view. The fencing had to be cut and opened up for crews to access the vehicle. Singh asked Chief King, "Is there a chance of the water hitting the battery and startin

Sacramento, CA- A sleeping family lives today because of the heroism of Santino Deanda Lyndsay Deanda stated she and her husband Santino were on their way to the hospital with their daughter traveling down H Street, when in the 3700 block Santino spotted the back of a house on fire. Santino stopped the vehicle, instructed Lyndsay to call 911 and headed to the front door to wake the family. Santino actually went into the burning, smoke filled house several times to be sure every one was out. The blaze started in a couch on the back patio up against the house. The fire quickly spread catching the back side of the house on fire. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Santino was tr

Sacramento, CA-  Early Monday evening, at about 6:30 P.M., Sacramento Police and Sacramento City Fire and Paramedics were called to a stabbing at the front of New Station Seafood in the 1800 block of Broadway. Firefighters and police found a 54 year old man sitting on the bus bench bleeding from the chest. Per the on scene police sergeant, the man sustained a 3 to 4 inch deep laceration across the chest and was very intoxicated. Due to the man's level of intoxication, authorities were having challenges getting accurate information from the victim. Per the sergeant, police do have a couple persons of interest in the case. It appears that the subject also took the victims cash he had on ha

Sacramento, CA- At 7:24 P.M. Friday evening, Sacramento firefighters were called to a downtown structure, just a few houses down from Old Ironsides off of 10th and S streets. When firefighters arrived at 1913 10th Street, they found the second floor and attic of the old Victorian well involved. Per Captain Jim Doucette, Engine 1 was on scene in about three minutes. Firefighters made a very aggressive attack on the fire. With the fire well seated in the attic, firefighters had to tear in and gain access to the space to bring the blaze under control. The roof on the north side became unstable and all the firefighters were ordered out. They were able to control the rest of the blaze from o

  Sacramento, CA- Early Thursday after noon, a small blaze broke out off of Hing Avenue, near Franklin and 47th. The fire was contained to the dry field area between the homes and railroad tracks.   Light Rail service was minimally impacted. Trains were briefly delayed during the high part of the blaze then permitted to move through at a reduced speed due to limited visibility resulting from heavy smoke, per on scene RT rail worker. Several structure firefighting engines were in place to protect the homes along the field, while brush rigs and crews moved through the field to attack the fire and bring it under control. Per Captain Doucette, the cause of the fire is unknown.  

Sacramento, CA- Firefighters called to rescue an injured transient on the steep slope of a water channel William Lockwood and his girlfriend, Angel Love have been residing under the overpass, that spans the water channel, on 88th Street off of Fruitridge Blvd. Monday morning Lockwood lost his footing at the top of the channel and tumbled down the steep cement side coming to a stop just before the water. Injured and unable to climb back up the steep cement slope, Angel summoned for help. Sacramento Fire Truck 10 and Paramedics received the call near 11:30 a.m. The truck crew had to commence a rope rescue with the stokes litter to safely bring Lockwood to the top. Lockwood was transported

The Rancho Murieta training facility was a disaster scene this past week. Firefighters collaborated on an Urban Search and Rescue mission to carefully extract victims stranded in cars crushed under debris. The victims in this case, mannequins, were successfully removed from the wreckage. Firefighters treat this simulation as an actual disaster so they will be prepared when they get the call. For the past four years, firefighters from all over California have been gathering in the Sacramento area for a heavy equipment and rigging training course that culminated this past Wednesday. L.A. City, L.A. County, Oakland, Elk Grove, Roseville, Sacramento City and the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire

The Sacramento City Council’s unanimous approval of Sacramento’s budget Tuesday means that city services could face major cuts and that the last day of work for 168 city employees is Friday. While the council adopted the budget, the situation may soon change because some of the city’s key unions, including its firefighters’ union, have not yet finished negotiations with the city. Sacramento has balanced its budget and closed a gap of more than $43 million. City officials continued to say Tuesday that many cuts and layoffs could be averted if the unions make concessions. Since the budget has now been approved, any changes to the budget would be amendments. Of the 168 layoffs approved with

Sergeant Norm Leong, spokesman for the Sacramento Police Department, announced at 3:05 p.m. that the package found outside the Fort Sutter post office at 1618 Alhambra Blvd. was not an explosive. Sacramento Post Office spokesman Ralph Petty described the item as a glass bottle that had been wrapped up with a wire protruding from it. Shortly after 1 p.m., when a customer found the package, the Sacramento Fire Department and the Sacramento Police Department were contacted by the post office and traffic was blocked off by squad cars. The block of Alhambra Boulevard between P and Q Streets, half of one lane of P Street between 30th and Alhambra, as well as Q Street between Alhambra and 30th

The Sacramento Police Department have blocked off streets around the Fort Sutter post office at 1618 Alhambra Blvd while they investigate a suspicious package left outside. According to Sacramento Police Department spokesman, Sgt. Norm Leong, people inside the post office and the surrounding areas have been told to remain inside. The post office employees notified the Sacramento Fire Department of the package at 1:13 p.m., Capt. Jim Doucette told The Sacramento Press. Leong said the fire department notified the police department at 1:17 p.m. The police and fire crews are currently waiting for the Explosive Ordinance Disposal to arrive on scene to evaluate the package. Photo courtesy of

When this pest control worker went to work today, he probably didn't expect to never come home for dinner again. Two pest control workers had been working on termite damage on a Curtis Park home the past few days. The previous owner of the home was a lady who lived to be 100 and passed away a few months ago. The home was up for sale with extensive termite and dry rot damage. Today, the two men were working under the cement slab front porch when the edges gave way and the entire weight of the slab came down on them. Capt. Doucette of the Sacramento Fire Department guestimated the slab to be well over 1000 lbs. The surviving partner stated that they were removing some "dark dry rot damage

The summer edition of the Sacramento Fire Department's Community Newsletter discusses the dangers of swimming in the river. It mentions that the river bottoms can be uneven and have steep drop-offs and the currents are strong, so a life vest should be worn at all times. Under the City and County of Sacramento ordinances, it is against the law for a child under the age of 13 to enter public waters without a life vest. Parents or guardians who do not put life vests on their children can be fined up to $500 and cited for a misdemeanor.  If you don't have a life vest on hand, there are plenty of places to borrow one. The following fire stations have life vests for the public to borrow: FI

City management was not yet ready to comment at 5 p.m. Monday on the local firefighters’ union's latest proposal on pay and layoffs. Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 has pitched a new proposal to put salary increases on hold for the next 30 months if the city will guarantee no layoffs throughout that period of time, said Local 522 spokeswoman Robin Swanson. Swanson described the proposal as “inherently fair" and said it would bring more than $10 million in savings to the city. Acting city spokeswoman Wendy Klock-Johnson did not have an update Monday afternoon on the city’s reaction to the union’s proposal. City managers and firefighters resumed negotiations after firefighters vot

Things may or may not have got heated in family court today, but it definantly got hot outside the courthouse. A small brush fire ignited in the field adjacent to the Family Courthouse around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon on the corner of Power Inn Rd and Cucamonga Ave. While the fire was relatively small, Sac Fire called for a second alarm due to winds picking up and driving the fire across the field in the direction of the courthouse, per Capt Doucette of the Sacramento City Fire Department. Metro fire units from battalion 9 responded to assist in the second alarm. The fire was contained quickly and a little over an acre was involved. There were no injuries and no structures involved.

"Drownings in Sacramento have become a problem. They occur way too much and it is very frustrating for us, because it seems like there is not much more we can do to help prevent them" said Capt. Doucette, Public Information Officer for the Sacramento Fire Department in an article a few weeks ago. see article "More than one in four fatal drowning victims are children 14 and younger. For every child who dies from drowning, another four received emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries" says the Center for Disease Control and Prevention CDCR Site For myself, as a former lifeguard, paramedic and firefighter, nothing challenges your professionalism more than getting the cal