Fireworks Calls Ignored in Riot Areas

Lingering anxiety over firefighters’ safety has prompted the Los Angeles Fire Department to curtail response to some non-emergency calls in riot-torn sections of the city in recent weeks, triggering criticism from residents and City Council members that the agency is not providing equitable service to minority neighborhoods.

Fear of confrontations over fireworks violations this Fourth of July season led some firefighters in the field and department brass to believe a policy had been adopted that discouraged response to such routine, non-emergency reports in areas where much of the rioting occurred, Battalion Chief Dean E. Cathey, the agency’s community liaison officer, confirmed Thursday.

Cathey was among the department officials who believed such a policy had been put into place. But amid inquiries from The Times and calls from city officials, Cathey subsequently noted that a June 16 bulletin to all firefighters signed by Deputy Chief Donald F. Anthony does not distinguish one part of the city from another.

Rather, Anthony’s memo emphasizes that “officers are urged to use discretion and carefully evaluate the situation for potential of confrontation prior to confiscating fireworks. In those cases when the officer feels that members may be threatened or harmed attempting to confiscate fireworks, request LAPD assistance.”

Confusion over the department’s approach to enforcing the city’s 45-year-old prohibition on fireworks, Cathey said, apparently stemmed from discussions among officials formulating the department’s post-riot Fourth of July strategy. Under consideration was a proposal to curtail investigation of fireworks violations in the adjoining battalion sections 3, 11, 13 and 18--a large area that includes predominantly minority communities of South-Central Los Angeles, Koreatown and Pico-Union.

“That had been recommended to take place . . . However, that has all been changed,” Cathey said.

The “premature” communication of that policy, Cathey said, came in a climate of heightened concern for safety of firefighters who were attacked with gunfire, rocks and bottles during the riots. “There are still isolated cases of these things occurring,” Cathey said. Residents of the historic West Adams neighborhood--a community that blends into the south side and Koreatown areas--discovered fire captains were invoking such a policy earlier this week. Residents became frustrated after calling 911 to alert firefighters to a group of children playing with firecrackers in an area of old, wood-frame homes highly susceptible to flames.

Doug Nigh, who lives in the 1800 block of Gramercy Place, said when he called to alert firefighters, “the man who answered said, ‘We’re not responding to firecracker calls.’ ” Neighbor Laura Meyers said she also called in a report.

After “nothing happened,” Meyers said, she placed a second call to complain and was told by a dispatcher that the department was de-emphasizing fireworks enforcement in “neighborhoods like yours.”

“I said, ‘What do you mean?’ ” Meyers recalled. “He said, essentially, black neighborhoods where it’s dangerous. Obviously, I was incensed. This block first of all is multiethnic, not that that should matter. Do I not have a right to fire protection?” In a subsequent conversation with Capt. David Murray in the dispatch center, Meyers said, Murray told her “if somebody said ‘black neighborhoods,’ that’s really wrong.”

Murray, she said, went on to say that the new approach on routine fireworks investigations applied to battalion areas 3, 11, 13 and 18.

Interviews by The Times on Wednesday determined that at least two battalion chiefs believed such a policy had been adopted either formally or informally.

Such investigations often lead to “very confrontational situations,” Cathey said in the initial interview on Wednesday. “In light of what’s happened,” he added, referring to the riots, “we don’t think it’s prudent to put our people at risk.” He emphasized that all emergency calls would receive immediate response, and that “aggravated” fireworks reports, as well as reports of injury or imminent risk of fire, would continue to be investigated.

Councilman Nate Holden, whose district is within the four battalion areas, said the seeming policy concerning fireworks represented an unfair decrease of fire protection in the affected area. “That’s crazy if that is a direct order,” he said.

Meyers said that during her conversations with Fire Department representatives she was told that firefighters “aren’t supposed to respond to fireworks unless there is danger of fire or injury. . . . I said, ‘Excuse me. These are little kids. You don’t think they’re in danger of losing their hands? Or of a spark causing a fire?’ ”

Nancy Burke, a deputy to Councilwoman Ruth Galanter and a resident of West Adams, agreed that a failure to investigate even routine fireworks violations is risky. “Those houses are 80 years old and they’re all made out of wood. . . . If the Fire Department hems and haws and does not answer fire calls, it could have a terrible outcome.”

Cathey, after a discussion with Holden, later called The Times to say that, upon a closer review of Anthony’s bulletin, he realized he was mistaken in his description of the department’s policy.