By LILY TINOCO | Reporter
Palisadian families headed to Los Angeles Fire Department Station 69 on Saturday, May 14, for the return of Fire Service Day—an annual event dating back to 1957.
This year’s event was sponsored by law firm Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi, LLP. The firm started sponsoring the event in 2018, Palisadian and partner Robert Glassman told the Palisadian-Post.
“It was fantastic, it was really nice to see the community gather in person again,” Glassman said about the event. “I think everyone was excited. The kids really enjoyed touring the fire station, climbing into the trucks and having all the different firefighters there explain what different parts of the truck do, and I think everyone had a great time.”
This year’s event marked its return to the Palisades since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and LAFD Captain II Tommy Kitahata said over 400 guests attended.
“Everyone was excited to come back out and be in person and give back to this great community event like we’ve had in the past,” he said to the Post.
Glassman litigates large and complex personal injury, wrongful death and product defect cases on behalf of individuals, and said he has worked in cases that encompass wildfires that have devastated communities. He said the partnership between his firm and Station 69 came out of the work he does.
“When we first learned about the fire department putting together these events, we thought it was such a great cause to get behind,” the Alphabet Streets resident said. “We owe a debt of gratitude to the entire Los Angeles Fire Department and for us in … the Palisades, to our local firefighters at Station 69 for putting on these important community events to educate folks on how to prevent the spread of wildfires and what to do … when it is approaching your home, your family and your community.
“Given how important fire safety is for us in the Palisades, it really is an important community event to have every year. If it were up to me, I’d have it more than once a year.”
He said he took his daughters and they enjoyed climbing into the fire engines and learning more about what firefighters do. He appreciated the Jaws of Life demonstration.
“We enjoy supporting Station 69 and the LA Fire Department any way we can, we definitely look forward to sponsoring Fire Service Day again,” he concluded.
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