LAFD’s Greg Cueto | Celebrating a Lifetime of Service: From 9/11 to the Northridge Earthquake to Hurricane Katrina to Station 69 in Pacific Palisades

By ALEXANDRIA BORDAS | Reporter

Greg Cueto shifts uncomfortably when asked about his personal accomplishments – he blushes, shoves his hands into his pockets and gazes at his boots in resolved silence.

Embodying traits of humbleness and modesty, Cueto sidesteps questions by diverting his answers and instead proudly discusses how accomplished his unit is.

This month Cueto is celebrating his one-year anniversary of working in Pacific Palisades at Station 69.

The 52-year-old was born and raised in Los Angeles. He comes from a family of cops and has two brothers who are LAPD officers. In his early twenties, Cueto was unsure of what he wanted to do with his life and it wasn’t until he was hanging out with childhood friends that the idea of becoming a fireman sparked intrigue in him.

“Personally, I’m not a big fan of wearing a tie, so had I not done this I would’ve been a cop,” Cueto said.

After camping out at fire stations in the hopes of receiving an application for the Los Angeles Fire Department, Cueto was hired at age 22 and started at the training academy in April 1985.

Cueto had his things packed and ready by the door when, a few days before shipping out, his father Fred asked to speak to him man-to-man.

“He said to me, ‘Let’s go have a beer.’ So we sat on the porch and talked for hours,” Cueto reminisced. “He told me about his life lessons and things he did which made him the man he was. He also shared his motto with me, ‘a smart man heeds another man’s advice.’ Then we hugged and I was gone.”

Cueto was close to his dad, who was ex-military, and on April Fool’s Day, only five days after he moved and started training, he got a call from home saying his dad had passed away. “I think my dad felt that something was going to happen so he needed to spend that time with me before I left to laugh and pass along that wisdom before he died,” Cueto said.

From then on, his occupation was different for Cueto, who said it changed the game for him and made firefighting personal. “It was humbling and I was leading a new lifestyle in a new career,” Cueto discussed. “It made me step back because before I thought I knew everything, when really I was just a young, punk-ass kid who needed to learn humility.”

What changed Cueto specifically was returning to training after his father’s funeral. Many men at the firehouse came up to him, old and young, and said they were sorry for his loss.

“I had no clue why, but firefighting became the most important thing to me after that,” he said. “The guys were there for me and that meant the world.”

During training Cueto spent four months at three different LAFD stations learning the techniques of three specialties: engine, truck and rescue. After a year of mandatory probation, Cueto was evaluated and took field tests before officially becoming a LAFD firefighter.

Career in the Palisades and Life at Station 69

On working at Station 69, Cueto claimed it’s one of the best crews in one of the best areas in LA. “We work in a high-dollar area and our crew has a huge sense of pride,” Cueto said. “So if there’s a house fire, which is common in this area, we fight hard because we don’t ever like to tell people they’ve lost everything they own, especially in the Palisades community that truly loves and supports us.”

Cueto said Station 69 is special in the sense that most of the firefighters have 25 years of experience or more.

“Even at 30 years of working you’re always going to learn something from someone because firehouses combine every specialty skill from each guy,” Cueto said. “You perform your job as a group and you play off one another, someone always has your back because we have an attitude of stepping up in tense situations.”

The atmosphere at Station 69 is one of a tight-knit family, seeing as they spend approximately one-third of their lives together at the firehouse. Constant joking around or “ribbing” as Cueto refers to it is used as a way to blow off steam after a hard day.

Mario Westphal of Station 69 said fire stations are very similar to a military environment. “We are a military atmosphere and when you leave the barracks it’s all about saving each other’s lives, just like in war. You might be at each other’s throats but you will have your guy’s backs no matter what because we rely heavily on each other.”

Westphal and Cueto agreed that it’s not easy living with 10 different personalities and lifestyles. “It’s definitely not always a love fest or kumbaya around here,” Westphal said with a chuckle. “But when the bell rings everything goes out the window.”

After a particularly hard day on the job, Cueto said he likes to gather everyone in the kitchen area for a low-key ritual of sorts. “We will solve all of life’s problems at the kitchen table together with a coffee in hand.”

At each firehouse in Los Angeles there are three platoons, or shifts, per station that are labeled A through C. At Station 69, Westphal and Cueto are on C Platoon, or C Shift, and Thomas Moore is their Captain. “Well it’s pretty obvious to everyone at 69 that C Platoon is the best, right boys?” boomed Captain Moore in the kitchen while cleaning up after dinner one evening.

According to Cueto, one of the toughest aspects of fighting fires with people you love is seeing one of your men get hurt and not being able to do anything about it. “If your guy is hurt you are surged with Superman-like anger because you want to save your guy, but you have to stay focused and when it’s over evaluate what happened,” Cueto said.

Cueto added that a fireman’s job isn’t finished until all of the men from a platoon are regrouped together at the fire truck after a job.

When speaking of losing men at a scene, Cueto turned solemn and immediately opened up about an accident that occurred in Fresno County. On Sunday, March 29 Captain Pete Dern of the Fresno Fire Department, who has 25 years of experience, fell through the roof of a burning home and immediately became engulfed in flames, resulting in extensive burns covering his body.

“When an accident like that occurs to someone with that much experience, a Captain nonetheless, you better believe that every fire station across the state reviewed what happened step-by-step to see if anything could’ve been done to prevent that because that is catastrophic and I can’t even imagine what those guys have been going through over there. That’s tough,” Cueto said.

Westphal, who has worked in the Palisades for two years, discussed the accident with a tone of sadness, saying “He had 25 years of experience and he made a couple of mistakes that definitely cost him his job if not his life.”

Cueto said every firefighter has something that hits home and causes distress in the field, like seeing young kids’ bodies burned, because, “On our days off we are just people who want a sense of normality. So I always talk to my guys after a hard day in the field to help give them a sense of peace before they go home to their families.”

EARTHQUAKES, HURRICANES & 9/11

Cueto keeps his equipment tidy and his uniform impeccably clean. Nothing is out of order. He keeps his distance with his arms folded tightly crossed his chest. At first glance he appears slightly intimidating, with tattoos flanking his biceps and not one hair of his mustache out of place, but when he smiles and laughs his rough exterior immediately fades.

Since Cueto never seems to discuss his achievements, Captain Moore has to urge him in the right direction, sometimes even speaking on his behalf. “Did Cueto ever tell you about how he was awarded the highest honor, the Medal of Valor? Or about how he responded to both 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina? He’s a real hero this guy,” Captain Moore said slyly while Cueto blushed.

Cueto’s 30 years of service hasn’t been limited to LAFD but has spanned to different parts of the country, like New York City and New Orleans.

Cueto has been a part of the Urban Search and Rescue Team (USRT) for 17 years in conjunction with being a firefighter. Originally joining to add even more spice to his life, Cueto said that being part of USRT has been a highlight of his career. “My team got called after Hurricane Katrina hit when things were really bad, oceans destroyed and everything wiped out,” Cueto described. “We packed our gear and spent our time in New Orleans walking through neighborhoods ravaged by destruction and just hugged people and talked to them and helped in any way we could.”

In addition to providing aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the events of September 11 and the Northridge Earthquake shaped Cueto both personally and professionally.

Responding with a friend independently to the atrocities of 9/11, Cueto took 14 personal days off from work to fly out to New York City with his gear and one goal in mind: support the New York Fire Department at Ground Zero.

“When we got there none of the guys were speaking. They lost over 300 men that day so out of respect we supported them,” Cueto said quietly. “They wanted to rescue their own people, so we stepped back and let them do that and we watched as they draped flags over the bodies they recovered from the carnage. As the deceased were carried by we all stopped what we were doing and took a moment of silence to pay our respects.”

Before 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina there was the Northridge Earthquake in 1994.

“LAFD went into earthquake mode and we were spread out all over the place patching things up left and right, trying to help the bigger situations,” Cueto stated. “We responded to a situation where a building had shifted off its stilts. There was a woman who had lost her husband and baby in that building and my partner and I decided to go in to try to find survivors.”

Entering a building that at any moment could collapse, Cueto began cutting holes through the cement trying to find survivors. “We found a live man who was crushed in a corner so we started digging out the area around him while aftershocks were shaking everything and the building was about to drop out,” Cueto reflected. “His name was Adam and he was suffering from compression syndrome so we had to squeeze medics in there to start an IV on him while trying as quickly as we could to carve him out.”

Eventually pulling Adam free before the building completely collapsed, Cueto admits that actions like that are sometimes frowned upon. “You put your life at extreme risk to save someone else and when you aren’t so lucky, like I was that day, it could end catastrophically.”

Cueto’s efforts that night earned him the Medal Of Valor and a Letter of Commendation, awarded only to those who display copious amounts bravery in life or death situations while in the line of duty.

Life Outside of Firefighting

One of the most important aspects of Cueto’s personal life is having a partner in life who is as strong, as him, if not stronger, because, “A firefighter’s partner has to be capable of dealing with you not being home for days at a time and sometimes responding to hairy situations. Your family and partner have to be committed to your lifestyle too.”

Cueto is married to Heather, who he said is beyond understanding of the importance of his job and the unusual schedule. Greg and Heather enjoy rock climbing together and taking spontaneous adventures.

“I think she is way tougher and stronger than me,” Cueto said fondly.

When walking around the firehouse, Cueto makes it a point to ask each guy how he is doing and he is always the first one to crack a joke to get people smiling. He can get everyone talking and isn’t afraid of stepping up and taking on extra duties.

“Cueto is a superstar!” fireman John Bowers said while everyone laughed.

“He is a seasoned firefighter with a lot of heart. We are proud of him here, beyond proud,” Captain Moore said seriously, while Cueto blushed and looked away.