Palisadian-Post staffers will be a little safer when covering brush fires in Pacific Palisades thanks to Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) Station 23. In January, Station 23 Captain Mark Gozawa presented the Post with a regulation brush jacket embroidered with the Post’s logo on the back.
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
“It is really nice having the community support the fire department and you and your newspaper are a large part of the reason why,” Gozawa said.
The informal presentation took place at a Station 23 lunch, which featured burgers and spicy fries prepared by the firefighters as well as eclairs and lemon bars from nearby K Bakery.
Station 23, which goes by the motto “No Bad Days,” covers one of the largest geographic areas in all of Los Angeles. Covering Pacific Coast Highway from south of Temescal Canyon Road up to Surfview Drive, it also includes all of the Highlands and even parts of Topanga.
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
Despite the broad area, the station is relatively quiet with only a few emergency calls per day.
“They’re mostly medical emergencies and traffic accidents,” explained Gozawa, a 37-year LAFD veteran who joined Station 23 in March 2015.
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
During the lunch, however, a call came in reporting an overdose near PCH and Sunset Boulevard, so a couple of the firefighter paramedics had to miss the meal.
Gozawa, who has also worked as an arson investigator, is planning to retire this year in July.
—FRANCES SHARPE
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