latimes--2020-02-21--Magnitude 3.5 earthquake hits in Castaic

A magnitude 3.5 earthquake was reported Friday at 5:42 a.m. Pacific time in Castaic , according to the U.S. Geological Survey .
The earthquake occurred four miles from Santa Clarita , six miles from Stevenson Ranch , 13 miles from Simi Valley and 13 miles from Los Angeles , at a depth of 10.8 miles .
In the last 10 days , there have been no earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby .
An average of five earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.0 occur per year in the Greater Los Angeles area , according to a recent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this earthquake ?
Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS .
Even if you didn ’ t feel this small earthquake , you never know when the Big One is going to strike .
Ready yourself by following our five-step earthquake preparedness guide and building your own emergency kit .
This story was automatically generated by Quakebot , a computer application that monitors the latest earthquakes detected by the USGS .
A Times editor reviewed the post before it was published .
If you ’ re interested in learning more about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked questions .

The earthquake occurred in Castaic, four miles north of Santa Clarita.
A magnitude 3.5 earthquake was reported Friday at 5:42 a.m. Pacific time in Castaic, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake occurred four miles from Santa Clarita, six miles from Stevenson Ranch, 13 miles from Simi Valley and 13 miles from Los Angeles, at a depth of 10.8 miles.
In the last 10 days, there have been no earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.
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An average of five earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.0 occur per year in the Greater Los Angeles area, according to a recent three-year data sample.
Did you feel this earthquake? Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS.
Even if you didn’t feel this small earthquake, you never know when the Big One is going to strike. Ready yourself by following our five-step earthquake preparedness guide and building your own emergency kit.
This story was automatically generated by Quakebot, a computer application that monitors the latest earthquakes detected by the USGS. A Times editor reviewed the post before it was published. If you’re interested in learning more about the system, visit our list of frequently asked questions.


latimes--2020-02-21--Need to earthquake retrofit your house? California reopens applications for $3,000 grants

Putting off an earthquake retrofit of your house ?
California is reopening applications for grants of up to $ 3,000 to fund seismic strengthening of older homes that can slide off their foundations .
There are an estimated 1.2 million California homes with a deficiency that can render them unlivable after strong shaking .
It involves houses built before 1980 , but especially before 1940 , that are a few steps off the ground and have a crawlspace between the living space and the ground the house sits on .
The problem is the homes haven ’ t been properly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Walls and wood beams that keep the house off the ground aren ’ t fastened tightly to the ground , and the lack of grip can cause the home to be shoved off the foundation — as if the shaking has broken the building ’ s knees , and a rug has been pulled from underneath the home .
The basic fix involves bolting or anchoring the house to the foundation , and possibly adding plywood around the flimsy crawlspace .
In Southern California , the typical cost for a bolt-only retrofit is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the median cost for a house that also needs plywood is $ 3,900 .
Costs in Northern California are higher ; the median cost for a retrofit exceeds $ 7,000 , in part due to the more complicated nature of homes there and higher labor costs , said Janiele Maffei , a structural engineer and chief mitigation officer for the California Earthquake Authority .
This type of home is quite common throughout areas of California at high risk for significant shaking .
In the magnitude 6 earthquake that hit Napa in 2014 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but some that were not strengthened were so damaged that residents were forced out of their homes .
Though a retrofit can cost thousands of dollars , repairing a broken home after an earthquake can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars .
The retrofit takes about two or three days to do , requires a local government permit and can be performed by a contractor or a knowledgeable do-it-yourselfer .
A directory of contractors who have taken a free online Federal Emergency Management Agency training course on seismic retrofits of homes is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials recommend homeowners obtain at least three bids before choosing a contractor .
The program is managed by the government-funded California Residential Mitigation Program .
The program was the recent recipient of a $ 23-million grant from FEMA intended to help spur homeowners to reduce hazards before the next disaster .
Of those funds , $ 10 million was used to fund the program in 2019 , while $ 13 million was set aside for this year .
So far , $ 30 million has been given to 10,000 homeowners .
The application @ @ @ @ @ @ @ program is open through March 19 and can be viewed at earthquakebracebolt.com .
The program has expanded the number of ZIP Codes in which homeowners are eligible for the grants to 355 .
New cities and communities include Arcadia , Azusa , Baldwin Park , Banning , Beaumont , Beverly Hills , Cherry Valley , Covina , Corona , Eastvale , El Monte , Fontana , Glendora , Hemet , Huntington Park , Irwindale , Lancaster , Littlerock , Montebello , Monterey Park , North Hollywood , Ojai , Oxnard , Pacoima , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Pico Rivera , Rosemead , San Dimas , San Jacinto , Sherman Oaks , Temple City , Upland , Valley Glen , Van Nuys , Ventura , West Whittier , Whittier and Wrightwood .
In Northern California , new areas eligible for the grants include Aptos , Atherton , Belmont , Castro Valley , Fremont , Half Moon Bay , Los Altos , McKinleyville , Newark , Orinda , Palo Alto , Petaluma , Portola Valley , San Juan Bautista , San Martin , Sausalito , Ukiah and Union City .

There are 1.2 million California houses with a deficiency that can cause the home to be shoved off its foundation. Most are not retrofitted. Above, a home in Fillmore in Ventura County that was shoved off its foundation after the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake in 1994.
Putting off an earthquake retrofit of your house? California is reopening applications for grants of up to $3,000 to fund seismic strengthening of older homes that can slide off their foundations.
There are an estimated 1.2 million California homes with a deficiency that can render them unlivable after strong shaking. It involves houses built before 1980, but especially before 1940, that are a few steps off the ground and have a crawl space between the living space and the ground the house sits on.
The problem is the homes haven’t been properly braced and bolted to the foundation. Walls and wood beams that keep the house off the ground aren’t fastened tightly to the ground, and the lack of grip can cause the home to be shoved off the foundation — as if the shaking has broken the building’s knees, and a rug has been pulled from underneath the home.
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California Must Reads: A simple earthquake flaw can invite financial catastrophe. Most California homeowners ignore it When the region’s most powerful earthquake in years struck Northern California on an early Sunday morning in 2014, it jolted two homes standing side by side on a residential block in Napa.
The basic fix involves bolting or anchoring the house to the foundation, and possibly adding plywood around the flimsy crawl space. In Southern California, the typical cost for a bolt-only retrofit is about $3,000 to $3,500; the median cost for a house that also needs plywood is $3,900.
Costs in Northern California are higher; the median cost for a retrofit exceeds $7,000, in part due to the more complicated nature of homes there and higher labor costs, said Janiele Maffei, a structural engineer and chief mitigation officer for the California Earthquake Authority.
This type of home is quite common throughout areas of California at high risk for significant shaking. In the magnitude 6 earthquake that hit Napa in 2014, retrofitted houses rode out the quake fine, but some that were not strengthened were so damaged that residents were forced out of their homes.
Though a retrofit can cost thousands of dollars, repairing a broken home after an earthquake can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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The retrofit takes about two or three days to do, requires a local government permit and can be performed by a contractor or a knowledgeable do-it-yourselfer.
× Older California homes can slide or topple off their foundations in an earthquake. Structural engineer Janiele Maffei offers advice on what precautions should be taken to retrofit such homes.
A directory of contractors who have taken a free online Federal Emergency Management Agency training course on seismic retrofits of homes is on the state’s website; officials recommend homeowners obtain at least three bids before choosing a contractor.
The program is managed by the government-funded California Residential Mitigation Program. The program was the recent recipient of a $23-million grant from FEMA intended to help spur homeowners to reduce hazards before the next disaster. Of those funds, $10 million was used to fund the program in 2019, while $13 million was set aside for this year.
So far, $30 million has been given to 10,000 homeowners.
The application process for the Earthquake Brace + Bolt program is open through March 19 and can be viewed at earthquakebracebolt.com.
× Why a home built a few steps above the ground can slide off its foundation in an earthquake, and how the defect can be fixed, as explained by structural engineer Janiele Maffei.
The program has expanded the number of ZIP Codes in which homeowners are eligible for the grants to 355. New cities and communities include Arcadia, Azusa, Baldwin Park, Banning, Beaumont, Beverly Hills, Cherry Valley, Covina, Corona, Eastvale, El Monte, Fontana, Glendora, Hemet, Huntington Park, Irwindale, Lancaster, Littlerock, Montebello, Monterey Park, North Hollywood, Ojai, Oxnard, Pacoima, Pacific Palisades, Palm Springs, Pearblossom, Pico Rivera, Rosemead, San Dimas, San Jacinto, Sherman Oaks, Temple City, Upland, Valley Glen, Van Nuys, Ventura, West Whittier, Whittier and Wrightwood.
In Northern California, new areas eligible for the grants include Aptos, Atherton, Belmont, Castro Valley, Fremont, Half Moon Bay, Los Altos, McKinleyville, Newark, Orinda, Palo Alto, Petaluma, Portola Valley, San Juan Bautista, San Martin, Sausalito, Ukiah and Union City.


latimes--2020-02-21--Horror, fatigue and constant calls: 24 hours with skid row's firefighters

A man in tan cargo shorts is lying on the pavement , turning gray with his shirt pulled up to his chest .
An ambulance from Los Angeles Fire Department Station No .
9 shoots down an alley and comes to a stop .
Firefighters Brian George and Nicolas Calkins pop out and grab an assortment of medical gear .
“ It ’ s probably heroin , dude , ” George says to Calkins , even before kneeling .
They get to work .
George checks the man ’ s pulse while Calkins looks for a vein .
The man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ naloxone , often referred to by the brand name Narcan , into his neck to counteract the overdose .
It doesn ’ t work .
George and Calkins respond to thousands of calls like this every month while working at one of the busiest fire stations in the nation , in the heart of one of the most troubled places in Los Angeles : skid row .
They are the unlikely rank and file on the front lines of California ’ s escalating homelessness crisis .
The roughly 60 firefighters at Station No @ @ @ @ @ @ @ epileptic fits and overdoses to stalled elevators and full-fledged fires , crisscrossing a district defined by extreme poverty and powerlessness alongside extreme wealth and power in downtown L.A. With residents who are often victims of crime , crippled by addiction and psychiatric disorders from years of living on the street , the firefighters do the best they can with the little they have to offer .
Yet the needs are overwhelming .
In 2019 alone , Station No .
9 logged nearly 22,800 emergency calls across just 1.28 square miles — about 7,500 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ station .
Taking care of L.A. ’ s most vulnerable residents has given these firefighters a unique perspective on the homelessness crisis .
Most are empathetic .
Some feel isolated or frustrated about the city ’ s inability to fix what ’ s happening outside their front door .
But rather than dwell on those larger forces or their feelings about it all , they train constantly and joke around with a camaraderie shaped by their shared commitment to one of the city ’ s most intense jobs .
“ We see things @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — we ’ ll see multiple times in one day , ” said Ian Soriano , a firefighter and apparatus operator at Station No .
9 .
This is 24 hours in the life of a skid row firefighter .
Just before sunrise that day , Dan Martinez pulled his Audi A4 onto the sidewalk outside Station No .
9 at 7th and San Julian streets .
The area around the station is abuzz for so much of the day .
But at 5:30 a.m. , when the C shift arrives , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ planned to work 48 hours straight , was the first to show up .
A few minutes later , Jacob Gibson , an attendant on one of the station ’ s ambulances , came in and started prepping a meal for the 19 firefighters on duty .
Tall with curly red hair and a round face , the second-generation firefighter joked about what he thought was the hardest part of his job .
“ Cooking for this many people is a pain in the ass , ” he said .
Gibson began to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shift change kicked into high gear .
Members of the B shift ambled down from their quarters as members of the C shift lined up their cars in the parking lot next door and waited to cram them behind the station .
5:39 a.m. : Outside the station An elderly homeless man walks by wearing a faded gray sweatshirt .
He stops and turns toward a firefighter .
“ My flesh is on fire , ” he says .
“ Put me out.
” Most of C shift is in the station by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t arrive even earlier , by 5:45 a.m. , others will give them hell .
Each member has a job to do .
In the morning , they check the gear they ’ ll be using that day , and situate their pants and boots near the firetruck they ’ ll be riding in , so they can move quickly when a call comes in .
The man in tan cargo shorts is lying on the pavement , his skin gray .
Calkins , trying to reverse the effects of a heroin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the man ’ s arm and asks for another dose of naloxone .
“ If you do it , just go half , ” George says .
George rubs the man ’ s chest and pulls him by his pants onto a gurney .
Soon afterward , the man is alert in the ambulance and on his way to an emergency room .
Station No .
9 responds to more medical calls like this than any other fire station in the city , according to the LAFD .
Over nearly two years beginning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the people that the LAFD took to emergency rooms citywide were homeless .
That works out to roughly 81 homeless people a day .
For Station No .
9 , that ratio was 59 % , or about 12 homeless people being brought to the ER every day .
Sometimes firefighters administer naloxone by intraosseous infusion , in which a hole is drilled just below the knee and the drug is injected directly into the patient ’ s bone marrow .
This is the quickest way to bring someone back from an overdose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this ritual , though .
On skid row , these firefighters have watched homelessness grow , with the citywide population topping 36,000 as of last year .
They ’ ve seen drug addiction rob many of those same people of their health , making it harder to achieve a stable future away from the street .
Yet all George or Calkins or anyone else at Station No .
9 can really do is take them to the emergency room .
Firefighters say they ’ ve noticed that overdoses often occur when a person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of prison or jail and thinks he or she has the same tolerance for heroin as in the past .
“ You think your body is used to it , ” George said .
“ You OD a lot quicker.
” In an effort to reduce the workload , the LAFD recently launched its Sober Unit to transport intoxicated people to a center on skid row .
Also , a modified wildland firefighting truck known as a “ fast-response vehicle , ” or FRV , now prowls downtown responding to calls .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ programs .
The problem is neither operates on weekends .
“ They really push the FRV units , ” Capt .
Raymond Robles said , “ but we ’ re here every day.
” By 8:15 a.m. , the C shift had received 10 calls for help .
In the previous 30 minutes , there had been five , nearly all of them on skid row .
Returning to the station , Gibson trudged back to the stove .
“ I hope they didn ’ t burn anything , ” he said , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if his fellow firefighters weren ’ t pleased with their burritos .
“ All right , ” he said a few minutes later , “ breakfast is ready .
Come and get it.
” The station ’ s 19-member C shift — all of them men — assembled in the kitchen .
Capt .
Larry Salas ran through the schedule for the week .
It ’ s a challenge to keep Station No .
9 fully staffed .
Some firefighters blame the stigma of homelessness in their district .
The volume of calls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ firefighters looking for easy overtime aren ’ t flocking there .
As a result , on the day The Times visited , one firefighter was working for his fifth straight day .
After roll call , Robles , the station ’ s longtime leader , took over the meeting .
An affable and stocky man , he is part father and part camp counselor to his cohort of younger firefighters , who are intensely loyal to him .
“ We ’ re going to go to the Hotel Baltimore and throw the stick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ referring to practice climbing the ladder .
“ Everyone is going to climb the stick and work our way down.
” Next to speak is Tony Navarro , who , as the most senior member of Station No .
9 , is the bull firefighter .
He has been at the station for 11 years ; before working there , he ’ d never seen skid row .
On his first day , Navarro responded to a medical call to find a man without feet in a wheelchair .
His legs were wrapped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ away the flesh underneath .
When he and other firefighters pulled the man out of his chair , they found that his whole backside was raw and maggots were crawling over his body , top to bottom .
“ It smelled like a dead body , ” Navarro said .
“ That was my first day , and it was all downhill from there.
” Burnout is the biggest enemy of trying to be an effective firefighter at Station No .
9 , he said .
The constant calls , constant horror and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He recalled dozing off at the wheel several times on his commute home .
More than once , he said , California Highway Patrol officers pulled him over .
These days , Navarro said , he finds time to kick his feet up and clear his head by sleeping for a few minutes or watching a movie .
Finding those quiet moments is important , he said .
Otherwise you won ’ t make it through the day — physically or emotionally .
For many members of the station , responding to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ You ’ re inundated with patients , ” Navarro said .
“ It gets to you.
” Of Station No .
9 ’ s roughly 22,800 emergency calls last year , about 18,850 were medical , according to the LAFD .
“ Half of us wouldn ’ t want to be here if it was just that , ” Navarro said .
Two engines and one ladder pull out of Station No .
9 and enter the heat and traffic of a Saturday morning in downtown Los Angeles .
The long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Street and blocks a lane of traffic .
The truck ’ s ladder rises and settles next to the building ’ s roof .
The men line up to climb and discuss how to carry gear up the ladder .
“ The most dangerous part is the transition , ” Navarro says .
Two years ago , during a training exercise at a building a lot like the Baltimore Hotel , a member of Station No .
9 — Kelly Wong — lost his footing and fell from the ladder onto a firetruck @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Firefighters are quick to say they do this work for guys like Wong , whose photo is everywhere in the station .
They ’ re less willing to talk about what happened on that day .
Soriano , the apparatus operator , worked the same shift as Wong but was off the day his colleague fell .
He had been driving to a wine festival with his girlfriend but turned around and headed to the hospital when he heard what had happened .
“ A lot of the guys were really good @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was terrible .
If we don ’ t get an opportunity to practice this scenario , ” he said , referring to climbing the ladder , “ we ’ ll be in trouble when there ’ s a more stressful scenario when someone is hanging out a window and a fire is blazing .
We have to do it , man .
We do it in memory of him.
” Soriano has been with the LAFD for 13 years and with Station No .
9 for four years .
After responding to dozens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ row , the grim nature of the work sometimes blurs together .
“ It wears on your patience , because a lot of the homeless people , we know them by name , and they ’ re doing the same thing over and over , ” he said .
“ We take a guy to the hospital and he ’ ll be right back out at 2 p.m.
There ’ s a shock when you first get there and you have to learn how to deal with that over and over again.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him deal with the perpetual stress .
Firetrucks and an ambulance scream through skid row on their way to an apartment building .
A man has fallen six floors after taking a wrong step while fixing an HVAC system on the roof .
The firefighters find him moaning , face down in a pool of blood .
His arms and legs point in unnatural directions .
Gibson runs over and kneels down , attempting to get a pulse and sense of the severity of the man ’ s injuries .
The man ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contemplate how to get him onto a gurney .
“ It ’ s going to be uncomfortable no matter what , ” Gibson says , cutting off the man ’ s shirt .
Another firefighter grabs him by his pants and helps flip him over .
As 6 p.m. approached , Gibson prepared dinner .
While waiting , firefighters cleaned the station , tinkered with faltering exhaust pipes and examined a new ram bar , a firefighting tool for breaking through locks , doors and walls .
In this quiet moment , Michael @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said he ’ s often thinking about the disorder that surrounds Station No .
9 .
He said he and his colleagues know rising rents have contributed to the growing number of people living on the street .
But he also blames the nexus of mental illness and drug abuse , and what he sees as a hesitancy among Los Angeles police officers to deal with homeless people and their encampments .
In some cases , Villata speculated , the breakdown of families has left people without the support they need to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be dangerous .
Firefighters said they have been threatened while responding to calls .
Homeless people have brandished knives , and others have picked up shovels to swing at them .
“ We ’ ve been punched , spit at , choked , ” Robles said .
Specific procedures for dealing with such incidents exist , but they still happen often enough that firefighters say they worry about ending up in a violent confrontation when responding to calls .
It doesn ’ t stop them from caring for people on skid row , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support homeless people — one man in particular , who goes by the name Mango and lives in a tent across the street from Station No .
9 .
Mango moved to Los Angeles from Florida and has become the firefighters ’ greatest champion — often wearing a T-shirt or a hat with Station No .
9 ’ s logo .
Sometimes he helps clean up after a fire is extinguished , and when gear gets stolen from trucks , Mango is usually the one who will venture out to find it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to hang out and talk with the firefighters .
Over the summer , Villata rebuilt Mango ’ s motorbike , but it was stolen days after he delivered it .
“ When I gave him the bike , he cried .
He was really happy… .
I saw him a few days later and he was devastated that it got stolen , ” Villata said .
“ I just felt horrible for Mango because of how grateful and happy he was .
To have something taken from him — just watching it sucks.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and his eyelids are drooping .
A movie is playing on the big screen as a homeless man walks into the station .
“ If I could just get some sleeping pills , ” he says .
The man ’ s thumb is nearly ripped off , pointing in an odd direction .
The man explains how he recently had surgery and how he had taken the cast off prematurely because his hand hurt .
He also tells firefighters that he missed a follow-up appointment with a doctor .
“ We don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Shinn tells him .
“ Go to the drugstore and get some NyQuil maybe .
You can ’ t be missing appointments.
” Shinn wraps the man ’ s hand and finds a piece of cardboard to fashion a makeshift splint .
Such grim scenes drive firefighters to find ways to escape and relax .
They pull lots of pranks on one another — like a seemingly serious “ training session ” ordered by Robles .
It turned out to be a younger firefighter swinging nunchaku as his colleagues broke down in laughter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in these moments — a brief respite from what ’ s happening outside .
Station No .
9 ’ s members are a tightknit crew .
They vacation together .
Their families grill together .
Soriano recently led a crew of his fellow firefighters on a snowboarding trip to Austria .
They also went to Chile and Japan .
“ There ’ s a brotherhood that you can ’ t really speak about unless you have been there , ” Soriano said .
“ We ’ re involved in each other ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ girlfriends and wives .
We go on trips , and we have a lot of fun at the station.
” Another way firefighters let off steam is to play handball .
It ’ s the LAFD ’ s official sport , and tournaments often attract old-timers who worked at the station decades ago .
Sometimes they play in their socks to decide who will do dishes after dinner .
While a game was underway , Soriano and Robles sat in the kitchen and discussed how firefighters were adjusting to life at Station No @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how much time they had to spend responding to medical calls .
It ’ s common during the first year working on skid row for some firefighters to be sick all the time until their bodies adjust to the stress .
Firefighters often spend their first year battling colds and feeling generally unwell .
“ It ’ s something like your freshman 15 , ” Soriano said , comparing it to the belief that many college students gain weight in their first year .
He blamed it on the lack of sleep and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of skid row .
“ The hotels , the tents — it ’ s not necessarily the most clean place to operate , ” Soriano said .
“ I got sick .
It ’ s not like you ’ re throwing up .
You ’ re just sick constantly.
” Engine 209 pulls out of the station , and Mango steps into the street to block traffic .
This happens a lot .
Firefighters arrive at Cole ’ s French Dip and find a man flat on the ground .
Patrons are standing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Villata digs into the man ’ s pocket and finds a needle .
His pupils are uneven .
They give him a dose of naloxone and his vitals return to normal .
“ Captain is tired , ” Gibson says to no one in particular .
Chatter over the radio alerts Station No .
9 to a fire in a neighboring district .
Firefighters arrive to find an abandoned building , flames erupting from its mezzanine .
Robles grabs a saw to cut holes in the wall and ceiling .
Soriano grabs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ room , putting out remnants of the conflagration .
There were 82 incidents in 24 hours .
Navarro had just worked 72 hours .
Robles was scheduled to do another shift .
When the firefighters return to Station No .
9 , the A shift has already arrived and is getting situated .
Mango is outside grilling food that he intends to sell .
Another day at the busiest fire station in Los Angeles has begun .

A man in tan cargo shorts is lying on the pavement, turning gray with his shirt pulled up to his chest.
An ambulance from Los Angeles Fire Department Station No. 9 shoots down an alley and comes to a stop. Firefighters Brian George and Nicolas Calkins pop out and grab an assortment of medical gear.
“It’s probably heroin, dude,” George says to Calkins, even before kneeling.
They get to work.
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“He’s breathing,” Calkins says.
“Narcan?”
“Yeah. I think heroin.”
George checks the man’s pulse while Calkins looks for a vein. The man is not breathing well. They inject naloxone, often referred to by the brand name Narcan, into his neck to counteract the overdose. It doesn’t work.
Los Angeles firefighters inject naloxone into the neck of an overdose patient downtown. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
George, Calkins and their colleagues respond to thousands of calls like this every month while working at one of the busiest fire stations in the nation, in the heart of one of the most troubled places in Los Angeles: skid row. They are the unlikely rank and file on the front lines of California’s escalating homelessness crisis.
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The roughly 60 firefighters at Station No. 9 regularly respond to everything from epileptic seizures and overdoses to stalled elevators and full-fledged fires, crisscrossing a district defined by extreme poverty and powerlessness alongside extreme wealth and power in downtown L.A. With residents who are often victims of crime, crippled by addiction and psychiatric disorders from years of living on the street, the firefighters do the best they can with the little they have to offer. Yet the needs are overwhelming.
In 2019 alone, Station No. 9 logged nearly 22,800 emergency calls across just 1.28 square miles — about 7,500 more than the city’s next-busiest station.
Taking care of L.A.’s most vulnerable residents has given these firefighters a unique perspective on the homelessness crisis. Most are empathetic. Some feel isolated or frustrated about the city’s inability to fix what’s happening outside their front door. But rather than dwell on those larger forces or their feelings about it all, they train constantly and joke around with a camaraderie shaped by their shared commitment to one of the city’s most intense jobs.
“We see things that people never see in their lifetimes — we’ll see multiple times in one day,” said Ian Soriano, a firefighter and apparatus operator at Station No. 9.
This is 24 hours in the life of a skid row firefighter.
Firefighters help a stabbing victim to his feet in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
5:30 a.m.: Fire Station No. 9
Just before sunrise that day, Dan Martinez pulled his Audi A4 onto the sidewalk outside Station No. 9 at 7th and San Julian streets.
The area around the station is abuzz for so much of the day. But at 5:30 a.m., when the C shift arrives, it’s quiet. Martinez, who planned to work 48 hours straight, was the first to show up.
A few minutes later, Jacob Gibson, an attendant on one of the station’s ambulances, came in and started prepping a meal for the 19 firefighters on duty. Tall with curly red hair and a round face, the second-generation firefighter joked about what he thought was the hardest part of his job.
“Cooking for this many people is a pain in the ass,” he said.
Gibson began to cut peppers and whisk eggs as the shift change kicked into high gear. Members of the B shift ambled down from their quarters as members of the C shift lined up their cars in the parking lot next door and waited to cram them behind the station.
5:39 a.m.: Outside the station
An elderly homeless man walks by wearing a faded gray sweatshirt. He stops and turns toward a firefighter.
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“My flesh is on fire,” he says. “Put me out.”
“You’re not on fire,” Capt. Branden Silverman responds.
The man keeps walking.
Most of C shift is in the station by 6:30 a.m., but if firefighters don’t arrive even earlier, by 5:45 a.m., others will give them hell. Each member has a job to do. In the morning, they check the gear they’ll be using that day, and situate their pants and boots near the firetruck they’ll be riding in, so they can move quickly when a call comes in.
1 / 13 Ian Moore prepares his gear at skid row’s Fire Station No. 9 in downtown Los Angeles, one of the busiest fire stations in the nation. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 13 A homeless man sleeps outside Fire Station No. 9 on L.A.’s skid row. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 13 A stabbing victim is treated by an L.A. firefighter in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 13 A firefighter treats a stabbing victim in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 13 L.A. firefighters prepare to transport an overdose patient in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 13 A homeless man who goes by the name Mango helps block 6th Street as a firetruck backs into Station No. 9. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 13 A homeless man who goes by the name Mango cooks a turkey across the street from Fire Station No. 9, where he has set up his tent. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 13 L.A. firefighters prepare for a training exercise as a man watches along 5th Street in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 13 L.A. firefighters from Station No. 9 treat a patient on skid row early in the morning in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 13 L.A. firefighter Ian Soriano removes an exhaust pipe from Engine 209 at Station No. 9 after it broke. With the help of other firefighters, the pipe was temporarily fixed. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 13 Tony Navarro checks his phone in the sleeping quarters at Fire Station No. 9. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 13 L.A. firefighter Jake Gonzalez wipes down a truck in between calls at Station No. 9. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 13 An L.A. firefighter takes off his gear at Station No. 9 after returning from a late-night call in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
7:35 a.m.: 632 St. Vincent Court
The man in tan cargo shorts is lying on the pavement, his skin gray.
Calkins, trying to reverse the effects of a heroin overdose, finally finds another vein in the man’s arm and asks for another dose of naloxone.
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“If you do it, just go half,” George says.
George rubs the man’s chest and pulls him by his pants onto a gurney. Soon afterward, the man is alert in the ambulance and on his way to an emergency room.
Station No. 9 responds to more medical calls like this than any other fire station in the city, according to the LAFD.
Over nearly two years beginning in 2018, almost 14% of the people that the LAFD took to emergency rooms citywide were homeless. That works out to roughly 81 homeless people a day. For Station No. 9, that ratio was 59%, or about 12 homeless people being brought to the ER every day.
Sometimes firefighters administer naloxone by intraosseous infusion, in which a hole is drilled just below the knee and the drug is injected directly into the patient’s bone marrow. This is the quickest way to bring someone back from an overdose.
There’s a futility in this ritual, though.
L.A. firefighters on skid row put an overdose patient into the back of an ambulance. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
On skid row, these firefighters have watched homelessness grow, with the citywide population topping 36,000 as of last year. They’ve seen drug addiction rob many of those same people of their health, making it harder to achieve a stable future away from the street. Yet all George or Calkins or anyone else at Station No. 9 can really do is take them to the emergency room.
Firefighters say they’ve noticed that overdoses often occur when a person with a history of drug addiction gets out of prison or jail and thinks he or she has the same tolerance for heroin as in the past.
“You think your body is used to it,” George said. “You OD a lot quicker.”
In an effort to reduce the workload, the LAFD recently launched its Sober Unit to transport intoxicated people to a center on skid row. Also, a modified wildland firefighting truck known as a “fast-response vehicle,” or FRV, now prowls downtown responding to calls.
The department has heavily publicized these pilot programs. The problem is neither operates on weekends.
“They really push the FRV units,” Capt. Raymond Robles said, “but we’re here every day.”
8:15 a.m.: Back at home base
Los Angeles firefighters eat a meal at Fire Station No. 9 between calls. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
By 8:15 a.m., the C shift had received 10 calls for help. In the previous 30 minutes, there had been five, nearly all of them on skid row.
Returning to the station, Gibson trudged back to the stove.
“I hope they didn’t burn anything,” he said, knowing that he’d hear it if his fellow firefighters weren’t pleased with their burritos. “All right,” he said a few minutes later, “breakfast is ready. Come and get it.”
The station’s 19-member C shift — all of them men — assembled in the kitchen. Capt. Larry Salas ran through the schedule for the week.
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It’s a challenge to keep Station No. 9 fully staffed. Some firefighters blame the stigma of homelessness in their district. The volume of calls and the intensity of the work mean firefighters looking for easy overtime aren’t flocking there.
As a result, on the day The Times visited, one firefighter was working for his fifth straight day.
After roll call, Robles, the station’s longtime leader, took over the meeting. An affable and stocky man, he is part father and part camp counselor to his cohort of younger firefighters, who are intensely loyal to him.
“We’re going to go to the Hotel Baltimore and throw the stick,” he told the team, referring to practice climbing the ladder. “Everyone is going to climb the stick and work our way down.”
Next to speak is Tony Navarro, who, as the most senior member of Station No. 9, is the bull firefighter. He has been at the station for 11 years; before working there, he’d never seen skid row.
On his first day, Navarro responded to a medical call to find a man without feet in a wheelchair. His legs were wrapped in plastic, and maggots were eating away the flesh underneath. When he and other firefighters pulled the man out of his chair, they found that his whole backside was raw and maggots were crawling over his body, top to bottom.
“It smelled like a dead body,” Navarro said. “That was my first day, and it was all downhill from there.”
‘It smelled like a dead body. That was my first day, and it was all downhill from there.’ — Tony Navarro, firefighter
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Burnout is the biggest enemy of trying to be an effective firefighter at Station No. 9, he said. The constant calls, constant horror and constant fatigue add up to high turnover. He recalled dozing off at the wheel several times on his commute home. More than once, he said, California Highway Patrol officers pulled him over.
These days, Navarro said, he finds time to kick his feet up and clear his head by sleeping for a few minutes or watching a movie. Finding those quiet moments is important, he said. Otherwise you won’t make it through the day — physically or emotionally.
For many members of the station, responding to calls in ambulances is the hardest part. “You’re inundated with patients,” Navarro said. “It gets to you.”
Of Station No. 9’s roughly 22,800 emergency calls last year, about 18,850 were medical, according to the LAFD.
“Half of us wouldn’t want to be here if it was just that,” Navarro said.
9:46 a.m.: 501 S. Los Angeles St., Baltimore Hotel
Two engines and one ladder pull out of Station No. 9 and enter the heat and traffic of a Saturday morning in downtown Los Angeles. The long truck comes to a stop on 5th Street and blocks a lane of traffic.
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The truck’s ladder rises and settles next to the building’s roof. The men line up to climb and discuss how to carry gear up the ladder.
“The most dangerous part is the transition,” Navarro says.
Two years ago, during a training exercise at a building a lot like the Baltimore Hotel, a member of Station No. 9 — Kelly Wong — lost his footing and fell from the ladder onto a firetruck below. He died two days later.
Firefighters are quick to say they do this work for guys like Wong, whose photo is everywhere in the station. They’re less willing to talk about what happened on that day.
Soriano, the apparatus operator, worked the same shift as Wong but was off the day his colleague fell. He had been driving to a wine festival with his girlfriend but turned around and headed to the hospital when he heard what had happened.
“A lot of the guys were really good friends with Kelly. Seeing them broken was terrible. If we don’t get an opportunity to practice this scenario,” he said, referring to climbing the ladder, “we’ll be in trouble when there’s a more stressful scenario when someone is hanging out a window and a fire is blazing. We have to do it, man. We do it in memory of him.”
Firefighter Ian Soriano during a training session on skid row. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Soriano has been with the LAFD for 13 years and with Station No. 9 for four years. After responding to dozens of calls for several days in a row, the grim nature of the work sometimes blurs together.
“It wears on your patience, because a lot of the homeless people, we know them by name, and they’re doing the same thing over and over,” he said. “We take a guy to the hospital and he’ll be right back out at 2 p.m. There’s a shock when you first get there and you have to learn how to deal with that over and over again.”
Embracing stoicism, Soriano said, helps him deal with the perpetual stress.
1:38 p.m.: 300 Santa Fe Ave.
Firetrucks and an ambulance scream through skid row on their way to an apartment building. A man has fallen six floors after taking a wrong step while fixing an HVAC system on the roof.
The firefighters find him moaning, face down in a pool of blood. His arms and legs point in unnatural directions.
Gibson runs over and kneels down, attempting to get a pulse and sense of the severity of the man’s injuries. The man’s moans grow louder as the firefighters contemplate how to get him onto a gurney.
“It’s going to be uncomfortable no matter what,” Gibson says, cutting off the man’s shirt.
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Another firefighter grabs him by his pants and helps flip him over.
“He broke a lot of things,” Gibson says.
6 p.m.: A quiet moment
As 6 p.m. approached, Gibson prepared dinner. While waiting, firefighters cleaned the station, tinkered with faltering exhaust pipes and examined a new ram bar, a firefighting tool for breaking through locks, doors and walls.
In this quiet moment, Michael Villata, an 11-year LAFD veteran, said he’s often thinking about the disorder that surrounds Station No. 9.
He said he and his colleagues know rising rents have contributed to the growing number of people living on the street. But he also blames the nexus of mental illness and drug abuse, and what he sees as a hesitancy among Los Angeles police officers to deal with homeless people and their encampments.
In some cases, Villata speculated, the breakdown of families has left people without the support they need to be successful in life.
Skid row can be dangerous. Firefighters said they have been threatened while responding to calls. Homeless people have brandished knives, and others have picked up shovels to swing at them.
“We’ve been punched, spit at, choked,” Robles said.
Specific procedures for dealing with such incidents exist, but they still happen often enough that firefighters say they worry about ending up in a violent confrontation when responding to calls. It doesn’t stop them from caring for people on skid row, though.
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A homeless man known as Mango lives in a tent across from Station No. 9 and helps block traffic when fire engines leave on emergency calls. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Villata said he tries to support homeless people — one man in particular, who goes by the name Mango and lives in a tent across the street from Station No. 9.
Mango moved to Los Angeles from Florida and has become the firefighters’ greatest champion — often wearing a T-shirt or a hat with Station No. 9’s logo. Sometimes he helps clean up after a fire is extinguished, and when gear gets stolen from trucks, Mango is usually the one who will venture out to find it.
More often, he stops by just to hang out and talk with the firefighters.
Over the summer, Villata rebuilt Mango’s motorbike, but it was stolen days after he delivered it.
“When I gave him the bike, he cried. He was really happy…. I saw him a few days later and he was devastated that it got stolen,” Villata said. “I just felt horrible for Mango because of how grateful and happy he was. To have something taken from him — just watching it sucks.”
6:48 p.m.: Station No. 9 TV room
Firefighter Tony Navarro watches a movie between calls at Fire Station No. 9 in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Navarro’s feet are up and his eyelids are drooping. A movie is playing on the big screen as a homeless man walks into the station.
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“If I could just get some sleeping pills,” he says.
The man’s thumb is nearly ripped off, pointing in an odd direction.
The man explains how he recently had surgery and how he had taken the cast off prematurely because his hand hurt. He also tells firefighters that he missed a follow-up appointment with a doctor.
“We don’t have any,” firefighter Eric Shinn tells him. “Go to the drugstore and get some NyQuil maybe. You can’t be missing appointments.”
Shinn wraps the man’s hand and finds a piece of cardboard to fashion a makeshift splint.
The man leaves.
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Firefighters Eric Shinn and Tony Navarro care for a man who had walked into the station complaining about his hand. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Such grim scenes drive firefighters to find ways to escape and relax. They pull lots of pranks on one another — like a seemingly serious “training session” ordered by Robles. It turned out to be a younger firefighter swinging nunchaku as his colleagues broke down in laughter.
There’s lots of amusement in these moments — a brief respite from what’s happening outside.
Station No. 9’s members are a tightknit crew. They vacation together. Their families grill together. Soriano recently led a crew of his fellow firefighters on a snowboarding trip to Austria. They also went to Chile and Japan.
“There’s a brotherhood that you can’t really speak about unless you have been there,” Soriano said. “We’re involved in each other’s lives. We hang out with our girlfriends and wives. We go on trips, and we have a lot of fun at the station.”
Another way firefighters let off steam is to play handball. It’s the LAFD’s official sport, and tournaments often attract old-timers who worked at the station decades ago. Sometimes they play in their socks to decide who will do dishes after dinner.
While a game was underway, Soriano and Robles sat in the kitchen and discussed how firefighters were adjusting to life at Station No. 9. Some were struggling with how much time they had to spend responding to medical calls.
It’s common during the first year working on skid row for some firefighters to be sick all the time until their bodies adjust to the stress. Firefighters often spend their first year battling colds and feeling generally unwell.
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“It’s something like your freshman 15,” Soriano said, comparing it to the belief that many college students gain weight in their first year.
He blamed it on the lack of sleep and unceasing exposure to the generally unhealthy environment of skid row.
“The hotels, the tents — it’s not necessarily the most clean place to operate,” Soriano said. “I got sick. It’s not like you’re throwing up. You’re just sick constantly.”
11:38 p.m.: 118 E. 6th St., Cole’s French Dip
Firefighters treat an unconscious person outside Cole’s French Dip in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Engine 209 pulls out of the station, and Mango steps into the street to block traffic. This happens a lot.
Firefighters arrive at Cole’s French Dip and find a man flat on the ground. Patrons are standing around, wondering what’s happening.
Villata digs into the man’s pocket and finds a needle. His pupils are uneven.
They give him a dose of naloxone and his vitals return to normal.
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“Let’s go,” Capt. Jim Duffy yells.
“Captain is tired,” Gibson says to no one in particular.
4:47 a.m.: 1301 N. Main St.
Station No. 9 firefighter Ray Robles, right, hugs a comrade after battling a predawn fire in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Chatter over the radio alerts Station No. 9 to a fire in a neighboring district. Firefighters arrive to find an abandoned building, flames erupting from its mezzanine.
Robles grabs a saw to cut holes in the wall and ceiling. Soriano grabs a fan. They move room to room, putting out remnants of the conflagration.
Navarro pulls off his breathing mask.
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There were 82 incidents in 24 hours.
Navarro had just worked 72 hours. Robles was scheduled to do another shift.
When the firefighters return to Station No. 9, the A shift has already arrived and is getting situated. Mango is outside grilling food that he intends to sell. Another day at the busiest fire station in Los Angeles has begun.


latimes--2020-02-21--Was Kobe Bryant's pilot disoriented before crash? 'Spatial-d' is a big problem in aviation

As investigators try to determine the cause of the chopper crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others last month , helicopter pilots and aviation experts are pointing to one likely scenario : spatial disorientation .
Spatial disorientation is a common reference in investigation reports of fatal air crashes .
Also known as spatial-d , it occurs when a pilot flying in low visibility due to clouds , fog or darkness can not see a vertical horizon and their senses conflict with the reality of their position .
It was cited in the crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he piloted a plane at night over water off Martha ’ s Vineyard in 1999 .
Patsy Cline , Buddy Holly and Jim Reeves all lost their lives in crashes attributed to spatial-d , as did Missouri Gov .
Mel Carnahan in 2008 .
In 2015 , a Louisiana National Guard Black Hawk helicopter crashed off Florida in thick fog , killing 11 after both pilots suffered spatial disorientation .
Federal aviation statistics show it accounts for 5 % to 10 % of all aviation accidents .
When it occurs , it proves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It will likely take months for the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the cause of the Jan. 26 crash .
The pilot of the chopper was struggling with poor visibility in the moments before the aircraft slammed into a Calabasas hillside .
Witnesses said fog was dense at the time , and the NTSB released a photo of Bryant ’ s helicopter flying into clouds shortly before the crash .
Based on those facts , Zoey Tur , a veteran Los Angeles news chopper pilot , said spatial disorientation is a likely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and you can not see , you don ’ t know where you are .
There are no visual cues , so you are relying on your inner ear .
You don ’ t know up is down or down is up , ” she said .
Bryant ’ s longtime pilot Ara Zobayan , at the controls of the Island Express Sikorsky S-76B chopper , skimmed below the clouds from John Wayne Airport on his way to Camarillo , where a limousine would meet the group of parents , coaches and girls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mamba Academy in nearby Thousand Oaks Zobayan was flying on what is known as visual flight rules , where pilots rely on their eyes .
As visibility deteriorated , he lingered over Burbank and arranged to fly Special VFR , where an air traffic controller tracked him across the San Fernando Valley eventually to the 101 Freeway pass into Calabasas .
The pilot flew so low the air traffic controller informed him he was unable to keep following the chopper on the radar .
As he neared Lost Hills Road , Zobayan told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 4,000 feet to get above the cloud layer .
His altitude was 2,300 feet , about 100 feet below the cloud tops .
Eight seconds later , after his last communication , the helicopter forked left in a rapid descent “ increasing to over 4,000 feet per minute , ” according to a preliminary report from the NTSB that found no mechanical or engine failure .
The chopper slammed into the hillside at 184 mph , creating a two-foot deep crater and splintering wreckage over an area the size of a football @ @ @ @ @ @ @ having 19 years of flying experience , in that final minute was likely not focusing on his instruments .
“ The most important instruments are the artificial horizon and your airspeed indicator .
And the airspeed indicator is climbing .
That means you are going down nose down .
The horizon should show the same thing .
But he is not relying on the instruments , ” Tur explained .
“ He is relying on the inner ear and he is looking out the window.
” Zobayan was a pilot approved to flight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flight rules , but the helicopter operator was not approved to do so for passenger operations .
Tur , however , said when a pilot loses orientation , he or she must completely trust their instruments , “ which takes a lot of instrument time.
” The human body is made for the ground , veteran pilots say .
A person ’ s sense of balance comprises vision , an ability to detect movements with muscles and joints and the inner ear balancing mechanism .
Without a horizon to look at , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deceived into feeling they are flying straight when they are actually banking or turning and descent can be perceived as flying level .
The Federation Aviation Administration warns pilots of the threat of spatial disorientation , detailing six ways pilots can get fooled by their bodies .
Research at the University of Illinois found that pilots with no instrument training flying into bad weather lasted on average 178 seconds before losing control .
Veteran Sikorsky pilot Doug Solbrekken , who for two decades flew choppers and trained others in British Columbia , Canada @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that this kind of loss of situational awareness or spatial disorientation ” was likely unrecognized by the pilot .
“ This is common when pilots have some training in [ instrument flight rules ] but are not current or have little practical experience.
” The NTSB has released a security camera footage that captured the helicopter ’ s last seconds above Calabasas ’ Las Virgenes Road .
Solbrekken said that video shows a consistent , steady , high-speed descent and supports the view that the pilot may have suffered spatial disorientation .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surging or screaming engine sounds of an aircraft in an unusual attitude , straight down or upside down.
” In May 2013 , a Sikorsky S-76A crashed in Canada , killing four people on a nighttime medical flight .
In that crash , there was what is termed a black hole effect , where the night sky and ground blur , leaving pilots visually disoriented .
As the helicopter climbed 300 feet into the darkness , the first officer commenced a left-hand turn and the crew began carrying out post-takeoff checks .
During @ @ @ @ @ @ @ angle of bank increased , and an inadvertent descent began .
The captain recognized that the chopper was descending and called for the first officer to initiate a climb , but it was too late and it plowed into the ground .
The kind of spatial disorientation suffered by those pilots is similar to the crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr. , his wife , Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy , and her sister Lauren Bessette in July 1999 .
According to the NTSB , Kennedy , a relatively inexperienced pilot flying visually , failed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over water because of spatial disorientation on a hazy and dark night .
The Piper Saratoga aircraft made several turns , alternately climbing and descending before finally entering an increasingly tight turn with increasing speed and its nose down .
The aircraft rate of descent reached an estimated 4,700 feet per minute before hitting the water , nose-down .
“ Spatial disorientation as a result of continued V.F.R .
flight into adverse weather conditions is regularly near the top of the cause/factor list in annual statistics on fatal aircraft accidents , ” the @ @ @ @

Crews respond Jan. 26 to the site of the helicopter crash in Calabasas that killed nine people including Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.
As investigators try to determine the cause of the chopper crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others last month, helicopter pilots and aviation experts are pointing to one likely scenario: spatial disorientation.
Spatial disorientation is a common reference in investigation reports of fatal air crashes. Also known as spatial-d, it occurs when a pilot flying in low visibility due to clouds, fog or darkness cannot see a horizon and their senses conflict with the reality of their position.
For the record: An earlier version of this story misspelled the first name of news chopper pilot Zoey Tur and the last name of Ara Zobayan, the pilot killed in the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash.
It was cited in the crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife and her sister as he piloted a plane at night over water off Martha’s Vineyard in 1999. Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly and Jim Reeves all lost their lives in crashes attributed to spatial-d, as did Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan in 2000.
In 2015, a Louisiana National Guard Black Hawk helicopter crashed off Florida in thick fog, killing 11 after both pilots suffered spatial disorientation.
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Federal aviation statistics show it accounts for 5% to 10% of all aviation accidents. When it occurs, it proves deadly 90% of the time.
It will probably take months for the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the cause of the Jan. 26 crash. The pilot of the chopper was struggling with poor visibility in the moments before the aircraft slammed into a Calabasas hillside. Witnesses said fog was dense at the time, and the NTSB released a photo of Bryant’s helicopter flying into clouds shortly before the crash.
Based on those facts, Zoey Tur, a veteran Los Angeles news chopper pilot, said spatial disorientation is a likely cause.
“When you are flying and you cannot see, you don’t know where you are. There are no visual cues, so you are relying on your inner ear. You don’t know [if] up is down or down is up,” she said.
Bryant’s longtime pilot Ara Zobayan, at the controls of the Island Express-owned Sikorsky S-76B chopper, skimmed below the clouds from John Wayne Airport on his way to Camarillo, where a limousine would meet the group of parents, coaches and girls for a game at Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy in nearby Thousand Oaks.
Zobayan was flying under what are known as visual flight rules, which require pilots to rely on their eyes. As visibility deteriorated, he lingered over Burbank and arranged to fly “special VFR,” under which an air traffic controller tracked him across the San Fernando Valley to the 101 Freeway pass into Calabasas.
The pilot flew so low that the air traffic controller informed him he was unable to keep following the chopper on the radar. As he neared Lost Hills Road, Zobayan told another air traffic controller he was climbing to 4,000 feet to get above the cloud layer. His altitude was 2,300 feet, about 100 feet below the cloud tops.
Eight seconds later, after his last communication, the helicopter forked left in a rapid descent “increasing to over 4,000 feet per minute,” according to a preliminary report from the NTSB that found no mechanical or engine failure. The chopper slammed into the hillside at 184 mph, creating a two-foot-deep crater and splintering wreckage over an area the size of a football field.
Tur said Zobayan, while having 19 years of flying experience, in that final minute was probably not focusing on his instruments.
“The most important instruments are the artificial horizon and your airspeed indicator. And the airspeed indicator is climbing. That means you are going down nose down. The horizon should show the same thing. But he is not relying on the instruments,” Tur explained. “He is relying on the inner ear and he is looking out the window.”
Zobayan was approved to fly solely using instruments, known as instrument flight rules, but the helicopter’s operator was not approved to conduct passenger operations under such rules.
Tur, however, said that when a pilot loses orientation, he or she must completely trust their instruments, “which takes a lot of instrument time.”
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The human body is made for the ground, veteran pilots say. A person’s sense of balance comprises vision, an ability to detect movements with muscles and joints, and the inner ear balancing mechanism. Without a horizon to look at, a pilot’s inner ear can be deceived into feeling they are flying straight when they are actually banking or turning, and descent can be perceived as flying level.
The Federal Aviation Administration warns pilots of the threat of spatial disorientation, detailing six ways pilots can be fooled by their bodies. Research at the University of Illinois found that pilots with no instrument training flying into bad weather lasted on average 178 seconds before losing control.
Veteran Sikorsky pilot Doug Solbrekken, who for two decades flew choppers and trained others in British Columbia, Canada, said of the Calabasas crash “that this kind of loss of situational awareness or spatial disorientation” was probably unrecognized by the pilot.
“This is common when pilots have some training in [instrument flight rules] but are not current or have little practical experience.”
The NTSB has released security camera footage that captured the helicopter’s last seconds above Las Virgenes Road. Solbrekken said that video shows a steady, high-speed descent and supports the view that the pilot may have suffered spatial disorientation. He said there is “no reeling, surging or screaming engine sounds of an aircraft in an unusual attitude, straight down or upside down.”
In May 2013, a Sikorsky S-76A crashed in Canada, killing four people on a nighttime medical flight. In that crash, there was what is termed a black hole effect, in which the night sky and ground blur, leaving pilots visually disoriented. As the helicopter climbed 300 feet into the darkness, the first officer commenced a left-hand turn and the crew began carrying out post-takeoff checks. During the turn, the aircraft’s angle of bank increased, and an inadvertent descent began. The captain recognized that the chopper was descending and called for the first officer to initiate a climb, but it was too late and the aircraft hit the ground.
The kind of spatial disorientation suffered by those pilots is similar to the crash that killed Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and her sister Lauren Bessette in July 1999. According to the NTSB, Kennedy, a relatively inexperienced pilot flying visually, failed to control the airplane during a descent over water because of spatial disorientation on a hazy and dark night.
The Piper Saratoga aircraft made several turns, alternately climbing and descending before finally entering an increasingly tight turn with increasing speed and its nose down. The aircraft’s rate of descent reached an estimated 4,700 feet per minute before hitting the water, nose down.
“Spatial disorientation as a result of continued VFR flight into adverse weather conditions is regularly near the top of the cause/factor list in annual statistics on fatal aircraft accidents,” the NTSB report said.


latimes--2020-02-21--Pop Smoke's social media posts may have given his killers key clues

Pop Smoke landed in Los Angeles on Monday evening for a five-day work trip that would include studio time and meetings with other artists .
The 20-year-old New York rapper then began sharing posts on social media that were followed by thousands of people .
They saw him posing by an infinity pool in the sunny backyard of the Hollywood Hills home where he was staying .
Later that evening , they saw a photo of the Los Angeles skyline from what appeared to be the home ’ s backyard .
At one point , the rapper or a member @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a black gift bag tagged with his Hollywood Hills address .
Another photo showed him posing by a white Range Rover with the address of the home partly visible in the background .
Early Wednesday , a group of people , including one wearing a mask and armed with a handgun , burst into the mansion and repeatedly shot the up-and-coming musician .
Security video shows the suspects fleeing the home in the 2000 block of Hercules Drive .
A law enforcement source said the rapper and his friends partied at the home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the shooting .
The motive is still unclear , but detectives are examining whether the assailants may have learned of Pop Smoke ’ s location from the social media posts .
“ It is something we are fleshing out , ” said LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division Capt .
Jonathan Tippet , noting it would have made it far easier for someone to locate the rapper .
Police said evidence suggests the fatal shooting was probably not the result of a robbery and are examining other motives .
Tippet said it appears something may have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that security footage doesn ’ t show the suspects ransacking the house in the way typically seen in fast-moving home-invasion robberies .
“ We are not ruling out a robbery .
But that doesn ’ t appear based on the evidence to be the motive , ” Tippet said .
Detectives suspect the assailants were probably gang members .
Federal officials have tied the rapper , who was born Bashar Barakah Jackson , to a street gang .
His gang ties and alleged theft of a Rolls-Royce , for which he had been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all being examined by investigators .
Peter Frankel , an attorney who had represented Pop Smoke , denied the musician ’ s gang affiliation .
He said he hadn ’ t been alarmed by the fact that the address of the Hollywood Hills home was shared on social media .
“ He was focused on his work and his appearances and his promotions and not thinking that he was going to be a victim of the murder , ” Frankel said .
“ You ’ re talking about somebody that was in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was traveling constantly , that basically had no time for anything other than his career.
” In his barely year-old career , the rapper helped found a distinctly Brooklyn variant of drill music , a hard-edged , gothic sound that originated in Chicago but that also won popularity on the East Coast and in the U.K. His death came days after his second mixtape , “ Meet the Woo 2 , ” debuted at No .
7 on the Billboard Top 200 list .
His breakthrough mixtape , “ Meet the Woo , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million streams globally .
But the rapper , who grew up in Brooklyn , had found himself repeatedly clashing with the law .
Sgt .
Jessica McRorie , a New York Police Department spokeswoman , said the agency had arrested him seven times since 2017 on suspicion of weapons possession , leaving the scene of an accident , reckless endangerment , a drug offense and larceny .
The Manhattan district attorney charged him with stealing a pair of shorts worth $ 260 last year from Bergdorf Goodman but ultimately moved to dismiss the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grand jury indicted the rapper on a count of transporting a stolen vehicle across state lines .
Prosecutors in New York alleged that Pop Smoke stole a $ 375,000 Rolls-Royce Wraith in Los Angeles for a music video .
It was later found at his mother ’ s home in New York .
He pleaded not guilty to the charge .
During a hearing in the case in Brooklyn last month , a federal prosecutor said the government believed that Pop Smoke was a member of a Crips-affiliated street gang , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Smoke ’ s death rattled the rap world and those who knew him .
It stunned Yuriy Mullokandov , the owner of a jewelry store in Cutchogue , N.Y. , who since November had supplied the rapper with watches , diamond earrings and chains .
“ He was a great guy and had a lot of positive energy , ” Mullokandov said .
“ When we talked business , he was very serious… .
We ’ re all real sad that he ’ s gone and he had to go that way.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resident said it was Pop Smoke ’ s breakthrough hit “ Welcome to the Party ” that first piqued his interest .
“ I knew he was from New York and trying to bring the drill scene back , ” said the boy , who is not being named because he is a minor .
The teenage fan was alarmed when he saw Pop Smoke ’ s address posted on an Instagram story hours after the rapper ’ s death .
“ You don ’ t see that happen , ” he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their belongings and stuff , and I feel like that ’ s what he was trying to do , but that was dangerous.
” Times staff writers August Brown , James Queally and Hannah Fry contributed to this report .

Leila Miller, Richard Winton, Andrew J. Campa

Pop Smoke landed in Los Angeles on Monday evening for a five-day work trip that would include studio time and meetings with other artists. The 20-year-old New York rapper then began sharing posts on social media that were followed by thousands of people.
They saw him posing by an infinity pool in the sunny backyard of the Hollywood Hills home where he was staying. Later that evening, they saw a photo of the Los Angeles skyline from what appeared to be the home’s backyard.
At one point, the rapper or a member of his entourage uploaded a photo of a black gift bag tagged with his Hollywood Hills address. Another photo showed him posing by a white Range Rover with the address of the home partly visible in the background.
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Early Wednesday, a group of people, including one wearing a mask and armed with a handgun, burst into the mansion and repeatedly shot the up-and-coming musician. Security video shows the suspects fleeing the home in the 2000 block of Hercules Drive. A law enforcement source said the rapper and his friends partied at the home well past midnight in the hours before the shooting.
The motive is still unclear, but detectives are examining whether the assailants may have learned of Pop Smoke’s location from the social media posts.
“It is something we are fleshing out,” said LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division Capt. Jonathan Tippet, noting it would have made it far easier for someone to locate the rapper.
Police said evidence suggests the fatal shooting was probably not the result of a robbery and are examining other motives. Tippet said it appears something may have been taken from the home but acknowledged that security footage doesn’t show the suspects ransacking the house in the way typically seen in fast-moving home-invasion robberies.
“We are not ruling out a robbery. But that doesn’t appear based on the evidence to be the motive,” Tippet said.
Detectives suspect the assailants were probably gang members. Federal officials have tied the rapper, who was born Bashar Barakah Jackson, to a street gang. His gang ties and alleged theft of a Rolls-Royce, for which he had been recently charged by federal prosecutors, are all being examined by investigators.
Peter Frankel, an attorney who had represented Pop Smoke, denied the musician’s gang affiliation. He said he hadn’t been alarmed by the fact that the address of the Hollywood Hills home was shared on social media.
“He was focused on his work and his appearances and his promotions and not thinking that he was going to be a victim of the murder,” Frankel said. “You’re talking about somebody that was in the studio basically every single night, that was traveling constantly, that basically had no time for anything other than his career.”
In his barely year-old career, the rapper helped found a distinctly Brooklyn variant of drill music, a hard-edged, gothic sound that originated in Chicago but that also won popularity on the East Coast and in the U.K.
His death came days after his second mixtape, “Meet the Woo 2,” debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200 list. His breakthrough mixtape, “Meet the Woo,” released last year, has 280 million streams globally.
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But the rapper, who grew up in Brooklyn, had found himself repeatedly clashing with the law. Sgt. Jessica McRorie, a New York Police Department spokeswoman, said the agency had arrested him seven times since 2017 on suspicion of weapons possession, leaving the scene of an accident, reckless endangerment, a drug offense and larceny. The Manhattan district attorney charged him with stealing a pair of shorts worth $260 last year from Bergdorf Goodman but ultimately moved to dismiss the case.
Last month, a federal grand jury indicted the rapper on a count of transporting a stolen vehicle across state lines. Prosecutors in New York alleged that Pop Smoke stole a $375,000 Rolls-Royce Wraith in Los Angeles for a music video. It was later found at his mother’s home in New York. He pleaded not guilty to the charge. During a hearing in the case in Brooklyn last month, a federal prosecutor said the government believed that Pop Smoke was a member of a Crips-affiliated street gang, according to a court transcript.
News of Pop Smoke’s death rattled the rap world and those who knew him.
It stunned Yuriy Mullokandov, the owner of a jewelry store in Cutchogue, N.Y., who since November had supplied the rapper with watches, diamond earrings and chains.
“He was a great guy and had a lot of positive energy,” Mullokandov said. “When we talked business, he was very serious…. We’re all real sad that he’s gone and he had to go that way.”
Like many fans, one 14-year-old Seattle resident said it was Pop Smoke’s breakthrough hit “Welcome to the Party” that first piqued his interest.
“I knew he was from New York and trying to bring the drill scene back,” said the boy, who is not being named because he is a minor.
The teenage fan was alarmed when he saw Pop Smoke’s address posted on an Instagram story hours after the rapper’s death.
“You don’t see that happen,” he said. “A lot of rappers flex their belongings and stuff, and I feel like that’s what he was trying to do, but that was dangerous.”
Times staff writers August Brown, James Queally and Hannah Fry contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-02-21--Garcetti appointees rejected a plan for apartments. The developer says they broke the law

A West Hollywood-based real estate company has sued the city of Los Angeles , saying appointees of Mayor Eric Garcetti violated state law by rejecting plans for a 577-unit apartment complex in South Los Angeles .
Lawyers for District Square LLC said in their lawsuit that the South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission , a five-member panel made up of mayoral appointees , violated the Housing Accountability Act by denying their client ’ s application to build a six-story residential project .
The Housing Accountability Act prohibits cities from rejecting housing developments that comply with local planning laws unless they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health or safety .
In their filing , attorneys for the developer said the project , also known as District Square , adhered to city rules and would have helped L.A. achieve its long-term housing goals .
“ Indeed , this case presents the paradigmatic example of a local government contributing to this state ’ s housing crisis by denying a new housing development without consideration of the economic and social costs of its actions , ” they wrote .
Matthew Hinks , a lawyer for District Square , did not respond to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ calls for a judge to order the city to approve the project .
A spokesman for City Atty .
Mike Feuer declined to answer questions about the case , saying his office had not received the filing .
But Damien Goodmon , one of the activists who opposed District Square , said the developers have no business talking about abiding by the law .
District Square LLC is managed , at least in part , by real estate developer Arman Gabay , who is facing bribery and wire fraud charges in a federal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ developer has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial .
Gabay and his company have also received multiple default notices from the city , saying he has failed to repay $ 6.3 million in taxpayer loans .
City officials are currently in negotiations with the developers about those defaults , but nothing has been paid back so far , said Jamie Francisco , spokeswoman for the city ’ s Economic and Workforce Development Department .
Goodmon , executive director of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition , said the city should foreclose on the property @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any development is 100 % affordable for neighborhood residents .
“ They should not be negotiating , ” said Goodmon .
“ Why would we even allow this man to continue to own this valuable piece of property ?
” Councilman Herb Wesson , who represents the area , called last year for the city to reject District Square , saying the project would result in higher rents for the area ’ s low-income households , displacing lifelong community residents .
On Thursday , the councilman did not respond to questions about whether @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instead that in the midst of a housing crisis , “ it ’ s not enough to just build.
” “ We need to build housing that working people can afford , ” Wesson said in an emailed statement .
“ If the neighborhood ’ s current residents can ’ t afford it , we shouldn ’ t build it.
” The District Square lawsuit is the latest twist in a long running saga involving Wesson , who is running for a seat on the county Board of Supervisors , and the Gabays @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s campaigns and his political causes .
In 2010 , Wesson signed off on a plan to provide more than $ 26 million in taxpayer assistance to the Gabays , who had promised to build a two-story shopping center featuring a Target , a supermarket and other businesses .
The Gabays used a portion of those funds to demolish a shopping center on the site , pushing out a Ralphs supermarket .
Construction never began .
In 2015 , a city agency headed by former City Councilwoman Jan Perry -- who is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supervisor ’ s race — began issuing default notices to the Gabays , saying they had failed to comply with the terms of their loans .
Wesson tried to salvage plans for the shopping center , without success .
In 2018 , FBI agents arrested Gabay , accusing him of bribing a county real estate official .
At the same time , the Gabays worked with Garcetti aides to retool their project , transforming it into a mostly residential development .
The city ’ s planning department endorsed the reworked project .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , came out against it .
When District Square came before the South Los Angeles planning panel , the city ’ s lawyer warned the commission that a failure to comply with the Housing Accountability Act could leave taxpayers with the bill for the developer ’ s legal costs , and possibly even financial penalties .
The commission voted unanimously to reject District Square , saying they were concerned with gentrification and the project ’ s lack of affordable housing .
They also disregarded their lawyer ’ s request that they delay a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a legal rationale for turning down the application .
“ The commissioners … simply ignored both the law and the advice and direction given by planning staff and the deputy city attorney , ” wrote Hinks , the attorney for District Square .
Garcetti spokesman Alex Comisar declined to discuss the allegations , saying his office does not discuss ongoing litigation .
But Perry , who has since left City Hall , said District Square ’ s developers had “ a lot of nerve.
” Even after receiving taxpayer funds , the developers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ required as part of the original loan , she said .
“ They just moved some dirt around , ” she said .
“ They never built the project .
”

A West Hollywood-based real estate company has sued the city of Los Angeles, saying appointees of Mayor Eric Garcetti violated state law by rejecting plans for a 577-unit apartment complex in South Los Angeles.
Lawyers for District Square LLC said in their lawsuit that the South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission, a five-member panel made up of mayoral appointees, violated the Housing Accountability Act by denying their client’s application to build a six-story residential project.
The Housing Accountability Act prohibits cities from rejecting housing developments that comply with local planning laws unless they conclude there is a danger to public health or safety. In their filing, attorneys for the developer said the project, also known as District Square, adhered to city rules and would have helped L.A. achieve its long-term housing goals.
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“Indeed, this case presents the paradigmatic example of a local government contributing to this state’s housing crisis by denying a new housing development without consideration of the economic and social costs of its actions,” they wrote.
Matthew Hinks, a lawyer for District Square, did not respond to multiple inquiries about the lawsuit, which calls for a judge to order the city to approve the project.
A spokesman for City Atty. Mike Feuer declined to answer questions about the case, saying his office had not received the filing. But Damien Goodmon, one of the activists who opposed District Square, said the developers have no business talking about abiding by the law.
District Square LLC is managed, at least in part, by real estate developer Arman Gabay, who is facing bribery and wire fraud charges in a federal criminal case involving county leases. The developer has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Gabay and his company have also received multiple default notices from the city, saying he has failed to repay $6.3 million in taxpayer loans. City officials are currently in negotiations with the developers about those defaults, but nothing has been paid back so far, said Jamie Francisco, spokeswoman for the city’s Economic and Workforce Development Department.
Goodmon, executive director of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, said the city should foreclose on the property, seize the site and ensure that any development is 100% affordable for neighborhood residents. “They should not be negotiating,” said Goodmon. “Why would we even allow this man to continue to own this valuable piece of property?”
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The District Square development site, pictured in 2018. The company behind the District Square project said Los Angeles officials improperly rejected their plan for a 577-unit residential complex on the property, which is located at Crenshaw and Obama boulevards. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Councilman Herb Wesson, who represents the area, called last year for the city to reject District Square, saying the project would result in higher rents for the area’s low-income households, displacing lifelong community residents. On Thursday, the councilman did not respond to questions about whether the city violated state law, saying instead that in the midst of a housing crisis, “it’s not enough to just build.”
“We need to build housing that working people can afford,” Wesson said in an emailed statement. “If the neighborhood’s current residents can’t afford it, we shouldn’t build it.”
The District Square lawsuit is the latest twist in a long running saga involving Wesson, who is running for a seat on the county Board of Supervisors, and the Gabays, who have donated repeatedly to Wesson’s campaigns and his political causes.
In 2010, Wesson signed off on a plan to provide more than $26 million in taxpayer assistance to the Gabays, who had promised to build a two-story shopping center featuring a Target, a supermarket and other businesses. The Gabays used a portion of those funds to demolish a shopping center on the site, pushing out a Ralphs supermarket.
Construction never began. In 2015, a city agency headed by former City Councilwoman Jan Perry -- who is now running against Wesson in the county supervisor’s race — began issuing default notices to the Gabays, saying they had failed to comply with the terms of their loans.
Wesson tried to salvage plans for the shopping center, without success.
In 2018, FBI agents arrested Gabay, accusing him of bribing a county real estate official. At the same time, the Gabays worked with Garcetti aides to retool their project, transforming it into a mostly residential development.
The city’s planning department endorsed the reworked project. But Wesson, hearing opposition from his constituents, came out against it.
When District Square came before the South Los Angeles planning panel, the city’s lawyer warned the commission that a failure to comply with the Housing Accountability Act could leave taxpayers with the bill for the developer’s legal costs, and possibly even financial penalties.
The commission voted unanimously to reject District Square, saying they were concerned with gentrification and the project’s lack of affordable housing. They also disregarded their lawyer’s request that they delay a vote, allowing him to write up a legal rationale for turning down the application.
“The commissioners … simply ignored both the law and the advice and direction given by planning staff and the deputy city attorney,” wrote Hinks, the attorney for District Square.
Garcetti spokesman Alex Comisar declined to discuss the allegations, saying his office does not discuss ongoing litigation. But Perry, who has since left City Hall, said District Square’s developers had “a lot of nerve.”
Even after receiving taxpayer funds, the developers have not built the original shopping center required as part of the original loan, she said.
“They just moved some dirt around,” she said. “They never built the project.”