Show Here and there Your firemen By DICK ELLIS The following article was taken from the Thursday July 6 1972 Parkside Journal 1932 A very bad year The depression was hurting hurling everyone everyone everyone every every- one and everywhere people were worrying about everything Except Except Except Ex Ex- one young man Ralph Beal He had known for quite a while what he was going to do And now he was ready In 1932 only a few men were appointed to the Los Angeles City Fire Department Ralph Beal was one of those men Eagerly excitedly he put on his new uniform for the first time January 1972 An average year seemed to be coming Only a small number of events gave a hint of Importance of the new year Richard M. M Nixon Nixon Nixon Nix Nix- on President USA was making an historic trip another flight night to th tha moon was scheduled scheduled scheduled sched sched- for the astronauts At Division One headquarters headquarters headquarters head head- quarters for Battalion 11 and situated at Fire Station Six Assistant Chief Ben Renfro picked up his morning mail mall mailand mailand malland and found a memo from per per- Over in the big bunk room six men were dressing for another day But today was Jan 21 1972 not just another day Today one man was putting on his uniform for the last time For today Jan 21 1972 was the end of an era Auto Fireman Ralph Beal with 39 2 1 years of ot fighting fires saving lives and routine everyday work behind be behind behind be- be hind him was retiring Ralphs Ralph's last day at the wheel of the huge Heavy Utility Six truck seemed to be just another an another another an- an other day to anyone who notices But riding with Ralph and his partner Frank Bontempo gave me an opportunity to know and feel the air of quiet excitement and an undercurrent of raw emotion that threatened to flood over at any moment It is not an easy thing to walk away from tram 39 2 1 years of life lite Especially when those years had been filled with so much Like when Ralph was assigned to work on the Fire Department ambulance but It was not enough to be be trained In first aid Because he wasso was wasso wasso so frustrated at the shortcomings shortcomings shortcomings short short- comings of knowing first aid only he requested more train train- ing Because he did his job so sowell sowell sowell well he was given two years' years training at which qualified him to give complete physical entrance exams This led to a transfer to the Medical Department While he was In this department department department depart depart- ment Dr who was chief medical officer for the department had decided to re retire retire retire re- re tire and asked Ralph to join him Ralph was tempted because because be because be- be cause he felt an affinity for laboratory work And the doctor had mentioned a salary much larger than the city was paying But his love for the Fire De De- De was too great and he transferred back to active firefighting duties Another thing Ralph talks about at every opportunity Is the men of the Los Angeles City Fire Department There probably Is no other job where men have to rely on each other so much Ask any truck or engine man wh why y he Is not afraid to do his job and he will wUl probably name everyman every everyman everyman man on his truck One of the strange offshoots of firefighting is the way it holds families together Despite the dangers and they are multitudinous grandfather father and sons are not allowed to work together together to together to- to gether Ralph has worked a aFire at t Fire Station Six for several years but his son Bruce A. A Beal FM 2 works at Fire Station 27 they are in the same battalion For obvious reasons they do work in dIfferent different differ dIffer- ent parts of the city In other othe r battalions Although Ralph remembers many things that he did during his many years on the job h his he heIs heIs Is proudest of his work on the medical staff and his six years on Heavy Utility Six When Ralph first was assigned to HU Six it was only a tow truck oper oper- Ralph Beal wanted to fight fires Gradually he was able t to convince his superiors that a valuable piece of equipment was not being utilized Why not send HU Six to large commercial and heavy building fires s sits so its powerful winch and lifts lifting ability could be used Soon the HU Six crew was fighting fires again Because of the efforts o oRalph of f Ralph and his friend and partner of at many years known to his friends as quiet mild mUd mannered manner manner- ed and soft spoken Bontempo and two other crews on the A and C C shifts the department purchased the Big Yellow Truck now at Fire Station Six It is men like Ralph Bealand Beal Bealand Bealand and Frank Bontempo who keep millions of persons in Los Angeles safe sale from tram fire I recently re recently recently re- re heard that It may become become be become be- be come necessary to close several sever sever- al fire stations because of fund funding ing problems This could be bad for Los Angeles Ralph Beal Is a relative of George Beal and Mrs Ida Pe Peterson Peterson Peterson Pe- Pe terson of Ephraim |