Fire chief steps down
By Stephanie Bertholdo  bertholdo@theacorn.com

Reggie Lee

Assistant Chief Reggie Lee, the man in charge of local Battalion 5, has announced his retirement from the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

March 3 will be the last day for the 58-year-old veteran firefighter.

Battalion 5 consists of 13 fire stations in Malibu, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Westlake Village and Topanga.

Lee has served with the department for 34 years and was on the scene during the aftermath of some of the biggest catastrophes in recent U.S. history. He was at ground zero following the Oklahoma City bombing, the World Trade Center attack and Hurricane Katrina. He also participated in the international search and rescue team in Sri Lanka after the fatal 2004 earthquake and tsunami.

Lee also was deployed to Texas in 2003 to help with the recovery of the Space Shuttle Columbia and traveled to Afghanistan during the aftermath of a 6.6-magnitude earthquake. And he was on the job when the 1994 Northridge earthquake hit. His home in the Porter Ranch area of Northridge was at the epicenter of the quake.

"You're always thinking in terms of national disaster, but when a national disaster is in your own backyard, staying focused on the job is tough," Lee said. "The only thing I could do is call and find out how (everybody) was." Lee's home was severely damaged, but his wife and children were safe.

Following the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors created an urban search and rescue team, one of the nation's first. The skilled task force was later deployed to New York following 9/ 11.

Lee said the Los Angeles SAR team, one of eight in the state, is among the most qualified in the country and is able to assist in chemical, radiological and biological incidents. It can also help with swift water rescue, canine searches and other high-risk recovery tasks.

Lee said the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing incident was the first time his team had ever been deployed to a crime scene. The Los Angeles squad helped collect bomb fragments and mapped out reference points to keep track of their work. "Rubble was holding the building up," Lee said. "We had to stabilize the building . . . and go one step at a time."

After nine days of sadness in Oklahoma City, the sight of children playing soccer struck a chord for Lee and his men. "We hadn't heard the magic of laughter in nine days."

After the tragedy, Lee and his men returned to Oklahoma City for a ceremony commemorating the people who lost their lives.

Hurricane Katrina presented different challenges to Lee and his crew. He said it was frustrating to deal with a state that handled disasters so differently than California.

"We were not allowed to go into structure because we were viewed as a federal agency," he said. "Even though we were there to do good we weren't allowed to go into (homes). . . . It was very frustrating. We'd go into an attic when water level was higher to save people, (but) some didn't want to leave."

The domestic tragedy that stands out the most for Lee is the 9/11 attack.

"It was eerie from the standpoint that everybody felt the same way," he said. "We had firefighters from every agency going back to do something."

Oklahoma City had been bad enough, Lee said, but when more firefighters lost their lives at the World Trade Center, "it broke our hearts."

Lee said he's been proud to have served as a firefighter in California.

"The Office of Emergency Services in California is an anomaly compared to other states," Lee said. "We are light-years ahead of everybody.

"When I started on the job we were just one of the larger departments in the county of Los Angeles, and now we are one of the premier departments in the nation, if not the world," he said.

Following his retirement, Lee will teach at the Center for Domestic Preparedness.

"I've taken notes from retirees," Lee said. "The first 10 years I want to do a lot of traveling, through business and with my wife. She's lived this life, too. Whatever she wants to do, we'll do."