Tag: firefighters

2025 California Firefighter Summer Games in San Diego!

Fourteen basketball teams from around California are competing in San Diego. It’s the 2025 Firefighter Summer Games, and the hoops action is taking place in Balboa Park at the Municipal Gymnasium!

There are teams from San Diego, Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Francisco, Bakersfield, Redding, Fresno, Orange County and elsewhere in California.

I’m pleased to report that today San Diego in their first game beat Orange County Fire Authority 45-41. That was the situation when I peeked into the gymnasium during my Balboa Park walk.

The Firefighter Summer Games are being held in venues around San Diego. See the event website here.

Thank you to all firefighting heroes. You are very much appreciated by everyone.

May you also be heroes on the basketball court!

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U. S. Police & Fire Championships in San Diego!

The 2025 United States Police & Fire Championships are now underway in and around San Diego!

As their website explains: The USPFC is an Olympic-style competition for athletes representing Law Enforcement, Firefighters, and officers from Corrections, Probation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection from across the country.

There are 38 different sports in which participants can compete. There’s everything from tennis to soccer to bowling to cornhole, and, as I discovered this afternoon, basketball!

Walking through Balboa Park, I noticed spirited basketball play inside the Municipal Gymnasium. The athletes I observed are skilled and very serious about winning!

To learn more about the United States Police & Fire Championships and the various sports being played in venues around San Diego, check out this webpage.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

Ring of Fire on a corner in National City!

This amazing bronze sculpture can be found in front of the National City Fire Department Headquarters Station 34, at the corner of D Avenue and 16th Street. It was commissioned in 2007 and created by local artist Richard Becker. It’s called Ring of Fire.

Fire stations around San Diego County often feature great public art. This might be one of my favorites!

I love the dog to one side!

Here’s a Facebook page that shows photographs of the sculpture being created.

I see, from this online history of the National City Fire Department, that in 2003 an old fire station located here was demolished and rebuilt, creating a station that was larger and more modern, and that in 2007 (same year as the sculpture) they launched their Paramedic Program.

Richard Becker has created amazing sculptures throughout our region. Enjoy photographs of four examples by clicking here and here and here and here.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

YMCA thrives inside historic La Jolla fire station!

The Shepherd YMCA Firehouse in La Jolla looks a lot like an old fire station. That’s because the historic building at 7877 Herschel Avenue once housed Fire Station Engine Company 13 . . . and City Hall, and a police station, a hospital room, and water department!

San Diego Architect Harold Abrams designed the 1937 building in the Spanish-Mission Revival style for the Works Progress Administration. In 1976, the fire and police stations relocated, and the building was used by City Lifeguards for a decade. It was later used by the Library Department for storage during branch renovations.

In 1988 the building opened as a Teen/Senior Community Center, then became a performing arts center in the early 2000s, then a gymnastics program center.

A renovation in 2015 led to the building’s reopening as the Shepherd YMCA Firehouse, which today is available as a very cool community space.

I learned all this several days ago during a walk in La Jolla. I was invited inside, where I could see how the historic firehouse has evolved into a thriving center for classes, meetings, programs and events. The old jail cell from its days as police station still exists, too!

What an attractive interior, and amazing wood beam ceiling!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Thank you for sharing!

Hero firefighters battle Mission Valley fire.

San Diego firefighters fought a blaze all this morning in Mission Valley. The fire was at the long-vacant In Cahoots Dance Hall & Saloon.

I work nearby. I noticed the flashing lights of fire engines on the scene well before sunrise. Late in the morning I walked with my camera around the building at a safe distance. Flames were still visible through the burnt roof and walls.

In Cahoots was a popular Country Western night club for decades. Years and years ago, I had two coworkers who’d line dance in the evening at In Cahoots. I could guess where they’d be heading after work when I saw them wearing cowboy boots!

I’m sure thousands of San Diegans have fond memories of the place.

A thank you to San Diego’s hero firefighters, who prevented the fire from spreading to nearby buildings.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

A patriotic Massing of the Colors in San Diego.

The 68th Annual Massing of the Colors and Service of Remembrance was held today in San Diego’s Balboa Park. About 40 color guards from around San Diego converged on the Spreckels Organ Pavilion for the patriotic spectacle.

The Massing of the Colors is presented each year by the San Diego Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars, a patriotic organization that was founded in 1926. Their motto is: It Is Nobler To Serve Than To Be Served.

MOWW promotes Youth Leadership, recognizes Law Enforcement and Fire & Rescue, and promotes love of Country and Flag.

As speaker Lt. Col. David J. Worley explained, at bottom it’s all about upholding the United States Constitution, which was designed to provide Liberty for all Americans. (Of course, this includes Freedom of Speech. As a writer, that’s very important to me.)

The Parade of Colors was followed by an Invocation by Kathleen Winchester, honoring those who’ve sacrificed for our country. Next came the Pledge of Allegiance, and the singing of the National Anthem and God Bless America, led by opera singer Laura Bueno.

Laksita Nandakumar in the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps at Mira Mesa High School then read My Name is Old Glory. You can read it, too, here.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Playing baseball at the Gaslamp Fire Station!

The Padres and Braves aren’t the only ones playing baseball today in San Diego. Firefighters from the Gaslamp Quarter’s Fire Station No. 4 took to the street just north of Petco Park to take a few swings of the bat!

Visiting firefighters from downtown’s big San Diego Fire Station No. 1 joined the action. I asked if batting in front of the Gaslamp fire station is a tradition. It is during big games, I learned. Well, there’s certainly a big game now underway: Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series! (And as I type this, the Padres have taken the lead!)

Now here came families down the sidewalk, and before you know it kids were trying their hand at hitting the wiffle balls. What fun!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Honoring emergency responder heroes in San Diego.

There are heroes in this world who will risk their own life to save the lives of strangers. Heroic firefighters and other emergency responders were honored today during the annual San Diego Memorial 9/11 Stair Climb.

The event attracts firefighters and emergency responders from all over San Diego and the surrounding region. The heroes and their families enjoy a day full of fun, sunshine and comradery on the grass in front of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel. And participants honor heroes who’ve come before, particularly those who fell during the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York City.

The stair climb recreates the incredible effort of the responders who lost their lives trying to save those up in the World Trade Center towers. It’s jolting to remember, but 403 responders made the ultimate sacrifice that day. The stair climb also raises money to help keep the memory of these heroes alive.

At the event, the 9/11 Remembrance Project displayed photographs and artifacts from that terrible day. It brought everything home again. One poster recalled the efforts of the San Diego Urban Search and Rescue Task Force in the aftermath of the New York attack.

Never forget. NYC 09.11.01.

You can donate to the cause by visiting the event website by clicking here.

Visit the Wall of Heroes and read inspiring life stories by clicking here.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Meaningful art at Encinitas Fire Station.

I found two instances of meaningful art as I walked past Encinitas Fire Department Station One today.

The first work of art I noticed was a mosaic in the sidewalk beside the station building. It memorializes New York fire fighters who lost their lives during the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The number 343 represents the number of New York Fire Department members that perished in the terrorist attacks.

I assume the mosaic was dedicated five years later, on 9-11-2006. If you know more about this mosaic, please leave a comment.

The second work of art is on the fire station itself, near its entrance. The beautifully carved wood panel depicts curling ocean surf and a rare Torrey Pine tree.

The panel reminds us that wonders surround us, and how every wonder is worth protecting.

I spied a small plaque at the edge of wood panel, dated 2022. It indicates the creators are Tijuana artist Jose Antonio Alcantar and Encinitas Fire Engineer Jake Fodor.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Danger, dedication and USS Midway’s Engineers!

A fire erupts on the USS Midway while at sea! What might happen? Who would respond?

In a major new exhibit aboard the USS Midway Museum, you’ll learn this and more. The service, sacrifice and everyday life of Midway’s engineers is celebrated below decks. Visitors to the aircraft carrier museum tour the hot, loud and crowded spaces where Navy engineers kept the gigantic ship running, while ready to respond to almost any emergency.

You’ll learn about the hard work done by Hull Maintenance Technicians, Enginemen, and Damage Controlmen. You learn that the Boiler Technicians who created steam on the ship had to regularly endure 150 degree temperatures as they oversaw 2 million gallons of boiler fuel and 166,000 gallons of water. And there are the Machinery Repairmen, Machinist’s Mates and others.

You’ll see where the engineers slept, where they worked, and even experience a simulated fire aboard ship that shows the extreme danger their fellow sailors faced.

If you’ve never visited the USS Midway Museum, it is one of San Diego’s must-see attractions. If you haven’t yet experienced this exciting new exhibit, head on down to San Diego Bay and enjoy the newly expanded self-guided tour! (A second new exhibit concerns the USS Midway Marine Detachment!)

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.