Los Angeles Fire Department

The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) began as an all-volunteer organization in the 19th century and became an official agency of the City of Los Angeles in 1886. The department's original payroll included 31 firefighters and 24 reserve firefighters who protected the 35,000 residents of Los Angeles' 30 square-mile territory. Today, the LAFD's 3,200 uniformed members and 381 professional-support personnel serve the city's 4 million residents and respond to more than 1,300 emergency situations each day. Its 106 stations are dispersed strategically across the department's 469 square-mile jurisdiction. In addition to firefighting and emergency medical care, the department engages in fire prevention, public education and community outreach, disaster response, technical rescue, and hazardous materials mitigation. As Los Angeles' wildfire season has become increasingly-dangerous and destructive in recent years, the LAFD's fire prevention techniques, community education programs, and firefighting practices continue to play critical roles in the lives of Angelenos. In 2017 and 2019, through GRoW @ Annenberg, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten joined forces with his fellow trustees at the Annenberg Foundation in providing much-needed support to assist in wildfire recovery efforts for the region.