The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo Herald Publications - El Segundo, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 104, No. 40 - October 1, 2015 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.....................16 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Film Review..........................4 Legals............................ 14,15 Pets......................................18 Police Reports.....................2 Real Estate.....................9-13 Sports....................................5 Weekend Forecast Good Fun at Richmond Street Fair Michael Earley, an El Segundo resident and photographer for 40 years with approximately 90,000 images, sells some of his prints at the Richmond Street Fair, held last Saturday. Visitors enjoyed games, rides, food, and all the handmade items for sale. For more photos, see page 6. Photo by Peter Thornton, jp.thornton58@gmail.com. • Friday Sunny 81˚/67˚ Saturday Sunny 79˚/67˚ Sunday Partly Cloudy 71˚/64˚ Fire Chief Kevin Smith Retires After 30-Year Career Serving City By Brian Simon By the time this edition hits the streets, Kevin Smith will not be an employee of the City of El Segundo for the first time in over 30 years. The final day on the job for the long-time local Fire Chief was Tuesday, September 29 and his immediate plan—aside from strumming the guitar—is simply to decompress. “I have dedicated a significant portion of the last 30 years of my life to the fire protection and fire prevention in this community, so I suspect it will take me some time to unwind from this path that I have been on for so long,” Smith said. That path officially began on August 13, 1985 when Smith, then just 24, joined the El Segundo Fire Department as a firefighter. Prior to that, he briefly served as a reserve firefighter in Oxnard after earning his Associate’s degree at Santa Monica College and attending a fire academy in Santa Fe Springs. The Los Angeles native and graduate of University (“Uni”) High School originally aspired to become an architect and worked at odd jobs during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s while looking to pursue an engineering degree. But the math aspect of the field didn’t appeal and when a friend’s wife told Smith he’d make a good fireman, the idea hit home and the rest was history. Smith slowly rose up the ranks in El Segundo, being promoted to Engineer in 1990, Captain four years later and Battalion Chief in 2001. He became Interim Fire Chief in May 2005 and earned the official appointment in November 2006 after a lengthy interview process with multiple applicants resulted in the City’s preference to stick with its in-house guy. During his tenure as Fire Chief, Smith singled out several achievements of which he is especially proud. “Foremost in my mind was a period of time in the first four years or so when the members of the department formed a highly motivated and productive work environment focused on continuous improvement of our capabilities and the services we provide to the community,” he said. A prime example of the group’s accomplishments was overseeing the design and construction of the replacement for Fire Station No. 2 with a state-of-the-art facility that can effectively serve El Segundo for decades to come. Smith was pleased to note that the project completed on schedule and on budget. “We were also recognized by the State of California as a Type 1-Heavy Level Urban Search and Rescue unit capable of conducting highly technical rescue operations and extrications associated with events such as collapses and entrapments,” Smith continued. “We have ensured that all of our fire engines and our ladder truck are paramedic assessment-qualified, enabling an enhanced level of care on emergency medical incidents when paramedics are assigned to these units. Our third rescue ambulance, which serves to replace one of the two functioning ambulances when they are out of service for repairs, was enhanced to ensure it is a fully qualified paramedic ambulance that could be staffed and placed in service in the event of a significant emergency to provide an additional advanced life support capability in the city.” Other highlights mentioned included approval of a mandated Hazard Mitigation Plan to ensure the City is eligible for disaster relief funding in the event of a major incident; placement into service of a multi-casualty trailer equipped with supplies to provide medical treatment to See Fire Chief, page 16 A Day in the Life of Marie Fellhauer: New Mom, LAPD Sergeant, Councilwoman, Wife By Nancy Peters When a person knows that service to the community is in their DNA, so to speak, the way their life follows a certain course is inevitable. People may resist a career or a hobby or volunteering for one more committee. Yet, somehow there is no avoiding the life they may lead. Marie Fellhauer, nee Caravello, was born and raised in El Segundo and attended El Segundo schools, played El Segundo sports (soccer and softball), and, other than a few college years when she lived in Arcata, California, at Humboldt State University, has not lived anywhere else. Marie was the youngest of five siblings and her household was led by her single Mom, Holly, who was a Navy veteran, a nurse, a teacher, a friend, and helper to all the kids in town when Marie was growing up. Everyone turned to Marie’s Mom when they were looking for a resource in many different areas. Marie’s work ethic followed her Mom’s example. Knowing that college loans would have to be paid back, Marie took odd jobs to contribute to the needed funds by working in a gym, taking on housekeeping jobs, and, upon graduation, as a buyer for a computer company. All brought very little job fulfillment. While at a car show at the Los Angeles Convention Center, she randomly grabbed a packet of information about the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). A few weeks later, on a whim, she scheduled the required test. That led to an interview and the best job she didn’t know she wanted. “When I read the packet and I signed See Marie Fellhauer, page 3
Herald_100115_FNL_lorez
To see the actual publication please follow the link above