Page 12 November 19, 2020 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Fire Marshall Carver from front page
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start-up of fires in business establishments,
apartment buildings, and single-family dwellings.
Basically, anywhere and everywhere
in the City of El Segundo. While the work
Carver and his team do is critical to secure
fire safety in the city, fire-prevention teams
don’t typically have big screen mega-movies
(think Towering Inferno or Backlash) penned
about their exploits and sent to the theatrical
Silver Screens. Remember when we could
go to a theater and watch a movie? Ah, the
good-old-days. But the prevention of a fire
outbreak is just as important; some would
argue more important than hosing down
flaming embers.
ESFD Chief Chris Donovan has worked
with Carver since 2016. “Fire Marshal Carver
is a consummate professional,” he emailed.
“He has forgotten more about fire prevention
than other people ever learned. If you
could create the perfect Fire Marshal, James
Carver would be the person to model most
closely. He has served the city for 29 years
and has demonstrated passion, intellect and
a work ethic that is not easily matched when
it comes to building and fire safety practices.
James is a walking thesaurus of the building
inventory here in El Segundo and has a nearphotographic
memory of building remodels
and uses over the past 29 years.”
Continued Donovan: “He is also a recognized
expert in the field and widely known
throughout the State, sitting on many important
National committees. We have been lucky to
have Fire Marshal Carver serve El Segundo
as he has created a legacy in this critically
important field, advocating for the safety of
building occupants and setting standards for
life- safety that make El Segundo a special
place to live, work and visit.”
Carver, who graduated from Leuzinger High
and El Camino College, started his career
in firefighting in 1987, working stints with
Northrop Corporation, initially as a firefighter,
then as a fire inspector. An on-the-job injury
pointed him in the direction of fire-prevention,
as opposed to firefighting. In February of
1991, Carver began his tenure in the City of
El Segundo. As a fire inspector, Carver was
tasked with, among his other duties, “inspecting
businesses and environmental occupancies,”
and also began penning, in 1995, an occasional
El Segundo Herald column that was
headlined “Fire Safety Corner.” Carver said
that he hopes to write again for the Herald,
post-retirement, tipping off building owners on
safety practices that might limit the number
of incendiary incidents in the city.
Emailed Herald CEO Heidi Maerker on
Carver’s pending retirement: “The thing that
stands out most to me when I think about
James Carver is his can-do and positive attitude.
He is always happy. James Carver
has been part of the Herald family since
1995. His column “Fire Safety Corner” was
informative, entertaining, and focused on
keeping El Segundo safe. He always came
through if I was in a pinch and had space to
fill or needed important safety information.
I will miss his spirit and lightheartedness. I
wish him many fine days to come, and I hope
he enjoys retirement with the same gusto he
gave to his work.”
ESFD Battalion Chief Deena Lee emailed,
“I have known James Carver since I started
working for the El Segundo Fire Department
in 2003. James loves his job! He has
so much knowledge of fire prevention and
fire protection systems. He is like a walking
California Fire Code Manual. I can ask him
any question about fire sprinklers, smoke
detectors, etc., and he will know the answer
right off the top of his head. He also has
more knowledge than anyone else in the
city on all the buildings in town and their
various occupancy types. James is one of the
main reasons that we do not have a lot of
structure fires in El Segundo. He not only
conducts inspections, but he also ensures
that the buildings meet the highest level of
fire protection when they are constructed.”
“On the personal side,” Lee added, “James
is a great person. He cares for everyone he
works with in El Segundo, and he cares
deeply for his family. He has a quirky sense
of humor and can spark up a conversation
with anyone he meets. It is a loss for the
El Segundo Fire Department to have James
Carver retire. He is a legend, and he will
be missed.”
Nearly three decades ago, Carver, who
lives in Buena Park, ascended to his current
post as Fire Marshall. Among his job duties:
supervising two fire prevention specialists and
one part-time fire marshal; review of architectural
and mechanical plans for compliance
with established codes; perform inspections;
to collaborate with stakeholders to ensure
fire prevention; perform fire origin and cause
investigations; prepare and submit criminal
cases to the District Attorney for possible
prosecution, and serve as the ESFD’s public
information officer.
After more than thirty years on the fireprevention
beat, Carver has seen an evolution
in the science of fire prevention, mainly on
the technology front. Many of the in-person
inspections have been replaced by digital monitoring
of dwellings and business establishments,
especially in the COVID-19 era. Carver said
that the ESFD has had to curtail some of their
in-person fire-prevention inspections, but he
and his team still venture-out to inspect new
constructions sites and strive to comply with
the Sacramento building code mandates from
California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Carver hopes to keep himself busy in
retirement tinkering with cars, dabbling in
woodworking, and picking up a few nickels
as a fire-prevention consultant. When asked
what prompted him to pursue a career in fire
science, Carver shared that his interest in
the profession was initially piqued when he
would watch episodes of the early 70’s TV
show Emergency, which starred Randolph
Mantooth and Kevin Tighe as two Los
Angelenos who worked as firefighters and
paramedics. I also used to watch the show,
but somehow my attention was more focused
on one of the attractive nurses (Julie London)
who staffed the hospital where Mantooth and
Tighe would take their patients to. Guess
that explains why Carver is wrapping-up a
successful three-plus decades career in fire
science, and I am tasked to write about it? •
ESFD Fire Marshal James Carver
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