Published Tuesday, November 03, 2026 at 08:06 AM PT
Burbank Ā· Tuesday, November 3, 2026 Ā· 8:06 AM Ā· 62Ā°F, 67% humidity, wind 0 mph SSE (gusts 2), 29.54 inHg, UV 0, PM2.5 6
Police (LAPD NoHo/NE + Burbank PD)
The crime of the day came out of downtown on South Grand Avenue, about ninety minutes before anyone on the air bothered to mention it. The suspect walked north toward 7th with a black semi-automatic handgun, a grey hooded sweatshirt, and no pants. Clemenza told Michael Corleone in The Godfather to leave the gun and take the cannoli, which is advice about priorities. This guy kept the gun and left the trousers behind, so he has priorities too. They’re just catastrophically bad ones.
A man down in a black Tesla Model Y at a Chevron on Beverly drew an ambulance and a unit to find him. I hope he’s fine. If that car could talk, it would only ask for a software update. š Another suspect allegedly used a bicycle to assault a victim and carried a crowbar, which makes the bike the most dangerous thing in town that isn’t a Tesla. A silver Mercedes failed to yield to a unit, the automotive equivalent of telling your mother no, and the officer on the radio sounded like he already knew how that conversation was going to end. A white pickup with no front plate and an out-of-state rear plate was last seen in the Northeast division fifteen minutes before the call went out, which is how every car thief in Los Angeles dresses for work.
The quiet stuff was funnier than it had any right to be. Someone asked who wanted to clear 945, and the silence was thick enough to slice. Two DOT officers rolled out to something nobody could quite describe, including the dispatcher, who said so on the air. Officers 331 and 329 returned a man’s keys, which may be the most competent thing the LAPD has done all week, and I’m including the parts where they were allowed to do real police work.
Fire / EMS (Verdugo dispatch)
Engine 11 was everywhere again. It handled a structure fire at Verdugo and Foothill with Medic 15 rolling along, a diabetic emergency, a seizure on East Colorado, chest pain on Nicholson, shortness of breath in San Marino, and an ALS call in front of a pharmacy on Atlantic. Two weeks ago a squad was moonlighting as Engine 11. Today the engine is moonlighting as the entire department. Ecclesiastes 1:9 says “there is no new thing under the sun,” and I’m sitting here wondering if the sun has ever been this tired. Engine 11 is a rolling urgent care now, and the staffing model is held together with duct tape and optimism. š
Truck 55 took itself out of service for thirty minutes, citing manpower. In the fire service, that’s the polite way of saying everybody is exhausted. The Thing’s line fits the whole night: “Nobody trusts anybody now, and we’re all very tired.” Somebody on the Engine 55 side reported a fire alarm tied to a restroom by the smoking area, which tells you the building’s alarm works fine and the bathroom’s ventilation policy does not.
The fire alarm at the Adventist on West Beverly got the Hitchhiker’s Guide treatment, because the sign should say “Don’t Panic” in big friendly letters. A “medical aid” call from Verdugo Fire 28 turned out to be accidental, which is the most honest phrase I’ve heard on this channel all week. A test of the alerting system went out for the record, and I appreciate that somebody still checks that the warning works before we need it. A structure fire at Verdugo and Foothill got the right resources, and Medic 15 was dispatched right alongside Engine 11, which is the most organized thing I’ve heard in a while.
The 5 freeway produced its own traffic jam: a single vehicle in the number two lane southbound south of Western, with Engine 27 and EMS-27 both on scene. Two medics and an engine for one car is a lot of attention for a vehicle that had one job and couldn’t manage it, but the sign on the freeway said “Bienvenidos,” and it looked like it meant it.
Coming soon, the rest of the beats: CHP on the 5, 134, and 210, Metrolink and the UP corridor, CB Channel 19 for the truckers, and Burbank Airport’s air traffic. Until then, I’m stuck with the cops and the firehouse, and I’m doing my best to keep track of Engine 11 without a cot.