Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures
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Assistant Fire Warden's 1937 Chevy Carryall Suburban
Newhall, California


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The Soledad Division Assistant Fire Warden's 1937 Chevrolet Carryall, parked at Soledad Division Headquarters in Newhall, where it's now known as Los Angeles County Fire Station 73, 24875 Railroad Ave.

According to Fire Capt. Paul Peppard of Station 73 (in 2014), the position of Assistant Fire Warden for the L.A. County Forestry Department's Soledad Division (north county, based in Newhall) became the L.A. County Fire Department's Division 3 Assistant Chief.  The Division 3 Assistant Chief was quartered at Fire Station 73 until Jan. 1, 2013, when the office was moved to the then-new Fire Station 150 on Golden Valley Road. Station 150 went into service Feb. 1, 2013, and held its public grand opening March 29, 2013.

The Carryall was a model of the Chevrolet Surburban that was produced from 1935 to 1940. It had the frame of the half-ton models that were produced at the same time; the body style differed in that it had the basic shape of a woodie — but it was all-metal. It sat up to eight people: three in the front, two in the middle row and three in the back. The rear cargo area had an option of hinged doors or a tail/lift gate.


From Fire Capt. Paul Peppard, Fire Station 73-B, Battalion 6, Los Angeles County Fire Department (2014):

The Los Angeles County Fire Department was born from the State's Forest Protection Act of 1905 out of a need to protect our watershed (read: drinking water). The County Board of Supervisors appointed the County Fish and Game Warden to the additional position of Fire Warden. This soon evolved into the Los Angeles County Department of Forester and Fire Warden, a title our fire chief still holds today.

Our initial focus was the wildland areas of the county, with rapid growth occurring in that realm in the early 1920s. At the same time, unincorporated townships were sprouting up throughout the county, so it fell on the Forester and Fire Warden to provide fire protection to these communities, which was accomplished by establishing "fire protection districts" to levy taxes to fund fire protection. So the county fire department became two different "departments" under one roof: the Forestry Department and the Fire Protection Districts — Forestry for the wildland and districts for the towns. (Newhall Fire Protection District actually formed in 1953, so we technically had two different "departments" operating out of one station: E73 for the wildland and E273 for the township.)

It wasn't until 1954 that the two "departments" merged and became the Los Angeles County Fire Department.


FD3701: 19200 dpi jpeg from jpeg courtesy of Fire Capt. Paul Peppard, Station 73, Los Angeles County Fire Department, 2014.
EARLY L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT, SCV

Agency Description 1940
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LACoFD-USFS 1923

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1928 Fire (Forestry) Station, Newhall

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1928 Fire (Forestry) Station, Newhall

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Pumper & 1928 Soledad Div. HQ, Newhall

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Asst. Chief's 1929 Buick, Newhall

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1933 Pumper, Newhall

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Asst. Warden's 1937 Chevy Carryall, Newhall

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Station 73 Dedication 7/1958

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Station 73 Newhall 1970s

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Station 73 Newhall 2008

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