Watch Live: Procession for LA County firefighter killed in Antelope Valley explosion

George you are watching live images of what is about to be the funeral procession of an LA County Firefighter who passed away on June 14th as a result of a uh very tragic accident that took place while responding to a vehicle fire actually a front loader tractor where some type of explosion occurred sending shrapnel uh into his body and uh of course he succumbed to his injuries and uh what is normal for these types of processions is for a number of surrounding fire departments and firefighting Personnel to congregate together to pay homage to this firefighter it's a very fraternal organization AC across the country and actually around the world where firefighters come together to uh pay homage and and to honor uh their fellow brother or sister firefighter whichever that may be in this case firefighter Andrew ponus who worked at fire station 93 a fire station and engine company that I have had occasion to work at myself as a former firefighter and uh the a station that is a battalion headquarters for the 17th Battalion in the City of Palmdale and so uh me having an opportunity to work with Andrew's brother uh this is uh touches especially close to home for me not just because this is the the death and funeral procession of a brother firefighter uh but someone who I know and have had an opportunity to work with and you can see uh right be behind the inine company you will see uh Andrew's family uh who are showing up here in in uh great numbers hugs and uh firefighters paying respect for say again copy gotcha for for for Stam yeah Michael I'm gonna try and get through this uh without falling apart uh Andrew ponus is the brother of Dave ponus an individual I got a chance to work with and uh this hits very close to home as I push in on engine company 93 an engine company that I also had an opportunity to work on at fire station 93 both as a fire captain and later on as a uh a battalion chief assigned to fire station 93 in the 17th Battalion what you're watching right now is live images of uh this funeral procession as Lauren just mentioned about to begin uh firefighters now disperse to their vehicles and their various engine companies uh about to get ready and get into position to follow this procession which will go from the LA County coroner's office to the uh Forest Lawn Cemetery in cinaa Hills uh this uh again hits very close to home and as I have a lump in my throat here uh this is something that uh you just never get used to saying it's just very difficult uh to watch one of your fellow uh brother or sister firefighters being put to rest laid to rest and what was otherwise a uh an incident that just uh appears to have been not able to be prevented in any way shape or form it is the nature of the job that firefighters do each and every single day it is woven into our DNA knowing that any day that we go to work could be our absolute last uh but uh as I pull out of the shot here you can uh and push in you can see Andrew's casket a flag covered casket on the back of engine company 93 he will be transported on the back there it's all secure and whatnot and as we uh progress uh with this procession down the freeways toward uh Forest laon uh kovina Hills uh he will be also honored and paid homage by various fire departments and engine companies ladder truck companies on freeway overpasses they will be standing at uh attention as this procession uh uh continues on to its final destination Michael I Dr did for okay thank you oh okay gotcha for okay getting on the freeway for I don't know why but at uh 12 o'clock I'm still getting heat exhaust fumes and we have a tail do we have a Tailwind okay okay getting on the freeway westbound 10 for all right all right going westbound yeah he's at my 1:00 he'll be come he'll be at your out your door here in a okay for SP believe it okay oh boy this is tough for George if you can uh peep out any uh fire department personnel and upcoming overpasses can you let me know okay thank you okay yeah okay gotcha thank you we got to County airships okay s Hamra for for for George if we could just stay just slightly behind them slightly just like on their rear tire uh because we're passing them up who's that above us in front of us okay for TR for Simon US News Chopper are they uh I know we're live streaming but uh are we also streaming the show live on the app or are we streaming this separately folks if you are watching uh on the NBC 4 streaming platform or any of our other streaming platforms uh thank you for watching with us on this very sad and somber occasion you are watching live images of a funeral procession for a Los Angeles County Firefighter and I'm going to try and get through this without choking up a little bit uh because I spent 36 years as a firefighter myself 27 of those with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and this is the funeral procession go ahead okay okay gotcha I'll be right back with you folks she Okay one minute for 15 okay standing by okay thank you sure s don't uh this we can do this for now for for yeah we're we're catching up to them we just fall back just a little just slightly yeah I'm shooting at I'm shooting at my nine now I'd like to be shooting at like my 10 or 11 for right brother I'm still shooting at my nine if we can just fall back just a little bit so I'm like side by side they're right out my window I want them to be up through our front wind you know windshield yeah this is about where I want to be at yeah right in right in here shooting at about 11 o' oh what on the other uh well yeah think uh on the overpasses though or on the transition roads I think that's just probably lunchtime traffic going westbound yeah we're going east actually folks if you're uh just joining us uh or have been with us now for quite a while um you're you are watching live images of a fire department funeral procession the procession of firefighter Andrew ponus it's the LA County Firefighter who uh succumbed to his injuries as a result of a vehicle fire actually was a front loader or tractor fire that occurred some sort of explosion occurred sending shrapnel into his body body and uh he did not recover from his injuries uh this happened in the Palmdale area Andrew was assigned to engine company 93 which is uh located in east Palmdale it is an engine company that I was uh had an opportunity to work on from time to time and was also assigned there for a short period of time as a battalion chief uh station 93 as a battalion headquarters for the 17th battalion uh what strikes me about this uh whole situation is that as a former firefighter myself we sometimes go into work each and every day uh taking it for granted that we'll be able to go home to our families uh but as Illustrated right here that is not always the case uh we are all at any given moment to lay down our lives for the public for the most part people we don't even know because that is our job and the lives of other firefighters of course and again we take it for granted much of the time thinking that uh we're going to go home to our families our wives our children and it did not work out for Andrew this particular day last Friday when this accident occurred the investigation still underway but uh in the meantime Fire Department officials and Fir from all over Los Angeles County paying homage to Andrew in this funeral procession we've seen LA City Fire Department we've seen uh alhamra fire department we've seen West Cina fire department um many fire departments this is very common uh where fire departments all agencies from all over the county will come out and they will park themselves on freeway overpasses in full uh dress uniforms and stand at attention as these processions go up underneath their uh overpass it is a tradition in the fire department uh many of these practices are takeoffs from the American Military many of our firefighters are I call I say our firefighters because I sometimes still consider myself one even though I'm no longer a firefighter many firefighters our former military turn firefighters and they're able to help carry on some of these Traditions uh that we follow for events or situations such as this I'm just going to push in real quick you can see Andrew's casket in the back of that hose bed they've taken all the hose out of that the back of engine 93's hose bed there and they have securely placed Andrew's casket a flag covered casket in the back of engent 93 and behind him is the paramedic Squad that is assigned to station 93 and likely the crew uh that was there the day of this very tragic accident uh behind the paramedic Squad and these white Vehicles family members of Andrews including one I'm sure that I used to work with his brother at station 93 and you can see it's all being led by the California Highway Patrol clearing the way uh for all these engine companies uh and I'll pull out of the shot here maybe we can catch a few they're not all together uh but they're making their way from the LA County coroner's office uh to Forest Lawn uh Cemetery in the uh Cina Hills area and you can see a few other fire engines and L truck companies that are they making their way as part of the procession uh this procession started roughly about 11 o'clock as Andrew's body was being taken from the coroner's office in this uh flag covered casket and uh carried by the Los Angeles County Honor Guard uh that is a special detail of firefighters that are much like a military honor guard that preside over these ceremonies as such and uh and keep things in order and so forth uh they are the Paul bearers if you will also uh bore the casket and they are the ones who put Andrew's basket or casket I should say uh in in the back of uh engine 93 uh and when we arrive at the Final Destination uh the Honor Guard acting as Paul Bears will also remove the casket from the back of the hose bed and uh the rest of the ceremonies will will take place as such right now the procession is uh in the west Cina area on the 10 freeway going eastbound I may have said earlier westbound by accident um it's going eastbound from downtown into the uh Cina Hills area there was one other firefighter that was injured last Friday as well when Andrew uh was uh subsequently killed as a result of this explosion uh we understand that firefighter is uh recovering uh from his or her injuries and is expected to uh survive just fine uh what you also saw back in the corners off is uh uh the various common aspects that you see at firefighter funerals a large Garrison flag uh that is draped between two ladder truck aerial ladders um and you will more than likely see that when we arrive to the Final Destination uh as well we'll have to see uh but definitely we saw a large contingent of firefighters standing at attention we've seen firefighters on the various overpasses from various agencies standing at attention giving paying honor uh to Andrew we saw the large Garrison flag large uh fire and law enforcement presence I'm sure LA county sheriff department is also part of this uh procession as well uh they would have been the uh investigative or at least part of the investigative body that is investigating Andrew's tragic accident and I apologize if my voice is a little bit shaky um as a former firefighter of 36 years it it is never easy to see a firefighter funeral especially when it hits so close to home not only an engine company that I worked on before not only a station that I've worked at but a individual that I've worked with and uh specifically his brother too uh that I had an opportunity to to and the privilege to work with as well so as engine 93 and Squad 93 uh make continues to make its uh pilgrimage if you will uh toward the uh cinaa Hills Cemetery uh they will be greeted uh likely uh by another large contingent of firefighters at the other side as well as the and there's a another Garrison flag with a very large presence of firefighters on the overpass not sure I think this is uh going to be the barena uh overpass and these I believe are West Covina firefighters standing at attention there's the Garrison flag and you can see all of them standing on top of their equipment their apparatus and uh it's just it is a heartbreaking it is just a heartbreaking scene really uh to see this of course uh firefighters go to work every single day knowing that something like this can happen uh from all indications and I'm not invest part of the investigation uh of this accident uh there are just some things that uh are just not preventable there are just certain aspects of this of the job of a firefighter uh that are just so innately dangerous so innate harmful uh that there's just no way to prevent certain events from happening you know that you are uh paid to come to work every single day to risk your life uh for the life of people many of which as I've said before you don't even know but you really don't care because it's woven into the DNA of every firefighter that wears a badge I don't care care whether you're a wildland firefighter or a City firefighter a municipal firefighter an airport firefighter it just doesn't matter Big City firefighter County Federal it just doesn't matter we're all wired the same and uh sadly unfortunately these these are the things that are just part and paral to the profession and to the job now an interesting statistic uh for those that are listening uh according to the National Fire Protection Association about 89 firefighters died across this country uh and lost their lives back in 2023 right now with about six months into 2024 26 firefighters across the country have already lost their lives so it's hard to tell whether or not that that will surpass the 89 or or not but uh clearly uh a very very dangerous uh job uh wherever it is whether it's uh here in the United States or around the world and we have seen funerals uh like this where firefighters will travel from other states to be uh part of a funeral service that is the the Brotherhood The Sisterhood the Fraternal Order if you will of firefighters the diaspora firefighters if I can use that word really uh because we're all connected at the heart we're all connected at the hip uh we're all connected around the world because we know how dangerous the job is and the nature of the job and now engine 93 exiting at VI verie here in the Cina area or west Cina area I'm going to pull out of the shot here a little bit and see if I can locate them they might be behind that tree there they are right there getting off the uh exit and you can see yet again George I'm shooting at my 11 and the entrance uh to where they're going to be going is right here large Garrison flag as I I indicated they're going to be met with another contingent of law enforcement and firefighters already here at this the final resting site and you can see LA County Sheriff deputies standing at attention that it's just sad it's just so sad and you can see other parts of the procession getting off the freeway right now other engine companies as engine 93 makes its way up the driveway and it looks like George we might have to get on the other side of that building let's see here let's see what they do here first okay he's firefighter standing at attention here as engine 93 passes by paramedic Squad 93 as well a sign of respect a sign of honor to a brother or sister firefighter in this case a brother firefighter and you see they've built a ramp that's going to help facilitate the honor guard who are acting as Paul Bears who will come over and lift that casket off the back of the hose bed off the back of the engine company and uh carry Andrew away from engine 93 and uh again please forgive me if my uh voice is a little bit shaky because uh this these are these are just never easy oh boy again if you are watching if you're just joining us here on the NBC streaming platforms and all of the NBC 4 streaming platforms I'm Roland Sproul with my piloted partner George you are watching live images of a firefighter procession uh which uh is carrying the body of firefighter Andrew Pontius Andrew was killed after the explosion of a uh a front loader a a tractor if you will last Friday it also injured one other firefighter who said to be doing okay uh but sadly Andrew succumbed to his injuries after some shrapnel uh was thrown into his body uh killing him at that uh sight which uh took place place in Palm deal last Friday uh This Is A procession that has taken us from the LA County coroner's office uh to the Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Cina Hills area and I'm just going to pull out of the shot here to show you the massive number the massive number of firefighters that are showing up an Andrew's behalf firefighters now getting into position they'll be unloading Andrew Andrew's casket off engine 93 I'll just share at this point in my life it just seems like uh seems like I'm going to uh way more firefighter funerals than I'm going to Firefighters or graduations uh I might speak more to my age rather than what's actually occurring or or the incidents of uh firefighter deaths and firefighter graduations as hopefully and I I think it's true that there are way more firefighter graduation ceremonies than there are funerals it just seems like uh this is becoming all too familiar here lately LA County Fire Department suffering the loss of a handful of firefighters in the last couple of years probably more so more so in the last couple of years than ever before I'm looking upon excuse me I'm looking upon all my fellow brother and sister firefighters with a uh a very great sense of of Pride right now uh it is a proud profession it's a noble profession and you can see Andrew's family now making their way out of their transport vehicles and they'll be looking on as Andrew's body is removed from the back of engine 93 oh boy so LA County Fire Department Honor Guard getting into position and they will start a a steady walk or March toward the back of engine 93 up onto that platform oh I mentioned before that uh the LA County Honor Guard who are now acting as Paul bears for Andrew uh many of our many of the uh honor Garden I keep saying our as if I'm still a member of LA County Fire Department I'm certainly not a member anymore of ell County fire department but uh 27 of my 36 years in the firefighting profession uh wrapping up uh in July of 22 2022 as a battalion chief and one of my last assignments uh in the public public affairs section of LA County Fire Department I oversaw the honor guard group here and uh many of them are former military individuals and so uh the job that they do is very professional uh and they do a a very fine job at what they do and every move is uh very specific very coordinated very orchestrated nothing is done willy-nilly by any stretch of imagination there's a formality uh to these ceremonies uh that is followed strictly uh to the tea it is done exactly the same way at most funerals or most ceremonies like this and you can see firefighters now as Andrew's body passes in that flag covered casket all firefighters now standing at uh attention as they make their way into uh this Sanctuary or this building where a final ceremony will be presided over George I don't know if we can get over just a tad bit I think we might be too I said uh disregard disregard they're going to take him inside the building and I think probably we're going to be too late to try well I think we're going to be too late I think they're already carrying them in so folks we're going to pull out of the shot here a little bit just kind of give you an overall view this is the Forest Lawn Mortuary here in the Cina Hills area where firefighter Andrew ponus is going to be laid to rest after a very tragic accident that happened last Friday in which uh Andrew's company or station responded to fire station 93 in Palm deal and tragically he was killed in that accident of course we will have more on this ceremony and the death of firefighter Andrew ponus Los Angeles County Firefighter coming up later on the NBC4 news at 3 4 5 6 and 7 o'clock uh so be sure to tune in with with us uh we're going to go ahead and sign off for now I'm Roland spru with my pilot and partner George we'll see you later on on the NBC4 news thanks for watching

Channel: NBCLA

Views: 11,803

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Id: dSZHb1pT-Ps

Length: 61min 16sec (3676 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 19 2024