Local Hero Buddy Is L.A. City’s Last Fire Station Dog

By HELEN HIGHBURGER Palisadian-Post Intern Fire Station 69’s beloved mascot, Buddy the Dalmatian, is the last surviving fire dog in the City of Los Angeles. He has lived at the station (Sunset at Carey) for nine years and when he passes away, the local firemen hope that a Buddy II can carry on the tradition. However, it’s possible the station will not be able to do so because of potential liability issues’dog-biting incidents, for example. So perhaps we have double the reason to treasure a dog who has become a great favorite with Palisadians of all ages, . Fire station dogs like Buddy have been a part of firefighting crews since the days of horse-drawn steam engines. Their original function was to guard the horses that pulled the huge engines firefighters used to get to fires. The fire dog would stay with the horses while the firefighters rushed into the burning building, keeping other dogs and people from spooking them. Since the advent of fire trucks, fire dogs have had less to do, but they still guard the truck while the firefighters are working. Fire Station 69 originally acquired Buddy as a puppy in 1995 from Sandra Jankowski of Brentwood, who breeds champion Dalmatians. ‘We’ve gone at least 10 years without a mascot, and kids have been asking about it all the time,’ said Capt. Ortiz at the time. ‘Now we have a real good one.’ The firemen held a contest to name the new mascot, inviting all kids 10-and-under to vote for either Sparky, Buddy, Smokey or Chief. A few years later they had a contest to count Buddy’s spots. He had exactly 278. Buddy has made news in other ways. In 1996, he not only was the star of a live Alpo commercial with Jay Leno on ‘The Tonight Show,’ he also appeared on the front page of the Palisadian-Post. The paper showed pictures of him getting rescued from the water after he slipped into the Los Angeles River during a routine river-rescue training exercise. A few years later the Post wrote about Buddy’s trip to the veterinarian to combat a brief bout with fleas, and later reported his emergency treatment for a dangerous urinary blockage. Buddy used to ride on the truck to fires, but today at the age of 9 he has arthritis, which has slowed him down somewhat. He can still go out to the fires if he wants to (wearing his own yellow brush jacket for protection), and he remains a great favorite at neighborhood birthday parties, the Fourth of July parade, riding with Santa at Holiday Ho! Ho! Ho! and fire station open houses. When Buddy gets up in the morning, he greets all the firefighters as they arrive and chases a ball while they exercise. Most of the day, he just hangs around the station, barking if people whom he doesn’t know arrive. A look into Buddy’s personal record book (just like the firefighters have!) shows that his top skill is ‘community relations,’ closely followed by ‘testing hydrant paint’ and ‘fetching a ball.’ According to one firefighter, Buddy’s ‘real job is PR, and he does it well.’ Buddy even has a girlfriend, a fellow Dalmatian named Desiree, who lives in the neighborhood. He keeps a photo of her pinned outside on his doghouse.