Department adds five firefighters The Burbank Fire...

Department adds five firefighters

The Burbank Fire Department welcomed its five newest firefighters

Friday morning in a graduation ceremony at the department’s training

facility.

The five were among 2,000 applicants to the department and the

first graduating class in several years.

David Johnson, Eric Rowley, Steven Rushing, Jonathan Schuman and

Clark Wilmoth will be probationary firefighters for the next year and

will begin a rotation among the department’s four stations.

The five are very talented and motivated, Capt. David Schmitt

said.

“They pushed themselves beyond what they thought their limits

were,” Schmitt said.

The class chose “Together, we succeed,” as its motto because of

its emphasis on teamwork, Johnson said.

Garage fire caused by child’s toy

A malfunction in a child’s electric vehicle set off a garage fire

Thursday afternoon in the 2900 block of Buena Vista Street,

authorities said.

Firefighters responded to the fire at about 4:23 p.m.

The fire gutted the interior of the garage, Fire Marshal David

Starr said.

Witnesses said the fire began in the front corner of the garage,

where the electric vehicle was found, Starr said, adding that there

were no other flammable liquids in that part of the garage.

“Being made of plastic, [the vehicle] produced enough fuel once it

got going,” Starr said.

A 1950s-era pick-up truck that the homeowner was restoring was

damaged in the fire, Starr said.