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Fallen Los Angeles Fireman
Andrew Lechert
1898-1949 |
Born in Chicago in 1898, Andrew Lechert was the kind of man that many of us might take for granted. Quiet, focused yet fiercely loyal and uncommonly brave, he commenced his life's work at the age of 29 as a member of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Earning coveted assignments across the City, he took pride in every task, ultimately eschewing the opportunity to advance in rank for the personal reward he found in the role and responsibility of a Los Angeles Fireman.
If nothing else,
Fireman Andrew Lechert was a man of honor and tradition, always doing his part to further the LAFD mission.
It was such commitment that caused Lechert to join scores of other firemen on March 23, 1949 in bidding a patriotic farewell to fellow Los Angeles Fireman
John Herbert, who had been killed in the line of duty.
As Lechert and other crisply uniformed firemen filed past Herbert's gleaming bronze casket draped with an American flag, little could they imagine that the highly respected veteran standing among them would be similarly laid to rest in 7 months time.
At age 50, Fireman Lechert had trained many a rookie and responded to countless fires and disasters across the burgeoning metropolis of Los Angeles during his 21 years of service. A mentally and physically fit responder, he grew to love the challenge of serving the remote but growing central San Fernando Valley at
Fire Station 73 in Reseda.
Far from a sleepy hollow, Reseda saw a significant increase in commercial, industrial and residential development in the years following World War II, as working ranches were subdivided and buildings replaced crops, causing the LAFD to add a ladder Truck Company to Fire Station 73 staffed by Lechert and his colleagues.
If there was a sense of change under foot, there was certainly a sense of permanency in the concerns at Fire Station 73 each Fall, as the drying of vegetation and the return of seasonal
Santa Ana winds, necessitated a swift race to battle each and every grass and brush fire before it could blossom into the maelstroms experienced in
1933 and
1938 by Andrew Lechert and his colleagues.
Lunch was often hurried at Fire Station 73, and the noon hour of Andrew's final day would be no different, as the crew responded time and again to the needs of their community.
The last alarm for Fireman Andrew Lechert came at 3:30 PM on
October 26, 1949, as Engine 73 was summoned to a grass fire in a vacant lot at
18557 Saticoy Street, just
three-tenths of a mile from the station.
With a column of smoke visible as they raced from their quarters, Engine Company 73 found a growing wildland fire they might contain. Working swiftly with his crew to pull 50 feet of once-inch booster line, Lechert suddenly collapsed of an apparent heart attack. Despite resuscitation efforts by LAFD Rescue 39, the sudden fireground malady proved fatal.
At Lechert's burial at Oaklawn Cemetery in Chatsworth on October 29, 1949, a large contingent of firefighters stood at rapt attention as Chaplain Joseph Hoffmann addressed Andrew's loving wife Dorothy.
Standing tall among the sea of uniformed personnel offering their respect was rookie Los Angeles
Fireman Clyde Neff, who would himself make the ultimate sacrifice less than 96 hours later.
Learn more about Andrew, Clyde and other LAFD members who have paid the ultimate price in their service to our City by visiting:
Submitted by
Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department
