Firefighters’ Contest Focuses on Memorial

Universal Studios didn’t need a fire put out Friday, but that fact never slowed the frantic pace of a bucket brigade set up at the theme park by firefighters from all over the state.

With help from Frankenstein, Lucille Ball, Groucho Marx and other celebrity look-alikes, firefighters raced to transfer water from one large metal bin to another.

The competition between teams of firefighters representing San Diego, Los Angeles and Sacramento kicked off Firefighters Month and promoted a fund-raising effort for the first statewide memorial honoring firefighters killed in the line of duty.

“It’ll be right next to the state capitol in Sacramento,” said Dan Terry, president of California Professional Firefighters, which has about 35,000 members from state, county and local stations.

There is no timetable for the memorial’s completion, Terry said.

In the three years since the inception of the project, about $300,000 of the necessary $1 million has been generated.

Most of it has come from taxpayer donations and fees from a special license plate featuring the logo from Universal’s 1991 fire-themed movie “Backdraft.”

L.A. County Fire Inspector Bob Goldman helped lead his team to victory in the bucket event--a victory Terry jokingly attributed to “home-field advantage.”

“I’ve never done a bucket brigade before,” said Goldman, who works in the Fire Department’s public information office. “The key is just to focus . . . but the main thing is that it’s a great cause.”

In observance of statewide Firefighters Month, Universal will charge firefighters and up to three family members a total of only $1 admission throughout this month, with those dollars going toward the memorial fund.