LAFD Station 74 Garden

Los Angeles Fire Department Station 74 sits at the epicenter of 2017’s La Tuna and Creek Fires, which sparked multiple resident and business evacuations. It sits in the heart of Sunland-Tujunga Foothill Boulevard business district, where it serves as a highly visible example of fire-wise landscaping.

Officer Isaiah Marin is among the firefighters who maintain the Station 74 garden.

The foliage in the garden quickly established itself.

A native oak sits to the west of the property where it will shade the garden and cool the air. Native oaks are particularly helpful in fire wise gardens, as they maintain hydration well, and their dense leaves make great captures mitts to protect structures from embers.

Designers included a decomposed granite parking space which will not accept weed growth as the open soil did.

Red Buckwheat blooms in the late spring and summer.

Beautiful blue, fragrant California Lilac blooms are month the first to liven the garden in spring.

California Lilac (Ceanothus), like native oak, has dense leaves that can serve as captures mits for embers.

Even when Coyote Mint loses it’s blooms, it scents the garden with the minty smell of its drought tolerant foliage.

Native Deer Grass lines the fence line. It is a beautiful alternative to invasive, combustible foliage like Pampas, Fountain and Feather grasses.

Island Snapdragon brings fire engine red blooms to the garden in time for Independence Day.

From the west, the garden blooms red, white and blue.

A prostrate California Sagebrush also brings a fresh, minty scent to the garden.

Delicate Chia Sage Blooms emerge from dense foliage that stays well-hydrated in high heat.

Now that the foliage has established, it forms a solid barrier to the germination of invasive weeds that increase fire risk in wild spaces.

Like Chia Sage, fragrant lilac-colored Cleveland Sage maintains its beauty in hot Valley summers.

The garden was designed to inspire the community while being low-maintenance, so as not to distract from the Station’s important work.

The garden brings a touch of color and life to a largely industrial stretch of Foothill Boulevard.

A Community Unites to Support LAFD

Not long ago, the LAFD Station 74 garden was a barren 1,800 square foot planter at the front of the station. The department left the space unplanted for many years due to the extensive scope of work required to improve it.

While barren space may seem low maintenance, it can can attract invasive, flammable foliage. Obviously not a good look for a fire station! As a result, firefighters were spending time doing a great deal of weeding without getting the benefit of beauty for their work.

Travis Whitcomb, just 16 years old at the time, highly values the services LAFD provides ito the Sunland-Tujunga community. Noticing the barren space and the work it created, Travis saw the opportunity to show his gratitude by providing beauty while lessening the work it would take for the firefighters and paramedics to maintain it.

Whitcomb worked with landscaping experts, including his father and nearby businesses, to create a plan for a low to no maintenance garden. Nearby FormLA Landscaping created site plans nd a sustainable landscape design that reflected the nearby native mountain and slope vegetation. Special care was given to designing a garden that would need no overhead watering, little maintenance, and demonstrate fire wise plantings.

The team defined and refined a scope of work , and the Sunland-Tujunga community jumped in to support the project. For example:

A local business donated services & excavation equipment was used to grade the slope, remove old tree stumps and roots and dig a large hole for a new tree.

Local hardware stores and landscape supply houses onated of copper & pvc piping and plumbing supplies and the labor to install piping and plumbing systems.

A local tree company donated a 36” box native oak was donated from a local tree company.

The Fire Heavy Rescue Truck & Crew also volunteered time – they lifted the tree into the new location.

Several tons of 18” and 6” granite landscape cobbles, used to edge the slope, create a dry river, and retain the soil, were donated and delivered to the site from a local masonry yard.

 
Whitcomb was able to obtain financial donations to purchase more than 70 native plants, and on the day of the planting more than 50 volunteers from the local LDS church, dedicated scout supporters, and enthusiastic members of the community showed up to help.

Landscape and irrigation experts provided instruction and community volunteers installed the low-flow, subsurface drip irrigation line and planted the new, native foliage. All the irrigation lines and planting were topped with a thick thick layer of mulch. With this support from the Sunland-Tujunga community installation was completed in less than 5 hours!

LAFD Maintains a Lush, Low-Water, Fire-Wise Garden

Whitcomb’s work, and the ongoing work of LAFD Station 74, have created a head-turning garden of vibrant beauty in the middle of Foothill Boulevard’s most industrial stretch.

LAFD Station 74 now maintains this lush, leafy, red-white-and-blue blooming space. Three years in, the weeding work is minimal, as the garden is so full of beauty, weeds have a hard time finding their place! Each year, more and more of the work will be shaded as the oak tree’s canopy expands.