Mark McLean - Haz Mat Firefighter

When 18-year-old Mark McLean told his father he wanted to be a firefighter, he replied,

“Come back to me when you’re ready.”

As a firefighter hopeful, with his father, uncle, and other firefighter family members as role models, McLean was taken back. Though his father never clarified what exactly he meant, as McLean grew older, he understood – firefighting was not a career to be taken lightly.

“There was no doubt in my mind this was the job I wanted,” said McLean, reflecting on his determination to pursue his dream career with the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD).

Every experience McLean had before joining the LAFD laid the framework for a job in the fire service. He played professional baseball on a minor league team and enjoyed the camaraderie that stemmed from strategizing on a shared goal. After securing his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, he began working for Hughes Electronics.

“Some of the things that I did in the commercial world prepped me for the fire service,”

he said, having worked on military and commercial aircraft and other significant aerospace projects.

“You learn something new every day, too.”

It wasn’t uncommon for McLean to work 22 or 23-hour shifts. During one period, he worked 160 days in a row. But this grind, or “crunch time” as it was called at his job, was akin to what the life of a firefighter had in store.

After 9/11 disrupted the aerospace industry, McLean became a "suitcase engineer," following projects across the country. While working in San Diego, he joined a private fire academy. He was then hired by the East County Fire Protection District in San Diego, his first step into the fire service.

McLean’s dream job came to fruition in 2004. After years of testing all over the county while building a career in engineering, McLean graduated from LAFD’s Drill Tower 40 and became a firefighter.

His last assignment as a new firefighter was Fire Station 9, the busiest station in the city, where he grew exponentially through each new challenge.

In 2006, McLean was transferred to LAFD Fire Station 66, where both his father and uncle had worked. “From 1973 to 2014, there was a McLean assigned to 66s,” he shared proudly, though he certainly felt the pressure of the big shoes he had to fill.

McLean’s engineering background merged with firefighting when he began Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) and hazardous materials (Haz Mat) training. Due to the classified nature of the projects McLean was working on with Hughes Electronics, he had to be trained on USAR and Haz Mat by the Department of Defense, which provided a catalyst for success in each LAFD specialty.

After working at Fire Stations 5 and 48, where he has been since 2021, McLean became a skilled member of the Haz Mat Task Force.

In his nearly 21 years with the LAFD, Firefighter McLean has seen his share of calls, everything from elevator rescues to train wrecks and structure fires. He was deployed to the Palisades Fire for nine days, which he described as the most significant of his career.

Firefighter McLean responded to the Alameda compressed natural gas (CNG) explosion in February 2024 in a Haz Mat capacity. When a semi-truck carrying lithium-ion batteries overturned near the Port of Los Angeles in September 2024, Firefighter McLean was part of the responding crew.

At every incident, Haz Mat’s priority is to isolate the area, block entry, identify the hazards and the risks, and deem the scene static or render it safe for clean-up companies to clear the area.

“Every Haz Mat situation is unique,” Firefighter McLean shared. “It’s what you don’t know that could kill you.”

When Firefighter McLean reflects on his journey, from Haz Mat and USAR in his engineering career to teaching Haz Mat and USAR courses with the LAFD today, he is grateful for every step of his journey.

He noted that there’s a time, typically between five and seven years on the job, where firefighters feel like they’ve “got it” – they know what they’re doing and are confident in their jobs. But with more than two decades in the fire service, Firefighter McLean has no shortage of learning opportunities, whether through teaching or simply living out his dream job every day.

“This is the best job in the world,” Firefighter McLean said. “I’m not going to say it takes a different type of person to be a firefighter, but it does take a different mindset.”