Vice President Kamala Harris paid a holiday visit to a Crenshaw fire station Friday, offering doughnuts and brief remarks of thanks and encouragement along with her husband, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff.
Harris arrived at 12:15 p.m. to Fire Dept. Station 94 at 4470 Coliseum St., where about 14 firefighters and other Los Angeles Fire Department personnel were gathered, according to a pool report.
The vice president and Emhoff — along with International Association of Fire Fighters General Secretary-Treasurer Frank Lima — spent about nine minutes at the firehouse, delivering the doughnuts, making brief remarks and taking a group photo.
“I know who you are. … You took an oath to take care of perfect strangers. The work you do is the work that is about having the courage to say that you’re gonna go out there and run into situations. And you’re prepared to make sacrifices for people you may have never met. People whose names you don’t even know,” Harris said. “And to be a California firefighter — and a firefighter in Los Angeles — that’s some tough work.
“In this Christmas season, this holiday season, I just want you to know that … you are so special and we really do appreciate you and we thank you. You’re part of what makes us strong and makes us great. I’ve been traveling around the world now as vice president, and people look to us,” Harris continued. “They look to us in terms of how we think about public service and democracy. And in that way, when we can show people that we have a force like this — because you choose to, because you want to, not because you have to — it really speaks to so many of the ideals and values that we hold dear in this country. In that way, I know you work for LA city but you represent the United States of America every day. So thank you, on behalf of my husband and myself, thank you thank you thank you.”
Emhoff noted that his brother is a firefighter and said he knows what families of firefighters go through.
“Just driving here — to see this beautiful city, our home, and to know you’re out here protecting us day and night. Again, it is personal to me and the vice president. My brother is a firefighter up north. So I know what your families feel. I know how they feel when you leave and I know how they feel when you come home. And it’s just personal. So you to your families — I got it,” he said.
Harris, who has a home in Brentwood, is in the Southland for a week of vacation. She made a similar appearance at a Brentwood fire station in July, bringing cookies that time.
A member of the vice president’s staff tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week, but the White House said Harris and Emhoff tested negative for COVID on Friday.