LOS ANGELES (KABC) — After months of pressing for access and answers, we are finally hearing from those within the Los Angeles Fire Department who planned for and led the Palisades Fire fight.
Tune into Eyewitness News today at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. for the full report with investigative reporter Kevin Ozebek.
Chief Deputy Joe Everett was the Incident Commander for the Palisades Fire, calling many of the shots and making critical decisions like evacuations.
“We’re going to use this as a blueprint for change, and we’re going to be better,” Everett told ABC7.
That starts by looking at the Lachman Fire that sparked on Jan. 1 and, according to federal investigators, smoldered underground for a week before turning into the Palisades Fire.
Since LAFD is still not answering our specific questions, ABC7 On Your Side Investigates combed through hours of public meetings to see what leaders said about the Lachman Fire in the past.
On Jan. 16, then-LAFD Assistant Chief Everett for the West Bureau, which includes the Palisades, spoke at a community meeting and said he was out of town on New Year’s, but was on the phone with the firefighters at the Lachman scene.
“That fire was dead out. If it is determined that was the cause, it would be a phenomenon,” he said at that meeting.
Speaking with ABC7 months later, Everett said: “I had full faith and belief that they did a good job, and I do today. I stand by that world phenomenon.”
According to a “Hose and Equipment Recovery” memo obtained by 7 On Your Side, the hose left on the Lachman site in case of a flare up was taken back on Jan. 3.
When asked if that was a mistake, and whether those hose should have been kept in place longer – and whether firefighters should have been checking on that burn scar longer – Everett responded:
“Well, I mean, in retrospect, I think yes. But I’m answering that question knowing about the devastation of the Jan 7 fire. Did I feel confident with the officers that were on scene, with the firefighters and their boots on the ground, with the work they did? Absolutely.”
Everett says, to his knowledge, all mop-up procedures for the Lachman Fire were followed, but from now on, the LAFD will fly heat-detecting drones over burn scars.
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