{"id":106844,"date":"2025-12-23T21:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T21:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/106844\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T21:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T21:22:07","slug":"author-of-lafd-palisades-fire-report-declined-to-endorse-final-version-called-it-highly-unprofessional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/106844\/","title":{"rendered":"Author of LAFD Palisades fire report declined to endorse final version, called it ‘highly unprofessional’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The author of the Los Angeles Fire Department\u2019s after-action report on the Palisades fire declined to endorse the final report because of substantial deletions that altered his findings, calling the edited version \u201chighly unprofessional and inconsistent with our established standards.\u201d <\/p>\n

Battalion Chief Kenneth Cook emailed then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva about an hour after the highly anticipated report was made public on Oct. 8. <\/p>\n

\u201cHaving reviewed the revised version submitted by your office, I must respectfully decline to endorse it in its current form,\u201d Cook wrote in an email obtained by The Times. \u201cThe document has undergone substantial modifications and contains significant deletions of information that, in some instances, alter the conclusions originally presented.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cWhile I fully understand the need to address potential liability concerns and to modify certain sections in consultation with the City Attorney to mitigate litigation risks, the current version appears highly unprofessional and inconsistent with our established standards. I strongly urge you to reconsider publishing the report as it stands.\u201d <\/p>\n

He also raised concerns that the LAFD\u2019s final report would be at odds with a report on the January wildfires commissioned by the governor\u2019s office. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am concerned that substantial disparities may exist between the two reports,\u201d Cook wrote. Cook has declined to comment. <\/p>\n

The LAFD has refused to answer questions from The Times about the deletions and revisions.<\/p>\n

The Times first disclosed the changes in an article posted Saturday<\/a> that analyzed seven drafts of the after-action report, obtained through a public records request. The most significant changes involved the LAFD\u2019s deployment decisions before the fire, as the wind warnings became increasingly dire.<\/p>\n

In one instance, LAFD officials removed language saying that the decision to not fully staff up and pre-deploy<\/a> all available crews and engines ahead of the extreme wind forecast \u201cdid not align\u201d with the department\u2019s policy and procedures during red flag days.<\/p>\n

Instead, the final report said that the number of engine companies rolled out ahead of the fire \u201cwent above and beyond the standard LAFD pre-deployment matrix.\u201d<\/p>\n

A section on \u201cfailures\u201d was renamed \u201cprimary challenges,\u201d and an item saying that crews and leaders had violated national guidelines on how to avoid firefighter deaths and injuries was scratched.<\/p>\n

Another passage that was deleted said that some crews waited more than an hour for an assignment the day of the fire.<\/p>\n

Two drafts contain notes typed in the margins with suggestions that seemed intended to soften the report\u2019s effect and burnish the Fire Department\u2019s image. One note proposed replacing the image on the cover page \u2014 which showed palm trees on fire against an orange sky \u2014 with a \u201cpositive\u201d one, such as \u201cfirefighters on the frontline.\u201d The final report\u2019s cover displays the LAFD seal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The author of the Los Angeles Fire Department\u2019s after-action report on the Palisades fire declined to endorse the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[24058,5661,57643,7,9,8,57646,10800,49096,57121,57642,3802,5993,8440,57644,23178,57645,1791],"class_list":["post-106844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-after-action-report","tag-author","tag-available-crew","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-certain-section","tag-change","tag-cook","tag-draft","tag-final-report","tag-fire","tag-instance","tag-lafd","tag-lafd-palisades-fire-report","tag-note","tag-significant-deletion","tag-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}