Altadena is haunted by the long delays in evacuating a section of the city where all but one of the 19 deaths occurred. The evacuation orders came a stunning six hours after the Eaton fire started.
For Pacific Palisades, the focus has been on the failure to fully deploy firefighters on the morning of historic winds and the inability of firefighters to extinguish a Jan. 1 fire that later roared back to life as the Palisades fire.Why didn\u2019t the fire brass listen?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a year of troubling revelations, but those in the last few weeks have been particularly damning. Times investigations uncovered more missteps. In both the Palisades and Eaton fires, firefighters on the ground raised urgent alarms and appeared to have been ignored by their bosses.<\/p>\n
The Palisades fire was a restart of a small blaze that broke out six days earlier. The Los Angeles Fire Department said it was fully extinguished. And last month, officials went on at length about how<\/a> difficult \u2014 if not impossible \u2014 it would have been to know the Jan. 1 fire was still smoldering. <\/p>\n But Paul Pringle and Alene Tchekmedyian revealed that some officials<\/a> inside the LAFD had grave worries the fire was not out. <\/p>\n One firefighter at the Lachman fire warned a battalion chief that the ground was still smoldering and rocks remained hot to the touch, according to text messages the Times reporters reviewed. Despite this, LAFD brass ordered them to pack up and leave the scene. \u201cAnd the rest is history,\u201d one firefighter later wrote in a text.<\/p>\n None of this was mentioned in federal or local reports,<\/a> which seemed to downplay LAFD responsibility for the restart.<\/p>\n This was not the only new revelation that the Jan. 1 fire was not out after officials said it was. The Times\u2019 Jenny Jarvie and Noah Haggerty reviewed a video shot by a hiker that shows whiffs of smoke coming from the area on Jan. 2 \u2014 after firefighters left. \u201cIt\u2019s still smoldering,\u201d <\/a>he\u2019s heard saying.<\/p>\n A midnight call: Altadena\u2019s last chance?<\/p>\n New reporting out of Altadena<\/a> has a troubling echo. The Eaton fire began just before 6:30 p.m., and in the first few hours, officials issued evacuations for multiple neighborhoods. But as The Times revealed in January<\/a>, the evacuation orders stopped hours before west Altadena got its first evacuation order at 3:25 a.m. <\/p>\n By then, huge swaths of Altadena were burning, including on the west side. L.A. County fire officials have been vague about what caused this deadly delay.<\/p>\n Now, The Times\u2019 Grace Toohey and Terry Castleman are reporting <\/a>that, around midnight, several Los Angeles County firefighters on the ground suggested to incident commanders that the rest of the nearby foothill communities, from Altadena west into La Ca\u00f1ada Flintridge, be evacuated.<\/p>\n But for unknown reasons, county commanders did not issue more evacuation orders for three more hours. By then, it was too late for some. All but one of the 19 people who died in the Eaton fire were found in west Altadena.<\/p>\n Getting answers \u2026 if you can<\/p>\n The unprecedented destruction of the January fires has rightly left the public demanding answers. Has there been some Monday-morning quarterbacking? Maybe. Did the hurricane-strength winds make some losses all but inevitable? Very likely. But it\u2019s notable that the official \u201cafter action\u201d reports produced by both city and county officials have been heavy on recommendations, reforms and plans for more spending and light on assigning blame. <\/p>\n In fact, the firm the county hired to investigate the Eaton fire said the county specifically asked that it not delve into specific wrongdoing. A Times review of <\/a>\u201cafter-action\u201d reports from previous L.A. fires found this approach is common \u2014 and perhaps one reason some of the same failures are repeated.<\/p>\n Art Botterell, a former senior emergency services coordinator for the California Governor\u2019s Office of Emergency Services, calls them \u201cgroundhog day\u201d reports. \u201cIf you ask yourself a very simple question \u2014 \u2018Whose responsibility was this?\u2019 \u2014 you won\u2019t find anybody sticking their hand up,\u201d he told Jarvie.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s top stories (Gina Ferazzi\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n California Republicans reel after Prop. 50 voteCoachella Valley Republicans fear alienation after Tuesday\u2019s election<\/a>.Proposition 50 redraws California congressional districts to favor Democrats, potentially ending Republican representation in parts of the conservative Coachella Valley.Local GOP leaders blame the California Republican Party for failing to raise enough money to counter the proposition\u2019s message and protect their dwindling influence.The SNAP funding messThe delay in federal funding to SNAP has led to long lines at food banks and slow business at outdoor produce stands that allow customers to pay with their benefit cards.Though California started replenishing recipients\u2019 food-aid debit accounts late last week, the crisis shines a light on L.A.\u2019s fragile food system<\/a>. A USC study found that 25% of L.A. County residents experienced food insecurity in 2024 and that the rate among low-income people was even higher \u2014 41%.LAPD officers and domestic violenceAn LAPD sergeant testified at a recent disciplinary hearing that the department did not begin fully disclosing domestic abuse allegations against officers until more than year after it was required by state law<\/a>. A law passed in 2021 made domestic violence one of nine categories of \u201cserious misconduct\u201d that can trigger a ban from police work.An LAPD spokesperson said in 2024 the department \u201cadopted a new standard of reporting all allegations of domestic battery, regardless of severity.\u201dMore big storiesCommentary and opinionsNewsom prevailed on Proposition 50. But columnist Mark Z. Barabak says the White House is still a big reach<\/a>.Speaking of Newsom, columnist Anita Chabria says the best way for him to stay relevant is to become FDR<\/a>. Columnist Gustavo Arellano happens to be in Chicago, where residents mounted a community-wide defense<\/a> against Trump\u2019s deportation machine.This morning\u2019s must readOther great readsFor your downtime (Los Angeles Times photo illustration; Photos by Mark Boster, Joel Barhamand\/For The Times, Joshua Rothkopf\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Going outStaying inQuestion of the day: What\u2019s one special dish your family makes for Thanksgiving?<\/p>\n Telma Dorcey says: \u201cMy family and I are ditching the turkey, the stuffing for delicious \u2018Cocido\u2019 over white rice and \u2018picado de rabano.\u2019 Cocido is a traditional Guatemalan soup with large chunks of beef, and large chunks of vegetables like yellow squash, chayote squash, yucca, carrots and corn on the cob and flavored with cilantro.\u201d<\/p>\n Bob from Slymar says: \u201cMy grandmother from Germany makes mashed turnips.\u201d Yum!<\/p>\n And finally … the photo of the day Jeffrey Wright sits in his modern West Hollywood condo, which he decorated with his two Bengal cats and his boyfriend\u2019s dog in mind.<\/p>\n (Kit Karzen \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Today\u2019s great image is from photographer Kit Karzen of the inside of a stylish L.A. apartment designed so its occupants never have to worry about pet hair again.<\/a> <\/p>\n Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n Shelby Grad, deputy managing editor <\/a> <\/p>\n
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