The Los Angeles Fire Department declined to deploy a thousand firefighters and dozens of water-bearing engines ahead of the devastating Palisades fire.
Fire department officials were warned of life-threatening winds that could increase the spread of a wildfire before the blaze broke out on Jan. 7, but decided to man only five of the more than 40 engines. This is evident from a damning report from the Los Angeles Times.
No additional engines were then installed in the famed enclave of the Pacific Palisades.
Instead, officials placed nine engines that were already on duty in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood, expecting a fire to break out there.
Internal planning documents even showed that fire officials said “no” to deploying an additional nine engines, known as “ready reserve” engines, to fire-risk areas, the LA Times reports.
Fire chiefs only began calling in more firefighters and deploying engines after the fire was already working its way through Los Angeles County.
They later said they moved more engines to cover northeast Los Angeles early in the morning as the winds began to increase.
Still, Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has continued to defend the department’s decisions, saying commanders had to work strategically with limited resources while also fielding regular 911 calls amid massive budget cuts.
The Los Angeles Fire Department refused to deploy a thousand firefighters and dozens of water-bearing engines ahead of the devastating fire in the Palisades
Fire chiefs only began calling in more firefighters and deploying engines after the blaze was already working its way through Los Angeles County, according to a damning report.
Firefighters are pictured battling the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles
She claimed that calls on January 7 doubled from a normal day to 3,000 at the LA Fire Department’s 106 stations as high winds downed trees and power lines.
“I support the plan they put in place because we have to manage everyone in the city,” Crowley argued.
She initially said most of the spare engines were not working or otherwise unavailable, but a Crowley spokesperson later clarified that only four of the nine were not immediately available.
A third official then produced a document stating that seven of the vehicles had been put into service, but mostly after the fire had already started.
Still, several former chiefs with experience in LA Fire Department tactics said more than 40 available engines could have been pre-deployed to fire zones, while others remained at stations to help increase the number of 911 calls.
“The plan you are using now for the fire should have been used sooner,” said former LAFD Battalion Chief Rick Crawford.
“It’s a well-known personnel tactic, a deployment model.”
Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has continued to defend the department’s decisions
Sources at the LA Fire Department also told DailyMail.com that they did not receive a call to “pre-deploy” until the morning of January 7.
“Normally, when there is a high wind warning, we deploy extra fire engines to be ready,” the source said. ‘A pre-deployment should have taken place at least a day earlier. They didn’t, so we went home.’
The sources added that once many of the firefighters returned, some were called off again the next day because there were not enough operable installations.
‘It would have made a huge difference if they had been able to man thirty to forty more engines. We could have put water shuttles in the fire, but if you don’t have the device, you can’t do that.”
The decision appears to go against what the publication of LAFD operations suggests.
“Our initial emergency response is based on a ‘hit it hard and fast’ concept,” the LA Times said.
‘If it’s a day with a lot of risk, [fire] companies will be deployed in advance.
Sources at the LA Fire Department also told DailyMail.com that they didn’t receive a call to “pre-deploy” until the morning of January 7, when the fire started.
The sources added that once many of the firefighters returned, some were called off again the next day because there were not enough operable installations.
Crawford, who is now emergency and crisis management coordinator for the U.S. Capitol, said that if he were in charge, he would have ordered the departing crew of about 1,000 firefighters to remain on duty the next day.
That would allow commanders to meet emergency staffing needs, including for available engines, without having to rely on firefighters voluntarily returning to work.
However, commanders are sometimes reluctant to do so due to concerns about costs, including overtime compensation.
He also said he would have deployed at least 25 of the more than 40 available engines at stations closest to the hills.
“You would have had a better chance of getting a better result if you had put those engines in,” Crawford said.
“You give yourself the best chance to minimize the size of the fire… If you do that, you can say, ‘I threw everything at it from the start.’
“That didn’t happen here,” Crawford said, adding that the failure was part of a “domino effect of missteps” that commanders made ahead of the wildfires.
Nearly 1,000 firefighters could have been ordered to remain on duty the next day
That would allow commanders to meet emergency staffing needs, including for available engines, without having to rely on firefighters voluntarily returning to work.
The wildfires in California have now killed 25 people
Still, LA fire officials have defended their actions.
For example, Deputy Chief Richard Fields, who was responsible for personnel and equipment decisions prior to the fire, argued that his deployment plan was “suitable for immediate response.”
“It’s very easy to sit on the bench Monday morning as a quarterback and tell us what we should have done now that this has happened,” he said.
“What we did was based on years of experience and also on trying to be responsible for the rest of the city at a certain time of the day.”
Others argued that the winds were so intense that no amount of additional firefighters or engines would have made a difference.
“That fire was the most erratic behavior I’ve ever seen: 60 to 90 mile per hour winds going in multiple directions and creating patches like I’ve never seen before,” said Jason Hing, chief of the emergency department. operations.
“There was no way anyone was going to catch fire.”
Residents have now been warned that life-threatening winds could develop
More than 84,000 people received a new evacuation alert
Authorities warned anyone near the fires to flee as quickly as possible
California’s wildfires have now claimed the lives of 25 people, but officials have warned that number is likely to continue to rise as authorities gain access to smoldering sites devastated by the fires.
Meanwhile, more than 84,000 people were put on new evacuation alerts as they were warned to brace for more dangerous firefighters.
Authorities warned anyone near the fires to flee quickly, fearing that increasing winds will spark new fires and fan the flames of those already burning.
This round of Santa Ana winds was not expected to be as strong as last week, but they could carry fire-sparking embers for miles and spark new outbreaks in a decimated area where at least 25 people have already died.