By Alene Tchekmedyian and Paul Pringle
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has requested a full investigation into revelations that firefighters were ordered to leave a smoldering burn site days before it reignited into the Palisades fire, calling the news “tremendously alarming.”
In a letter to interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva, Bass on Friday asked that he “thoroughly investigate” a report by the Los Angeles Times about the Los Angeles Fire Department’s missteps in putting out a small brush fire that federal authorities say was intentionally set on New Year’s Day. The previously undisclosed details have prompted fresh outrage among those who lost homes in the worst fire in city history.
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“A full understanding of the Lachman fire response is essential to an accurate accounting of what occurred during the January wildfires,” Bass wrote.
Bass had said in a statement late Thursday that her office has been “leading a series of reforms” in the LAFD, including strengthening pre-deployment protocols, upgrading technology and expanding training for all staff.
Her handling of the blaze and its aftermath is expected to be a significant issue in next year’s mayoral race, with her opponent Austin Beutner calling on her to provide a thorough accounting of what happened.
The Times reported this week that crews mopping up the Jan. 1 Lachman fire warned a battalion chief that the ground was still smoldering and rocks remained hot to the touch, according to text exchanges reviewed by the Times. However, firefighters were ordered to pack up and leave the scene anyway.
Federal investigators say the Lachman fire was deliberately set and had burned underground in a canyon root system until the winds rekindled it on Jan. 7.
In one text message reported in the Times, a firefighter who was at the scene on Jan. 2 wrote that the battalion chief had been told it was a “bad idea” to leave because of the visible signs of smoldering terrain which crews feared could start a new fire if left unprotected. “And the rest is history,” the firefighter wrote in recent weeks.
A second firefighter was told that tree stumps were still hot at the location when the crew packed up and left, according to the texts. And a third firefighter said this month that crew members were upset when told to pack up and leave, but that they could not ignore orders, according to the texts. The third firefighter also wrote that he and his colleagues knew immediately that the Jan. 7 fire was a rekindle of the Jan. 1 blaze.
The LAFD has not answered questions about the firefighter accounts in the text messages, but has previously said that officials did everything they could to ensure the Lachman fire was fully extinguished. They have not provided dispatch records of all firefighting and mop up activity before Jan. 7. The battalion chief listed as being on duty the day firefighters were ordered to leave the Lachman fire, Mario Garcia, did not respond to requests for comment.
Beutner, the former Los Angeles Unified schools superintendent, said the new details are a reflection of poor leadership.
“Commanding the fire crew on duty to leave something where they raised objections? To me, that’s not responsible,” he said. “But ultimately, where does the buck stop for this? ... I’d like to hear from the mayor. How she’s accountable. What has she learned?”
The firefighters’ accounts line up with a video recorded by a hiker above Skull Rock Trailhead about 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 2 — almost 36 hours after the Lachman fire started — that shows smoke rising from the dirt. “It’s still smoldering,” the hiker says from behind the camera.
“This Palisades fire was totally preventable,” said E. Randol Schoenberg, a lawyer who lost his home in Malibu.
Schoenberg said LAFD’s review of its own actions thus far ignores the missteps that he believes require the most scrutiny: What was and wasn’t done between Jan. 1 and Jan. 7.
“There’s nothing in the after-action report that would stop this from happening again — nothing,” he said, noting that the report evaluated evacuation and communication problems during the Palisades fire. “The only issue is they wouldn’t have made a difference in this fire, and won’t make a difference in the next fire if we allow one to start this way.”
He added: “The one thing they could have done is sit on the Jan. 1 fire, and make sure it didn’t rekindle ... It wouldn’t have cost them anything and all 6,000 houses would have been saved.”
Palisades resident Peter Viles said LAFD’s handling of the Jan. 1 fire is “beyond disappointing” and reflects a lack of urgency in preventing major fires.
“It’s even more frustrating that they still haven’t given a straightforward account of how they allowed that small fire to stay alive for a week,” he said.
In a previous interview with the Times, Villanueva — who came out of retirement to head the department in February — said firefighters remained in the Lachman fire burn area for more than 36 hours and “cold-trailed” it, meaning they used their hands to feel for heat, dug out hot spots and chopped a line around the perimeter of the fire to ensure it was contained.
He said firefighters returned Jan. 3 for another round of cold-trailing after a report of smoke in the area, though LAFD did not provide dispatch records that corroborated those actions.
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