The Los Angeles Fire Department refused to deploy 1,000 firefighters and dozens of water-carrying engines ahead of the devastating Palisades blaze.
Officials at the fire department were warned of life-threatening winds that could increase the spread of a wildfire before the fire broke out on January 7, but decided to staff just five of more than 40 engines, according to a damning report from the Los Angeles Times.
No extra engines were then placed in the celebrity enclave of the Pacific Palisades.
Instead, officials pre-positioned nine engines to the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood that were already on duty, expecting a fire might break out there.
Internal planning documents even showed that fire department officials said ‘no’ to deploying an additional nine engines, known as ‘ready reserve’ engines to fire-prone areas, the LA Times reports.
The fire chiefs only started calling up more firefighters and deploying engines after the blaze was already tearing its way through Los Angeles County.
They later said they moved more engines ‘first thing in the morning’ to cover northeast Los Angeles as the winds began to grow.
Yet Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has continued to defend the department’s decisions, saying commanders had to be strategic with limited resources while also handling regular 911 calls amid massive budget cuts.
The Los Angeles Fire Department refused to deploy 1,000 firefighters and dozens of water-carrying engines ahead of the devastating Palisades blaze
The fire chiefs only started calling up more firefighters and deploying engines after the blaze was already tearing its way through Los Angeles County, according to a damning report
Fire crews are pictured battling the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles
She claimed the number of calls doubled on January 7 from a typical day, to 3,000 at the LA Fire Department’s 106 stations, as the high winds downed trees and powerlines.
‘The plan that they put together, I stand behind, because we have to manage everybody in the city,’ Crowley argued.
She initially said most of the ready reserve engines were inoperable or otherwise unavailable, but a spokesperson for Crowley later clarified that just four of the nine were not immediately available.
A third official then produced a document that said seven of the vehicles were put into service – but mostly after the fire had already ignited.
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, with others kept at the stations to help with increased the 911 calls.
‘The plan you’re using now for the fire should have been used before,’ said former LAFD Battalion Chief Rick Crawford.
‘It’s a known staffing tactic, a deployment model.’
Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has continued to defend the department’s decisions
Sources with the LA Fire Department also told DailyMail.com that they did not receive a call to ‘pre-deploy’ until the morning of January 7.
‘Usually, when there is a high wind warning, we staff extra fire engines to be ready to go,’ one source said. ‘There should’ve been a pre-deploy at least a day before. They didn’t do that so we went home.’
The sources added that once many of the firefighters came back, some were once again called off the next day because there was not enough operable rigs.
‘It would’ve made a huge difference, having 30 to 40 more engines they could’ve have fully staffed. We could’ve done water shuttles into the fire, but when you don’t have the apparatus, you can’t do that.’
The decision seems to go against what the LAFD operations publication suggests.
‘Our first-alarm brush response is based on a “hit it hard and fast” concept,’ it says, according to the LA Times.
‘If it is a high-hazard day, [fire] companies will be pre-deployed.
Sources with the LA Fire Department also told DailyMail.com that they did not receive a call to ‘pre-deploy’ until the morning of January 7, when the fire began
The sources added that once many of the firefighters came back, some were once again called off the next day because there was not enough operable rigs
Crawford, who is now the emergency and crisis management coordinator for the US Capitol, said if he were in charge, he would have ordered the outgoing shift of about 1,000 firefighters to stay on duty the next day.
That would enable commanders to fill emergency staffing needs, including for available engines, without having to depend on firefighters returning to duty voluntarily.
Commanders are sometimes reluctant to do that, however, due to concerns about the costs – including the overtime pay.
He also said he would have staged at least 25 of the more than 40 available engines at stations closest to the hillsides.
‘You would have had a better chance to get a better result if you deployed those engines,’ Crawford said.
‘You give yourself the best chance to minimize how big the fire could get… If you do that, you have the ability to say, “I threw everything at it at the outset.”
‘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 told to stay on duty the next day
That would enable commanders to fill emergency staffing needs, including for available engines, without having to depend on firefighters returning to duty voluntarily
The California wildfires have now claimed the lives of 25 people
Still, LA fire officials have defended their actions.
Deputy Chief Richard Fields, who was in charge of staffing and equipment decisions ahead of the blaze, for example, argued that his plan for deployment was ‘appropriate for immediate response
‘It’s very easy to Monday-morning quarterback and sit on the couch and tell us what we should have done now that the thing has happened,’ he said.
‘What we did was based on many years of experience and also trying to be responsible for the rest of the city of any given time of that day.’
Others argued that the winds were so fierce that no number of extra firefighters or engines would have made a difference.
‘That fire was the most erratic behavior I’ve ever seen – 60 to 90-mile-an-hour winds pushing through in multiple directions, spotting like I’ve never seen before,’ said Jason Hing, the department’s chief deputy of emergency operations.
‘There was no way anybody was going to catch the fire.’
Residents have now been warned that life-threatening winds may pick up
More than 84,000 people were placed under a new evacuation alert
Authorities warned anybody in the vicinity of the blazes to be prepared to flee at a moment’s notice
The California wildfires have now claimed the lives of 25 people, but officials have warned that figure will likely continue to rise as authorities gain access to the smoldering sites ravaged by the fires.
Meanwhile, more than 84,000 people were placed under a new evacuation alert as they were warned to brace for more dangerous fire weather.
Authorities warned anybody in the vicinity of the blazes to be prepared to flee at a moment’s notice, amid concerns that increasing winds will whip up 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 stoke new outbreaks in a decimated region where at least 25 people have already been killed.
