The Los Angeles Times reported that thousands of extra firefighters and dozens of water-carrying engines were available for deployment, but they decided against holding them for a second shift. They could have sent them before the fires; engines and staff were available. These fires are about prevention, and these fire bosses know this.
Los Angeles fire bosses deployed just a fraction of its firefighters and trucks to the deadly Palisades Fire until it was already out of control — sending just five of the 40 available fire engines and holding back 1,000 firefighters, according to a damning new report.
The fire bosses are calling it “missteps.”
Warnings of life-threatening winds and dry conditions made it clear that this was extremely dangerous. Everyone knew what was coming, but they sent additional engines and firefighters after the fire was out of control.
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“You would have had a better chance to get a better result if you deployed those engines,” former LAFD Battalion Chief Rick Crawford told the Los Angeles Times.
“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,” he continued, adding the choices were part of a “domino effect of missteps” by officials.
Officials held off on ordering hundreds of available fire crews to remain on duty for a second shift last Tuesday, which would have doubled the manpower on hand, to help battle flames taking hold in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, according to internal fire department records obtained by the Times.
The engines were available and not readied.
But they know their pronouns.
Please, stop, for the love of God https://t.co/hDeWKi7aqL
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 15, 2025
They Think They Did the Right Thing
LA’s Deputy Chief Richard Field and his boss Chief Crowley felt they handled it well for an immediate response. Crowley blamed a lack of staff and budget cuts. Crowley said she deployed more than usual.
They sent the extra manpower when the fires were out of control.
Crowley insisted Wednesday that the department “pre-deployed the resources on top of what we would normally do.”
Once the fire erupted, she said, crews “went to work.”
“We immediately then utilized all available on-duty, special-duty people that aren’t normally in the field,” she said. “They surged. They went and staffed every other available resource at that time.”
When they asked Karen Bass about it, she deferred to Chief Crowley but said the buck stops with her, meaning Bass.
The Palisades Fire started at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 7. As of Wednesday morning, the fire burned 23,713 acres and is 19% contained.
What don’t these people get? The fire was an extraordinary emergency. All hands on deck. It’s very simple. Were these people willing to let communities burn down?
They had an empty reservoir in the Palisades. A hundred engines were in for repairs. The power lines were left on. The homeless and criminals are setting fires. Gov. Newsom was nowhere to be found.
Video proof that there was no response to LA’s Pacific Palisades fire for 45 minutes. Terrific reporting here by @RichMcHugh @NewsNation https://t.co/XchulWi9Gk pic.twitter.com/LzxZDMfKnf
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) January 15, 2025
Insane devastation in LA.
How does this happen in “The worlds richest and most powerful country”
$800,000,000,000 a year on War (the US isn’t at War), Meanwhile, LAFD IGNORED warnings to deploy more staff, LAFD documents show chiefs chose NOT to deploy 1,000 extra staff that… pic.twitter.com/iAkqeYbI2H
— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) January 15, 2025
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