The Los Angeles Fire Department will not deploy its 1,000 firefighters and more than 40 water engines until one of the wildfires gets out of control, despite a severe warning for life-threatening winds. He said he chose it. .
Officials called hundreds of vacant firefighters to work double shifts last Tuesday to help fight blazes in the then-ravaged Pacific Palisades area, according to internal fire department records. I withheld orders to continue. Obtained by Los Angeles Times.
Records show that out of more than 40 fire trucks, only five had personnel.
No additional engines were prepared in the Palisades area before the fire started, but nine were pre-positioned in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood areas, records show.
Additional personnel were only deployed to the destroyed Palisades enclave after the blaze had already spread, records said.
“The plans we use now for fires should have been used before the fires started,” Rick Crawford, a former Los Angeles Fire Department battalion chief, told the outlet. “This is a known staffing tactic, a deployment model.
“Had we had those engines in place, we would likely have had a better outcome,” added Crawford, who is currently in charge of emergency and crisis management at the Capitol.
“Give yourself the best chance of minimizing the size of the fire. … Then you can say, 'We threw everything at it from the get-go.'”
“That didn't happen here,” he continued, adding that the decision was part of a “domino effect” of mismanagement by authorities.
Still, Los Angeles Deputy Chief Richard Fields, who was in charge of staffing and equipment ahead of the historic wildfires, insisted his plan was “appropriate for the immediate response.”
“It's very easy for a quarterback to sit on the couch on a Monday morning and tell you what we should have done now that that happened,” he told the outlet.
“What we did was based on years of experience, and we were also trying to be accountable to the rest of the city at any point in the day.”
Fire Chief Christine Crowley also defended the department's tactics, saying they needed to act strategically with limited resources, considering last Tuesday's 911 call volume was double that of a normal day.
“I support the plan they put together because we have to take care of everyone in the city,” Crowley said.
LAFD officials previously blamed the fire response in part on budget cuts after it was revealed that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass cut $17.6 million in funding from the department ahead of the devastating fires. he claimed.
Crews fighting the Palisades fire also early reported that low water pressure had exhausted local fire hydrants, making it difficult to put out the fire.
The 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir in the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades area was empty when the historic fires began ravaging the area a week ago, and repairs to the torn lid have since been completed. It turned out that it was inside.
Eight people are believed to have died as the Palisades fire continues to wreak havoc along the coast.
Cal Fire reported the Palisades Fire was 18% contained as of Tuesday.
