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 critical decisions — blasted by experts and ex-fire chiefs as a spate of “missteps” — were made even as extreme warnings were coming in about life-threatening winds that turned the blaze into the most destructive in Los Angeles history.
“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.
Despite being available, no extra engines were readied in the Palisades region prior to the fire breaking out there, according to the logs.
LA’s Deputy Chief Richard Fields, who is in charge of staffing and equipment, stressed that his plan was “appropriate for immediate response” and slammed critics for playing “Monday morning quarterback.” His boss, Chief Kristin Crowley, also defended the decision.
The Times also reported that before the fires, LAFD leaders decided not to deploy additional engines to fire-prone areas like the Pacific Palisades. However, nine engines were positioned in Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley in anticipation of fires breaking out there.
Meanwhile, additional manpower was only called up in the now-destroyed Palisades enclave after the flames were already out of control, the logs show.
“The plan you’re using now for the fire you should have used before the fire,” said Crawford, who now runs emergency and crisis management for the US Capitol. “It’s a known staffing tactic — a deployment model.”
Crawford, as well as other former chiefs with lengthy experience in fire tactics, stressed that at least 24 of the more than 40 engines should have been staged in the Palisades and other hillside regions in advance.
Share your thoughts by scrolling down to leave a comment.
