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While the mayor was in Africa, her city burns to the ground.
'Delays and lack of resources: How LA Fire Department was late to the
Palisades Fire, according to witnesses: ‘No one came’'
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https://nypost.com/2025/01/13/us-news/how-the-la-fire-department-fumbled-the-first-response-to-the-palisades-fire-according-to-witnesses-no-one-came/>
'LOS ANGELES — It took LA firefighters at least 45 minutes to respond to
the Pacific Palisades blaze when it broke out last week, according to
records and local homeowners.
And by that time, around 11 a.m. on Jan. 7, it was too late; what was at
first a large plume of smoke had grown to a 10-acre blaze.
By 11:30 a.m., firefighters were reporting the fire was 200 acres, aided
by strong winds that carried embers as far as two miles.
Firefighters battling the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades
neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 7, 2025.
10
Firefighters battling the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades
neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 7, 2025.
AP Photo/Ethan Swope
The timeline, compiled by the Washington Post, raises questions over
whether the Los Angeles Fire Department’s slow and lack of resources
start may have allowed the blaze spiral out of control.
The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation, and the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating.
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However, sources told the Los Angeles Times that the fire — which has
claimed at least eight lives and consumed nearly 24,000 acres of land
and more than 5,000 buildings — “appears to have human origins,” noting the area in which it started is a favorite outdoor spot for hikers,
teenagers and others.
The Washington Post report theorized that the blaze could have reignited
from a much smaller fire sparked by fireworks on New Year’s Eve, which
may have continued to smolder in the hills of the upscale neighborhood
even days after firefighters knocked it down, according to a forensic
analysis by the outlet.
However, constrained resources, an awkward stutter-step response and
muddled communications appear to have prevented crews from reaching the
genesis point before it was too late, according to The Post.
A firefighter setting up a hose in Mandeville Canyon for the Palisades
Fire on Jan. 11, 2025.
10
A firefighter setting up a hose in Mandeville Canyon for the Palisades
Fire on Jan. 11, 2025.
AP Photo/Eric Thayer
Making matters worse, strong winds and very dry conditions allowed the
fire to grow exponentially within a matter of hours.
Additionally, since the fires broke out LA Mayor Karen Bass and LAFD
Chief Kristin Crowley have been in a public spat over funding and
staffing for the fire department after the mayor cut the budget by $17.6 million earlier this year. Crowley warned that her department was
dangerously short-staffed and underfunded already.
The LAFD did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
LA wildfires timeline
Jan. 1:
Midnight: Firefighters respond to the Lochman Fire northeast of Pacific Palisades.
4:46 a.m.: Los Angeles Fire Department contains the fire after it burned
8 acres.
The Lachman Fire seen at 1:50 a.m. northeast of Pacific Palisades on
Jan. 1, 2025.
10
The Lachman Fire seen at 1:50 a.m. northeast of Pacific Palisades on
Jan. 1, 2025.
Alert California
Jan. 7:
10:15 a.m.: Pacific Palisades homeowner resident Michel Valentine sees
smoke near the site of the Lochman Fire. His wife calls 911 to report
the fire, according to the Washington Post.
10:33 a.m.: Firefighters report seeing smoke and say they must divert
resources from the two other fires, according to radio traffic.
Aerial satellite image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission
showing smoke billowing from the wildfire near Santa Monica on Jan.7,
2025, with false color infrared processing.
10
This aerial satellite image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2
mission depicts the smoke billowing from the fire near Santa Monica at
10:36 local time on Tuesday.
ESA
10:45 a.m.: Valentine calls 911 again, but gets a busy signal, according
to the Washington Post.
10:48 a.m.: Firefighters warn in radio traffic that the fire is moving
with the wind and has the potential to spread to 10 acres.
Smoke at the start of the Palisades fire from 10:24 to 10:46 a.m. on
Jan. 7.
10
Smoke at the start of the Palisades fire from 10:24 to 10:46 a.m. on
Jan. 7.
Alert California
11 a.m.: The first firefighters arrive at the blaze.
11:28 a.m.: The fire grows to 200 acres, according to radio traffic.
11:30 to 11:45: Valentine sees the first fire trucks arrive in his own neighborhood.
Smoke from the Palisades Fire seen over the Pacific Coast Highway in
Santa Monica on Jan. 7, 2025.
10
Smoke from the Palisades Fire seen over the Pacific Coast Highway in
Santa Monica on Jan. 7, 2025.
AP Photo/Eugene Garcia
12:20 p.m.: The first evacuation orders go into effect in the Pacific
Palisades
1:40 p.m.: LA Fire Department reports the blaze is now around 300 acres
and growing.
7:30 p.m.: Fire grows to nearly 3,000 acres
By 9:00 p.m.: The fire reaches the center of Pacific Palisades
Michel Valentine and his wife — who own a pair of houses in the
immediate vicinity of the fire’s likely origin point — told the
Washington Post that they reported the smoke sighting at 10:15 a.m. and
then again at 10:45 when nobody had shown up yet — only to get a busy
signal.
Michel’s sister Julie Valentine told The Post that she was also on the
phone from her home in Manhattan Beach, trying to rally the fire
department to the Pacific Palisades.
“You can’t imagine the nightmare. There was hardly any communication, hardly any cell service,” she said. “I was calling 911 over and over begging them to come out and help Michel and the others. I was literally begging for mercy.”
Water getting dropped on the Kenneth Fire by a helicopter on Jan. 9,
2025.
10
Water getting dropped on the Kenneth Fire by a helicopter on Jan. 9,
2025.
AP Photo/Ethan Swope
LA fires firefighters
10
Firefighters walk down a hill as they battle the Palisades Fire on
January 10, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Getty Images
LAFD radio traffic from that day show crews were stretched thin,
battling a pair of blazes in other parts of the city, according to the Washington Post — saying they’d send units when they could.
At 10:33 a.m., firefighters said they saw the “camera showing smoke”
from “the second brush in the Palisades” and that they “were going to divert” firefighters to fight the blaze, according to radio chatter.
Another fire official busy with a small brush fire in West Hollywood
said to the dispatcher a few minutes later that he was “working real
hard” to get responders to the area as quickly as possible.
Right around that time a firefighting helicopter laden with water
radioed in that it was unable to respond due to strong winds in the
area.
A firefighter spraying water at a liquor store in the Eaton Fire in
Altadena on Jan. 8, 2025.
10
A firefighter spraying water at a liquor store in the Eaton Fire in
Altadena on Jan. 8, 2025.
Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images
Valentine told the outlet that he saw another chopper fly over the
fast-growing fire but it didn’t have any water.
Over the next 10 minutes, an agonizing back-and-forth unfolded among firefighters over the radio as they tried to ascertain who was heading
to the scene.
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“Currently, it’s a 10-acre brush fire and heavy fuel on top of a ridgeline,” an official said at 10:48 a.m. before an ominous warning.
“It is 100 percent in alignment with the wind. It has the potential for
a few hundred-plus acres in the next 20 minutes. We have a potential for structures being threatened in the next 20 minutes.”
Traffic records reviewed by the outlet showed trucks were still on their
way to the fire a full 25 minutes after it was first reported.
“For the longest time, I didn’t see any police, firefighters, not on the ground or in the air,” Valentine told the outlet. “I was disappointed because the second fire was moving so fast, and there was no one there.”
Somewhere around 11:30 or 11:45 a.m. — as much as 90 minutes after his
wife called 911 — Valentine said he finally saw fire trucks pulling into
the neighborhood.
But by then it was already too late, the crews eyeing the street and
making an immediate U-turn out of there because “the fire had extended
far into the hillside,” he told the outlet.
The first responders arrived in the Pacific Palisades a little before 11
a.m., but focused their efforts on the foot of the fire near Palisades
Drive, the outlet writes.
Winds spraying embers as firefighter battle the Eaton Fire in the
Angeles National Forest on Jan. 9, 2025.
10
Winds spraying embers as firefighter battle the Eaton Fire in the
Angeles National Forest on Jan. 9, 2025.
REUTERS
By 5 p.m., the wind-fanned fire had spread throughout the tony suburb,
closing in on Michel’s homes, as well as those of his mother and sister, Julie.
Absent help, Michel even desperately tried to beat back the flames
himself, his sister said.
“We had to be our own firefighters. Our leadership totally failed us. We
pay taxes for people to help us and no one came,” Julie fumed.
“The fact that there were no resources for him and he had to do this
alone is shameful.”
She also faulted city and state officials for their lack of diligence in clearing the dry brush from the hills, which became an accelerant that
helped the wildfire spread nearly unabated.
“I am mandated to clear the brush on my property — but beyond the fence line nobody from the city or state took care of it,” she said
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