Important Takeaways:

• Among the findings:
  • The Los Angeles County Fire Department pre-deployed firefighters and engines ahead of the extreme wind event paying overtime to personnel; the Los Angeles Fire Department, controlled by the city, did not.
  • Local water systems (maintained by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power) failed, especially in the Pacific Palisades, where a 117-million-gallon reservoir was empty and fire hydrants lost water pressure.
  • There were no set evacuation routes, identified by local law enforcement, in the event of a catastrophic event.
  • There were delayed warnings to residents, as the National Weather Service, Los Angeles County, and Ventura County, decided not to send an alarm warning of hurricane-force winds that eventually spread wildfires.
  • California Governor Gavin Newsom was distracted by his budget, by the funeral of President Jimmy Carter, and by the visit of then-President Joe Biden. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass was in Ghana for the Biden administration.
• The Times offered some recommendations:
  • [B]etter evacuation alerts and water systems, better management of brush and grasslands, and homes that are more fire-safe, as well as better technology to fight fires. It could mean a stronger, more unified response structure that brings multiple jurisdictions together during the planning stages in extreme fire weather.
  • In the most extreme cases, cities in the West facing volatile fire conditions may be forced to consider the kind of advance staff deployments and public warnings that are already standard elsewhere in the country for hurricanes and tornadoes.

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