Four of the five civilians who oversee the LAFD step down

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Four of the five members of the Board of Fire Commissioners, which oversees the Los Angeles Fire Department, are stepping down at a time when the department is under intense scrutiny because of its missteps in handling the devastating Palisades fire.The departures, which include board President Genethia Hudley Hayes, come after the agency’s top watchdog, Independent Assessor Tyler Izen, retired this month.The fire commissioners are appointed by the mayor and are supposed to provide civilian oversight for the Fire Department.But during critical discussions about the Palisades fire, the commissioners have largely been quiet.Addressing the LAFD’s failure to fully extinguish the Lachman fire, which later reignited into the Palisades fire, Chief Jaime Moore conceded at a January board meeting that mop-up procedures needed to be strengthened.

Moore also admitted that the LAFD’s after-action report on the Palisades fire was softened to shield top brass from scrutiny.The commissioners did not ask any questions about Moore’s remarks and only praised him.

California Communication failures and questionable decisions led crews to leave the area prematurely; embers from the small Jan.1 fire later reignited into the giant Palisades fire.In an interview at the time, Hudley Hayes said she did not know who ordered the changes to the after-action report — and despite her oversight role, was “not particularly” interested in finding out.“Our job is to take the report that we have in front of us.

Our job is to make sure those recommendations that came to us from a public report are taken care of,” said Hudley Hayes, a former school board member who said she was first appointed to the commission by then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, served eight years and then was appointed again by Mayor Karen Bass.On Monday, Corinne Tapia Babcock, one of the four commissioners stepping down, said ...