LAFD acknowledges missteps involving Palisades fire following independent investigation
This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.
Set us as preferred In the wake of an independent report, the Los Angeles Fire Department acknowledged missteps leading up to the 2025 Palisades fire and in its initial response to the blaze, which killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 structures.An investigation commissioned by Gov.
Gavin Newsom found the Fire Department ignored multiple warnings that the Jan.1 Lachman fire still was smoldering days before it exploded into the Palisades fire.
The department also lacked a comprehensive procedure to ensure such fires are fully out, the report found.Once the Palisades fire erupted on Jan.7, the LAFD struggled to track all of its personnel who were responding and lacked coordination with the Los Angeles Police Department, which assisted in evacuations, according to the investigation by UL Research Institutes’ Fire Safety Research Institute.
Climate & Environment The report provides the most frank and in-depth review of the Eaton and Palisades fires, and points out multiple shortcomings in governmental planning and response.“While FSRI found that no single decision explains last [year’s] tragedy, that does not lessen LAFD’s responsibility for the decisions that were ours,” the department said in a statement to The Times on Friday.“The report identifies a number of areas where the LAFD must do better.
They include how we confirm a fire is truly out before dangerous weather returns, how we track and direct every unit on a major fire, and how we plan and carry out evacuations with our partners.”“We accept those findings,” it said.The statement marks a significant change in response from last October, when federal prosecutors first argued that the Palisades fire was a rekindling of the Lachman fire.At the time, an LAFD public information officer posted on social media that “holdover fires” li...