Los Angeles (AP) – External review of Los Angeles County’s January response A fatal wildfire Lack of resources and outdated policies to send emergency alerts have led to delays in evacuation warnings regarding the need to evacuate as flames began to consume Altadena and the Pacific palace neighborhoods.
An independent after-action report created by consulting firm McChrystal Group, Eaton and Palisade fires killed more than 30 people, commissioned by county supervisors a few weeks later. Destroyed thousands of houses In a very dense area of LA County.
The report, released Thursday, said that a series of weaknesses, including outdated policies, inconsistent practices and vulnerabilities in communication, have hindered the county’s response.
An interview with survivors and an analysis of available data from the Associated Press found evacuation orders for some Altadena where the Eaton fire was swept away It came a long time later The house was burnt out. AP report also showed similar delays Palisade Firethe Los Angeles Police Department initially handled evacuation management. The report sheds more light on flaws in the county warning system.
Staff shortage
The report cites significant shortages of staff, including many sheriff’s deputy vacant seats and the underfunded Emergency Management Bureau. Furthermore, first responders and incident commanders were unable to share information consistently due to unreliable cell connectivity, inconsistent field reporting methods, and the use of various in-connected communication platforms.
“Frontline responders acted decisively, and in many cases, heroically, in the face of exceptional conditions, events highlighted the need for clearer policies, stronger training, integrated tools, and improved public communication,” the report states.
County officials said in a news release that they were not intended to investigate or assess liability.
“This is not about pointing your fingers, it’s about learning lessons, improving safety and restoring public trust,” said district director Catherine Berger, including Altadena.
The Emergency Management Bureau has begun compiling a staffing plan for the high winds projected on January 3rd. This was four days before the fires in Pallisard and Eton were fired. However, experienced staff were sent from town for training events. This meant that some less knowledgeable staff were in important positions, according to the report.
Eton Fire will burn vehicles and structures in Altadena, California on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 (AP Photo/Nic Courry, file)
They also dealt with some new emergency notification software offered by existing vendors. The county signed an expansion agreement with emergency warning company Genasys in November just before the holiday. According to the report, only four staff members were trained at Genasys when the fire broke out.
This review also found that the process of communicating evacuation decisions to the public is slow and complicated, and involves multiple leadership roles across county-level departments.
In the case of Palisade Fire Service, the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the Sheriff’s Department have identified areas that require evacuation. These areas were then communicated to members of the county’s Emergency Management Office to Incident Command Center members. The person then called or texted another OEM staff member in the emergency operations center, then updated the systems installed by a third-party vendor, causing alerts to the public.
Warn the public
According to the report, the process took 20 to 30 minutes at Inferno in January. This is an improvement over the older system, which took the public to receive evacuation notices, the report says.
Still, many of the county’s ways of warning the public are asking for opt-in.
Some evacuation alerts required residents to click on another link to get full information and block the message. The communications system used for the alert did not provide complete information regarding the progress of the fire. The blackout and cell tower issues further hindered evacuation notifications, and the fire was too fast to stay, the report found.
Before the fire, the county sent few warnings about a Santa Ana-esque event and amplifying the National Weather Service’s messages on social media and news releases, but there was no official, independent preparedness message provided by the county.
Challenges during evacuation
Some sheriff’s department vehicles were helping to evacuate the Palisade area when the Eton fire broke out across the county. These units are heading to evacuate Altadena residents, along with responders from other agencies, including search and rescue teams and staff from downtown LA prisons.
Still, the lack of vehicles has hindered the sheriff’s department’s response in nearby areas where the Eton fire is on fire.
“Vulnerable groups, particularly those who were not monitoring alerts due to digital disparities and potential mobility challenges, faced an increased risk of delayed evacuation,” the author wrote.
What’s right?
The author praised the heroism of first responders, including sheriff’s deputies and evacuated county firefighters. Senior Care Facilitiesguiding public transport drivers through affected neighborhoods and rescued people from burning.
“This heroic response was driven by urgency and their commitment to saving lives, but added even more complexity to their responsibility as they worked to maintain wider operational oversight on the ground,” the author writes.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will review the 133-page report when they meet next Tuesday.
The causes of the two fires are still under investigation.
Post-action reports and investigations revealed issues with other California flame alert systems. 2017 Tubbs Firekilled 22 people in Santa Rosa. 85 people died at the 2018 campfire in Paradise; Woolsey Firewhich began on the same day, killing three people in Malibu. Like Colorado 2021 Marshall Firedestroyed more 1,000 homes Other than Denver. And in Hawaii 2023 Lahaina Fireit destroyed that historic town 102 killed.
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Boone was reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press writer Christopher L. Keller from Albuquerque, New Mexico contributed to this report.
