Los Angeles fire bosses deployed just a fraction of its firefighters and trucks to the deadly Palisades Fire until it was already out of control — sending just five of the 40 available fire engines and holding back 1,000 firefighters, according to a damning new report.
The critical decisions — blasted by experts and ex-fire chiefs as a spate of “missteps” — were made even as extreme warnings were coming in about life-threatening winds that turned the blaze into the most destructive in Los Angeles history.
“You would have had a better chance to get a better result if you deployed those engines,” former LAFD Battalion Chief Rick Crawford told the Los Angeles Times.
“You give yourself the best chance to minimize how big the fire could get. … If you do that, you have the ability to say, ‘I threw everything at it at the outset.’”
“That didn’t happen here,” he continued, adding the choices were part of a “domino effect of missteps” by officials.
Officials held off on ordering hundreds of available fire crews to remain on duty for a second shift last Tuesday, which would have doubled the manpower on hand, to help battle flames taking hold in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, according to internal fire department records obtained by the Times.
Despite being available, no extra engines were readied in the Palisades region prior to the fire breaking out there, according to the logs.
LA’s Deputy Chief Richard Fields, who is in charge of staffing and equipment, stressed that his plan was “appropriate for immediate response” and slammed critics for playing “Monday morning quarterback.” His boss, Chief Kristin Crowley, also defended the decision.
The Times also reported that before the fires, LAFD leaders decided not to deploy additional engines to fire-prone areas like the Pacific Palisades. However, nine engines were positioned in Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley in anticipation of fires breaking out there.
Meanwhile, additional manpower was only called up in the now-destroyed Palisades enclave after the flames was already out of control, the logs show.
“The plan you’re using now for the fire you should have used before the fire,” said Crawford, who now runs emergency and crisis management for the US Capitol.
“It’s a known staffing tactic — a deployment model.”
Crawford, as well as other former chiefs with lengthy experience in fire tactics, stressed that at least 24 of the more than 40 engines should have been staged in the Palisades and other hillside regions in advance.
Fields told the Times that he stands by the decision — given that calls across the apartment the night the fire blazed out of control were double normal.
Hurricane-force Santa Ana winds blasted the city, whipping up to 100 mph and spreading embers for miles beyond the fire.
“It’s very easy to Monday-morning quarterback and sit on the couch and tell us what we should have done now that the thing has happened,” he said.
“What we did was based on many years of experience and also trying to be responsible for the rest of the city at any given time of that day.”
“I accept that we could be scrutinized for not having enough after the thing has happened,” Fields added. “But I would challenge any of those people that scrutinize that to make a different decision prior to the thing happening.”
Officials, including Fields, haven’t detailed the exact reasoning behind the early decision-making but have suggested it came down to ensuring resources were still available elsewhere across the city for non-wildfire-related emergency calls.
Fire Chief Crowley, too, argued that leaders had to be strategic with limited resources they had available.
“The plan that they put together, I stand behind, because we have to manage everybody in the city,” Crowley said.
She previously claimed Mayor Karen Bass’ funding cuts to the department had left the LDFD without the resources it needed to fight the fires.
Crews fighting the Palisades Fire also reported early on that they struggled to fight flames after local hydrants ran dry due to low water pressure.
It has since emerged that the 117 million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir in the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades neighborhood was empty and undergoing repairs to its torn cover when the historic blaze started ravaging the region a week ago.
The Palisades Fire, along the coast, has been blamed for eight deaths as the wildfires continue to destroy the area. The fires across the region caused up to $250 billion in damages.
Cal Fire reported containment of the Palisades Fire at 18% as of Tuesday.
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