LA Fires- Heads Must Roll- The Scapegoat (s) is (are) Found.
My post a week ago I mentioned it looked like they didn’t prepare enough resources to stop any fires that started given the extraordinary dry weather and predictions of high winds
With all the tech available and AI surely there is a way to detect fires early without waiting for a 911 phone call, and surely you might want to preposition fire trucks along the perimeter of populated communities at highest risk of a fire during high wind dry condition events. Maybe even have teams of firewatchers out looking..
https://pete843.substack.com/p/la-fires-looking-for-a-scapegoat
Sure enough in recent days it has come out that this indeed was the case.
The National Weather Service had issued red flag warnings of doomsday gusts as fierce as 90 miles per hour. Forecasters described the coming windstorm as a once in a five-to-10-year calamity.
So the LAFD began to marshal its defenses in the days before the arrival of the winds, taking the type of dramatic measures that the department failed to employ last week in advance of the Palisades fire, which followed wind alerts as bad or worse, due to the lack of recent rain, than those of late November 2011.
With the tempest expected to hit on Dec. 1 that year, LAFD commanders ordered up at least 40 extra fire engines for stations closest to the areas where the fire hazards were greatest, including the Palisades, The Times has learned through interviews and internal department records.
Among the additional rigs were more than 20 that were pre-deployed to those stations and 18 “ready reserve” engines that supplement the regular firefighting force in such emergencies, the records and interviews show.
“We could not take any chances on this, because the risk was too great,” said former LAFD Asst. Chief Patrick Butler, now chief of the Redondo Beach Fire Department, who led the agency’s preparations in 2011.
The LAFD commanders overseeing deployment before the Jan. 7 Palisades fire should have made similar preparations, Butler said.
“They underestimated the threat, even though the weather service had declared this a life-threatening wind event,” he said. “In my 35 years in the fire service, I have never heard the weather service use those words. It was a flashing danger sign.”
The weather service had advised that Jan. 7 and the next day could bring the strongest winds since that period in 2011. The warnings were even more dire because a lack of rain in recent months had left the wildlands particularly parched, said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist for the weather service.
“The plants were extremely dry and the winds were extremely strong — it’s just the worst combination,” Kittell said.
As The Times reported last week, the LAFD decided not to tap several dozen available engines to join the fight against any fires fueled by the winds. A document obtained by The Times showed that commanders said “no” to deploying nine ready reserve engines to supplement nine other engines that had been pre-positioned the morning before the fire to the Valley and Hollywood.
Officials said they moved more engines “first thing in the morning” to cover northeast L.A. No extra engines were sent to the Palisades.
The department also opted against requiring a shift of about 1,000 firefighters to remain on duty rather than go home in the hours leading up to the fire. That decision made it more difficult to quickly staff the unused engines after the fire began to rage out of control, former LAFD chiefs told The Times.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-18/amid-dangerous-winds-in-2011-lafd-engines-stood-ready-in-the-palisades-that-didnt-happen-this-time
Mindful of the “particularly dangerous situation” flagged by the National Weather Service, the Los Angeles Fire Department activated nine extra fire engines into a handful of vulnerable areas across the city ahead of the fires, a much less aggressive defense than what had been done in the past, when as many as 50 engines were sent out during high-wind events to be ready for fires. None of the extra units were sent to Pacific Palisades.
Alan Feld, who lived near where the fire started, said the initial blaze had been limited to a fairly small area for the first 15 minutes or so, and might have been stopped. But by the time the first two fire engines got there, he said, it had already spread toward the houses.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/01/18/us/los-angeles-fires-palisades-eaton-timeline.
Of course there is no guarantee that an early response succeeds but they had plenty of water (3 million gallons in the tanks ) and the fire was accessible to firefighters, and winds were not yet high enough to stop fire fighting efforts from the air. Taking 20 minutes to respond is unacceptable.
Its one thing if Pacific Palisades had lots of Fire Departments nearby but looking at this map they only had 2 nearby
They were both occupied at the time of the first 911 call.
Once the fire got going it was game over, especially when the high winds grounded air support by 6 pm
Super Scooper planes gather water from large bodies of water, like the ocean, to dump on fires. The audio communications show Super Scoopers were helping fight the fire at least as early as 11 a.m. that morning.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/18/nx-s1-5262563/radio-traffic-la-fires-first-responders-water-shortage
I am also questioning the level of response on the ground from 11 AM-6 AM. I have yet to see a summary of what engines were at the fire and what time they arrived. There was no shortage of water until 6 pm. By that time it was game over. The fire was going wherever there was fuel and nobody was stopping that.
There are some interesting parallels to the Lahaina Fire. Both LA and Lahaina had warnings with the 2018 Camp Fire and Lahaina Hillside Fire. The Camp Fire wiped out the town of Paradise and Lahaina escaped their close call by extinguishing the blaze before it reached the town.
Both had plenty of dry vegetation surrounding the town/neighborhood and older structures not meeting new fire codes.
Both Pacific Palisades and Lahaina only had 2 Fire Stations in their immediate area for a quick response
The Governor of Hawaii was visiting the Mainland and Mayor of LA was out of the country at the start of the fires despite forecasts of dangerous winds
There were also multiple fires to contend with limiting resources and early respinse
3-Multiple Fires that day in Kula and Kihei drew Fire Dept resources away from the most important and vulnerable target (Lahaina). Just like Multiple Hijackings allegedly cause the Military to divert resources away from DC allowing the Pentagon to be hit
4- Apparent stand down. Fire Department left the scene of the 100% Contained but not Extinguished Morning Fire at 2 pm despite increasingly high winds and Lahaina’s unique vulnerability to fire. Much like the Military inexplicably did not intercept the plane that hit WTC 2 - 38 minutes after the first plane was reported hijacked and 17 minutes after the first plane hit WTC 1.
5- Governor of Hawaii on 8/8 like the President on 9/11 was away on the day of the Event. Bush was in Florida, Green was someplace on the Mainland
https://pete843.substack.com/p/lahaina-fire-is-climates-911
And in the Aftermath Climate Change and Water Shortages were cited as the immediate culprits to cover the real cause.
The major difference between Lahaina and Pacific Palisades was the Lahaina Fire Station responded to the first call quickly and put out the initial fire. Unfortunately, such fires cant be reliably extinguished as hot spots may remain that can flare up. So typically they stay around and monitor it in case it flared up. Unfortunately due to limited resources the fire engine was called away at around 2:30 pm to help the power company with downed lines as winds were picking up. Sure enough it flared up with the high winds and took out the town like a flame thrower. By the time firefighters returned it was game over, water or no water.
Although technically if we consider the fire that occurred in the same area of Pacific Palisades a week early as extinguished and then reignited this would be similar to the Lahaina fire. I tend to think it unlikely but its an open question.
Another difference or maybe its a parallel is that most of Maui Firefighters on the other side of Maui were off fighting other fires and unable to respond quickly to the Lahaina Fire. Meanwhile at Pacific Palisades the Los Angeles County Fire Chief whose area of responsibility was the Eaton Fire was helping out in Pacific Palisades when that fire broke out after 6 pm and he had to fight traffic to return with his Fire Engines. This perhaps hampered the early response to the Eaton Fire although that fire started with much higher winds.
While the Pacific Palisades Fire is as yet unexplained the source of the Eaton fire is being laid on a transmission tower where the fire started
Chief Marrone explained the tower where the fire was spotted is not like those seen in neighbourhoods. Rather than a wooden pole with a small, easy-to-blow transformer or slim wires, this was a massive metal transmission tower with high voltage lines as thick as a fist.
These types of lines aren't typically the cause of fires because they're computerised, he said, and the system automatically turns off power once there is an issue.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8r55xgvv36o.amp
Of course, if you are starting these fires for Operation Phoenix you need a scapegoat to limit too much scrutiny.
"We had numerous fires in the LA County region almost simultaneously, which leads us to believe that these fires were intentionally set by a person," Chief Marrone said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8r55xgvv36o.amp
Chief Marrone might have to be reigned in.
After the Eaton Fire the others that broke out were smaller and affected smaller populations, and by this time all Fire Department’s were on high alert and ready to respond quickly
Its worth mentioning again these fires were not all in LA City (only Pacific Palisades) and LA includes more than LA City. While
LA is made up of LA City (population ~4 million) , there is also LA County containing numerous cities and towns making up 5 supervisorial districts . These 5 districts have an elected supervisor covering ~2 million people for each (which includes LA City). One of the 5 supervisors is appointed as Chair of the Board of Supervisors for a fixed 4 year term. Not very democratic.
Kathryn Barger’s district is the 5th supervisorial district which includes portions of 20 cities, 63 unincorporated communities, 15 neighborhoods in the city of Los Angeles. It also includes the area affected by the Eaton Fire.
Adding to the confusion LA City is within LA county but autonomous except for public schools ,public health, etc. LA County Supervisors districts include LA City for the functions they control within LA City and the County Seat is in LA City. 😅
Barger who is Republican was also Chair of the County in 2020
and responsible for public health lockdown measures during COVIDs first year .
https://covid19.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/HOO_Safer-at-Home-Order-for-Control-of-COVID_04102020.pdf
Somehow she has escaped any scrutiny and it’s unclear if the LA County Fire Department was any better prepared than LA City Fire Department. Both cooperate during big fires which is why the Fire Chief in charge of the Eaton area was in Pacific Palisades when the fire broke out in Eaton.🤔
Anyways, at this point it looks like Fire Chief Crowley and Mayor Bass will serve as the scapegoat’s to be human sacrifices to appease the angry population. Perhaps they are just incompetent or maybe working for Operation Phoenix who expect to be sacrificed and then taken care of down the road with a nice job. No idea.
We also need a Corporate Scapegoat like in Maui. Southern California Edison is the power company being blamed for the Eaton Fire. Lawsuits are already being filed. It owns 75% share of the 2,150-MW San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Since 2016, Southern California Edison has installed 1,000 charging stations throughout their Southern and Central California service area
Most of those in Pacific Palisades are people of means who will be able to manage the hardships. The Altadena victims like Lahaina will face more difficulties . Regardless, they all want a scapegoat and in this case its well deserved. Unfortunately the real Monsters will likely remain free.