https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-14/firefighters-lafd-response-lack-of-staff-engines-pacific-palisades-fire
L.A. fire officials could have put engines
in the Palisades before the fire broke
out. They didn’t
Los Angeles Times, by Paul Pringle , Alene Tchekmedyian & Dakota Smith
Posted By: OhioNick, 1/15/2025 3:06:52 AM
As the Los Angeles Fire Department faced extraordinary warnings of life-threatening winds, top commanders decided not to assign for emergency deployment roughly 1,000 available firefighters and dozens of water-carrying engines in advance of the fire that destroyed much of the Pacific Palisades and continues to burn. [SNIP] Fire officials chose not to order the firefighters to remain on duty for a second shift last Tuesday as the winds were building — which would have doubled the personnel on hand — and staffed just five of more than 40 engines that are available to aid in battling wildfires, according to the records obtained by The Times.