Los Angeles firefighters lacked resources in initial attack on Palisades fire, report says

"Federal investigators determined that the Jan. 7 fire was a so-called holdover from the Jan. 1 fire, continuing to smolder and burn underground after firefighters thought they had extinguished it. The investigators said that heavy winds six days later caused the underground fire to surface and spread above ground in what became one of the costliest and most destructive disasters in city history."

"In its after-action report, the Fire Department listed almost 100 challenges that firefighters faced during the Palisades fire, including an inability to secure the origin of the fire, an ineffective process for recalling firefighters who were off-duty to come back into work, and fire chiefs with little to no experience handling such a major incident. During the initial attack, the report said, most firefighters worked for more than 36 hours without rest."

An internal after-action review found Los Angeles firefighters were hampered by a lack of resources for red-flag weather during the initial response to the Palisades fire. Federal investigators determined the Jan. 7 blaze was a holdover from a Jan. 1 fire that smoldered underground and resurfaced during heavy winds. The report listed nearly 100 challenges, including inability to secure the fire's origin, an ineffective off-duty firefighter recall process, and fire chiefs with little experience managing large incidents. Many firefighters worked more than 36 hours without rest. Delayed evacuation communications caused spontaneous evacuations and blocked routes while the initial staging area burned within 30 minutes. The fire leveled thousands of homes and killed 12 people.

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