Incompetence and Lack of Urgency Thwart Residents

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Evacuations the day of the Palisades Fire were chaotic, scary and caused gridlock.

A reader wrote: “For me, the greatest outrage was that after all the alerts and all the warnings over our 54 years living in the Palisades, the one time we really needed a warning, we received none. My wife smelled smoke and went outside to see heavy smoke. At that time, I was returning home from the DMV and saw smoke rising and a stream of cars coming my way and got home to our house to see heavy smoke at the house and flames on the ridges above. We’ve survived the fire, but I won’t ever forget or forgive the incompetence.”

The City/County were certainly incompetent in not providing advance notice to residents about evacuating the fire, but the it stretched far beyond that.

There was a lack of preparedness with fire resources, and there was no water to fight the fire.

Initially the fire hydrants were blamed because they had not been checked, but the possible cause is much deeper. The Department of Water and Power has now launched an investigation into one reservoir dry and whether a second reservoir, the Chautauqua Reservoir, which had also been drained last summer, was available.

When this editor visited the Palisades on January 9, the large gym had just caught fire, and the people on site, said it had been reported, but they didn’t have water or hoses.

Corpus Christi Church burned on January 8, as did a number of other residences. Why were those fires not put out? Several hundred more homes may have been saved.

Insurance companies should question the number of buildings that were allowed to burn the next two days after the initial firestorm and why the City let them burn.

Although it has been printed everywhere that this is a multi-million-dollar enclave, the reality is this is also a town of professionals, retirees, families with children and those who live in apartments. All are suffering long lines as they try to deal with bureaucracy and the lack of urgency in rebuilding this community.

President Donald Trump came to town and urged Karen Bass to put some immediacy in recovery, but it appears that officials feel holding townhalls to congratulate themselves on being sympathetic is a way to do this.

Residents were not allowed back to see their residences for three weeks. And when they were finally allowed back, they were required to get in a line at a beach parking lot—sometimes sitting for up to three or more hours, because no one was allowed in the town before 10 a.m. Insurance adjusters were not allowed in, delaying the next steps to rebuilding.

A disaster center was opened, which once again meant long lines: everyone was sympathetic, but no one seemed to have answers and people had to take time off from work to wait.

A month later, this is where the residents are. They must wait for the EPA to inspect about 15,000 properties in the Palisades and Eaton Fires. One helpful person in the EPA office said they hope to have 60 people in the field soon. Today, February 6, at the Los Angeles L.A. Recovery City Ad Hoc Committee, it was announced that Phase I should be done by February 25.

After that process, the Army Corp of Engineers can go into the properties for debris removal.

On Tuesday, January 28, residents were told that they needed to fill out a 12-page opt-in form that including a lot of information (mostly burned in the fire, when houses were incinerated) – including a diagram of the home.

This editor, who also lost her home, went back to the disaster center with the paperwork complete on January 30. My family didn’t want to do the process over email, because if there was a problem, would anyone get back to us?

There were long lines for this process and only two people were working. I received a receipt that they had received the opt-in application, but it still had to be evaluated. How many people has the County added to this department to deal with the slew of requests? Everyone is encouraged to fill out the ROE before the March 31 deadline.

Altadena has started Phase 2, with one of the Elementary Schools completed, according to the Army Corps of Engineers Colonel Eric Swensen

Two Palisades charter elementary schools and a charter high school were also destroyed in the fire. The land is owned by the Los Angeles Unified School District. There is no reason that the EPA can’t look at that land first and the Corps clear it while they are waiting for resident opt-in forms to be evaluated. Plans should be drawn up, those schools constructed and operational in the fall.

During the Northridge Earthquake, incentives were given to complete the 10 Freeway in Los Angeles in an expedited manner—those same bonuses should be given to ensure rapid redevelopment. . .. but then it is LAUSD,

There should be oversight into any FEMA funds sent to local governments.

One reader wrote, “Perhaps the City leaders should consider how to pivot some of the billions of dollars that are dedicated to homeless initiatives to help Palisades Fire Victims, who are now homeless and can use the resources for personal stabilization and for the rebuild process of the community. Put the dollars to work in the communities where money has come from.”

The Chase Bank building, like many residences and businesses, burned the day after the Palisades Fire, but there was no water to put fires out.

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