Swimming pool water could have been used to save homes in Pacific Palisades.
Today March 13, Circling the News made a public document request, which is printed below.
When people evacuated down Temescal Canyon Road around 8:30 p.m. on January 7 there were lines of fire trucks in the Will Rogers Beach Parking lot. When a separate group of residents evacuated early morning on January 8, there were still lines of fire trucks in the Will Rogers Beach Parking lot. Why were the trucks not up in neighborhoods putting out spot fires? Why was the Palisades High School swimming pool on Temescal (at Bowdoin) and other neighborhood pools not used to put out the fires on Radcliffe that eventually burned all the way to the bluffs. I was told that both City and County fire trucks have an eductor pump that would allow them to use swimming pool water.
I would like all emails, text messages or phone calls between LAFD Chief Captain Crowley and county officials, city emergency officials and Mayor Karen Bass to address this issue. Thank you.
(Editor’s note: Even if this request is closed immediately, it should be something that residents have the right to know. Person after person in neighborhood after neighborhood said there were no firefighters on their block.
In the case of Haverford, which is parallel to Radcliffe, there was one firetruck that ran out of water and firefighters said it had to go back to Will Rogers to fill up the truck. The Palisades High School Swimming pool was about a block away, and there were three homes with pools in that end of the block.
Now because pool water was not used to fight fires, homeowners have to fill out a new form to receive a reservation day to drain their pools.)
Thank you for this. We actually saw our hillside on fire on the news as stations were reporting from PCH. We were devastated to see trucks in the parking lots but NONE in our neighborhood. They just watched it go up the hill! We have a right to know what their orders were and why our homes were left to just burn.
I counted six firetrucks parked on Sunet Paul Revere on Tuesday night around 11:30 pm along with some two dozen police cars….all doing absolutely nothing. When I returned the next morning and got through with my press credentials I stopped to asked a gathering of firemen standing around Allenford what they were doing there. I parked in front of the fire hydrant there and they told me not to! I answered as casually as possible that it appeared to me that they hadn’t used any of the fire hydrants that night, including the yellow one in front of my driveway which was untouched when I returned to the ash pit that was now my house.
What is the status of the water in the Palisades reservoir and has the cover been fixed?
https://wapo.st/3DKskDp
I just came across this in-depth investigation by the Washington Post. I have pasted it as a “gift” article so it can be accessed behind the subscription firewall. It deals with the LAFD’s 3 year struggle to fund a dedicated hand crew to check on extinguished wildfires and fight new outbreaks, as well as the decisions made during the day of the Palisades Fire. I hope it’s accessible as it is very thorough.
The reservoir is still empty–but there is plenty of swimming pool water because it could have been used in the fire, but wasn’t.
Sue
Thank you this is an excellent article–I urge everyone to read it–(and in case people aren’t looking at the comments) I’ll also put the beginning of the article out in the Sunday newsletter.