LA County report on Eaton and Palisades fires finds failings in emergency response

An after-action report released Thursday about the Eaton and Palisades fires details how the unprecedented January firestorms unfolded and the failings of L.A. County’s emergency response. It also lays out recommendations for changes and reforms.

The report — compiled by the McChrystal Group and released more than eight months after the fires — found that county practices around issuing emergency alerts, specifically evacuations, are “outdated, unclear and contradictory.”

That, coupled with confusion about who has what authority around evacuation decision-making, "led to inconsistencies in preparedness strategies across the county and a lack of clear documentation and communication processes."

In addition, the report said, first responders using a variety of unconnected platforms and inconsistent practices struggled to share information in real-time.

“The extreme and rapidly moving fire conditions challenged the situational awareness of fire and law enforcement first responders," the report said, "making it difficult to communicate the fire’s location to the public. This was especially prevalent during the Eaton Fire, when wind conditions grounded aerial resources, including surveillance, almost immediately after the fire started.”

Delayed alerts and understaffing

The report said all of this contributed to an hours-long delay between when incident commanders suggested evacuations for areas west of Lake Avenue in Altadena and when the alerts were sent.

Factors that complicated the delivery of alerts to residents, according to the report, also included the mountainous geography of where both fires were burning; electricity shutoffs or downed power lines that shut down cellphone towers, meaning they couldn't transmit warnings to people's phones; and heavy smoke that degraded signal strength.

Staffing shortages were also a significant focus of the report. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department and the county Office of Emergency Management were highlighted as understaffed in ways that hindered the response to the fires.

Recommendations

The report recommends restructuring and increasing staffing at the Office of Emergency Management, updating emergency preparedness training and policies and upgrading obsolete systems, as well as investing in public education about emergencies.

Go deeper

• The county has links to the full report and other documents on its website.
• From LAist: Despite three 911 calls, two homebound disabled men died in the Eaton Fire waiting for rescue
• From LAist: Six months after January’s fires, recovery is just beginning for many

This is a developing story and will be updated.