Neighbors urged firefighters to spray the wood structure next to the burning house, so it would not burn on January 8.
Photo: SYNDEY LIGHT
In Alice in Wonderland, at one point the events seem so bizarre and nonsensical to Alice, she exclaims “Curiouser and curiouser.” The same can be said of the Palisades Fire that occurred on January 7, 8 and 9.
Many residents reported there were no fire trucks on their streets and if there were, they were not fighting the fires. Free-lance journalist Finn-Olaf Jones, who lost his home in the fire and also reported on the fire for the New York Times, said his dispatches to the duty editors at the Times always ended with the question “Anyone know why the L.A. Fire Department is not here?”
Jones said the LAFD spokesperson should have let the media know early on Tuesday that “they weren’t going to be in the way of the fire and the rest of us, so we could have avoided the unspeakable tragedy.” In his case, in addition to losing his home he lost five generations of family treasures, including about 2,000 first edition signed books (Hemmingway, Keruac, Napoleon, Bradbury) he’d personally collected over the last half a century.
The Carters stayed at their home in the Marquez Knolls area and successfully fought the fire and saved their home.
In Rustic Canyon, Kevin and Sydney Light watched firefighters, “watch” the fires.
“By the second day, the winds had died down,” Kevin said. But he and his wife, who never evacuated, kept vigil. Every 30 minutes they went outside to key locations to check on the fire.
“There were numerous spot fires,” Kevin said, but those fires were put out by neighbors with garden hoses. Everyone was supposed to have evacuated the Canyon area, but the couple were among some that remained and took turns watching.
On Syndey’s shift, she saw a two-story home on Rustic now fully engulfed. She asked the firefighters on site to spray water on the home that was directly next to it, an all-wood structure.
She pleaded with them, “Please put water on Alby’s home.”
Firefighters told here that “we are ordered to ‘stand down’ and since there was no water in the hydrants, we are supposed to only use water to save someone if they are in a home or if we can save a house.”
She pulled out her phone to start filming them and then “they reluctantly watered it down,” Syndey said. Alby’s house was saved.
When Syndey returned, Kevin took his turn on the watch. “On East Rustic Road, there were five fire trucks just standing there,” he said. “There was not one truck, or firefighters left standing by the two-story structure that was on fire.”
Near Alby’s house, there is a set of stairs up to Vance Street by Chautauqua. A home had been framed at that corner and there was concern it would catch fire and then spread into the Canyon. Syndey went to the top and saw spot fires on Chautauqua. There were fire trucks going up and down, and she asked, “Why is nobody putting out fires on Chautauqua?”
This was January 8, the second day, and people who had been mandatorily evacuated were not allowed back in.
The bottom-line, people who ignored the evacuation order and those who snuck back in, were able to use garden hoses and save their homes and maybe their neighbor’s homes, too.
By that time some of the wealthier neighbors in the Canyon had hired private firefighters who saved homes – and possibly prevented the entire Canyon from going up in flames, too.
The Lights also credit other residents, the Haynes brothers, Sean and Tim for putting out spot fires. The Haynes, Lights and other residents guarded against looters who were all over the Canyon by the second day.
The Methodist Church started burning on January 8 as did the condo buildings in the alley behind the church.
CTN were asked if there were helicopters dropping water. “They came, but did not drop water,” the couple said. “The response was almost no response.”Kevin said about the Palisades Fire, “the best-case scenario is massive incompetence, and the worst case is actual mal intent.”
Retired fire Captain Joseph Correia wrote in the comment section of Circling the News and also on a different social media platform that “LAFD failed the residents of Pacific Palisades,” and laid out his reasons.
- Resources were not deployed
- A fire patrol was not posted in the Highlands to watch for a possible rekindling
- Not requesting fire engine strike teams from Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, Santa Barbara County and Kern County. California Department Office emergency Services (OES) has a “master Mutal Aid” plan for major disasters and LAFD failed to request fire engine strike teams from nearby counties in the early stages of the fire
- LAFD failed to extinguish the spot fire below the Las Casa bluff around 3:45 p.m.
- LAFD did not use the “Water Eductor” device, they carry on all fire engines when the hydrants were down to draft water from swimming pools.
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There were no firefighters to put out the spot fires on Chautauqua.
Please ask why firefighters did not use the Water Eductor device to draft water out of swimming pools. There are so many pools in the palisades.
The loss of an entire Village and the churches and the schools is a blight on Mayor Karen Bass cannot shift blame to other city departments. There should have been plans for a major fire. The Palisades is lost for our generation.
You have my opinion about our Mayor. She is responsible for plans that are prepared for dealing with major disastors in the City of Los Angeles. The boss must make employees to plan for major events.
Thank you for this article and for continuing to share the truth about what happened.
This was our experience too – we lost our home and when i called the LAFD to report
that our street was on fire (upper Chautauqua) they said everyone is out and they
didn’t have the resources to come. I begged them to take a report and let the
firepeople know that there was a fire on our street and this dispatcher refused to take
a report and said ” I will not do that”. I knew at that point our home of 28 years
would be lost and the literal fabric of society that I had always counted on and
paid taxes into was failing our family.
Literally EVERYONE i know that was there had the same experience that I did –
no fire fighters EVER came.
When we evacuated the winds were not hurricane force as they were later in the eve,
and there was never any attempt to put the fire out.
On the SECOND day many of my friends/neighbors lost their homes including our church
that the Palisades was built around ( The Community United Methodist Church) which
was also not lost until the 2nd day. No firefighters were around and the ones that were
were just standing around watching. This did not have to happen at the scale that it did.
The firefighters should be ashamed of their actions. I always considered them to be heros,
I walked by their station every day for the past 20 years and thanked them for all they do.
Now I am disappointed and angry that they let our whole community down in such a
major way – along with Karen Bass and the DWP.
Shameful and willful incompetence – WOW there are no words.
I stayed back January 7th until 8 pm putting out fires on my street with my hose. The firefighters never came. It allowed the fire to rage and consume. It was each man for themself. I finally left at 8 pm and retuned Jan 8 at 5 am to watch firefighters watching structures burn to the ground. Nobody did anything. Every first responder should be ashamed. Why pay property taxes if we can’t get the basics
I stayed all night, had 5 garden hoses running at various homes surrounding mine. A lot of luck and a lot of spraying, all homes saved. It was possible to make a serious inroads to this fire for those who had water and stayed. Multiple times I had fire captains pull up next to me as I was spraying bushes which had caught fire and they told me to evacuate. I kindly said F. I. grab a hose and help me out. They said they orders to stand down and good luck with the fires as they drove away.
Possibly the single most disappointing behavior I have ever witnessed, all night, I personally have ZERO love for first responders.
Another important story. There needs to be a full and complete investigation by an independent firm into not just the origin of the fire but how and why it was allowed to spread and why homeowners had to beg firemen to act. Please keep following up and asking the hard questions.
I read the article and immediately set out to forward, then I stopped and heard my mother say, “Now, Julia, don’t fan the flames.”
Do I deleted before I forwarded.
Now I’ve read it again and forward to friends and family members.
News of the the fire is old news but we are still sitting in the ashes.
Thank you Sue for keeping this story alive.
My senior condo at 501 Palisades Dr survived the fire but failed the flood.