Jacqui Irwin
Residents are invited to join Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, Senator Ben Allen and Supervisor Lindsay Horvath for an in-depth discussion on the future of wildfire preparedness in California.
Ben Allen
A panel of experts will provide updates on new regulations, CAL FIRE fire hazard maps and practical steps to help keep communities safe. The event will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 12 and include a panel from CAL FIRE, L.A. County Fire Department, L.A. City Fire Department and the California Department of insurance.
The meeting will be held via zoom, register at https://a42.asmdc.org/events. In the event the Zoom capacity is exceeded, viewers can also watch directly on the website at: https://a42.asmdc.org. Those interested in submitting a question in advance can do so by visiting: a42.asmdc.org/wildfire-preparedness-webinar-submit-question Meeting ID: 921 2223 5459 Passcode: 352054
Lindsey Horvath
(Photographed by Jen Rosenstein / Photo Assistant Aly Whitman)
Questions may be submitted in advance. The questions many residents might like answered: 1) why has the cause of this fire not been released and why is there no after action report? 2) why was there no deployment in an area of a previous burn, given the Santa Ana Wind prediction? 3) why was there no water to fight the fire? and 4) why did FIREAID funds go to nonprofits, rather than the victims that lost their homes.
One reader wrote to Circling the News that he had responded to the invitation from Irwin, Allen and Horvath:
Thank you for the invitation, however I have serious concerns about the panel which, if past performance is a measure, is far from esteemed.
On Tuesday, January 7, I was driving back from Santa Monica and entering the Palisades when my wife and I saw a small fire up in the hill to the right of Sunset Blvd. The was absolutely no wind and the smoke was going straight up.
There was no sign of any fire department activity, no helicopters, no fire trucks and no sirens. That state of inactivity lasted for some time after we had reached our home in Marquez Knolls.
As we had lived in our home for well over 50 years and been through many fires which had been tackled early without threat to our homes we were astounded by the inactivity of the LA city fire department. Only when the winds began to increase was there any attempt control and then it was far too late.
Another issue that we have noted is that there used to be testing of fire hydrants and clearing of fire roads; those activities have been absent for the last few years. All compounded by the cutting of the fire department budget so maintenance was not done on fire trucks etc.
Much of this incompetence can be put down to the implementation of DEI in our government department and the loss of focus on effective competence in the work that has to be done. Let’s have people in charge of these departments who have proven capabilities and experience in managing the specific types of skills, technology and actions needed for success in their fundamental missions. Examples of the wrong choice were the head of the LA city fire chief and the head of the LADWP who stated that the most important issue for the DWP was EQUITY!!!
Finally, the focus of the department, that you call esteemed, should be the measures taken to prevent the rapid spread of fires, the early dealing with small fires with overwhelming force to prevent the larger spread.
Sincerely,
A resident