A Tale of Two Fires: Leadership in the Face of Danger
On the morning of November 2, 1993, the Topanga Fire ignited. By late afternoon, it had jumped Topanga Boulevard and was threatening the Pacific Palisades Highlands.
During an afternoon news conference, LAFD Fire Chief Donald Manning made a bold declaration: the Los Angeles Fire Department would stop the fire from advancing into the Palisades Highlands—period. At that time, nightfall was imminent, and the winds were blowing just as fiercely as they had during the more recent Palisades Fire.
But there was a critical difference—Chief Manning made the courageous decision to fly LAFD water-dropping helicopters despite the dangerous wind conditions and the onset of night, when air operations are typically grounded due to instability and safety risks.
That was real leadership. He was willing to take calculated risks to protect the community he was sworn to defend.
In stark contrast, during the Palisades Fire, Incident Commanders from LAFD, LACoFD, and Cal Fire made the collective decision to ground all air operations—including helicopters and Phos-Chek air tankers—because wind speeds were deemed unsafe.
While safety is always a consideration, they seemed to forget that firefighting is inherently dangerous.
Sometimes leadership demands making hard decisions, even in the face of personal and operational risk, to protect life, property, and entire communities.
Instead, they chose to play it safe, leaving millions of dollars’ worth of firefighting equipment grounded when it could have made a crucial difference, perhaps saving homes, lives, and our community from devastation.
Firefighting leadership is not just about following protocol. It’s about having the courage to act when the stakes are highest, even if it means putting yourself on the line. Chief Manning understood that. It’s time our modern leaders remember it too.
(Editor’s note: the author of this viewpoint asked to remain anonymous.)
Couldn’t agree more! I know one of the firefighter pilots. He is embarrassed yet unwilling to say that the command was wrong. Just horrific judgment!
I drove into the Palisades last week and was horrified, once again, by the destruction of one of the most beautiful and established neighborhoods in this nation. .
How could any government allow this devastation? We had known risk factors and this public has waved the red flags for YEARS : teenagers with fireworks and explosives, illegal homeless encampments, arsonists , electrical equipment malfunction, a dry landscape, winds. Earlier fires. None of these were unknown risks. Why was our government not able to anticipate and manage risk? Isn’t that the JOB of good government?
How did we end up with a government culture that could not manage well known problems effectively? A police department that made hillside patrols optional, a city government who couldn’t manage juvenile delinquents, and a fire department who forgot they needed to #killfire?
Lest it be forgotten… leaving aside the losers in LADWP for a moment, note that there is endless water in the Pacific Ocean bordering the entire town. That neighboring fire departments could have been alerted and predeployed. This is not brain surgery… this is management 101. Anticipate and respond to risk.
Known risk factors, public outcry spanning YEARS, zero effectiveness in response , bad priorities and bad judgement calls. This is a major and sustained failure of city leadership. We have a government culture of rot, decay, and failure now. My suggestion: elect new leaders across Los Angeles in 2026. Look at resumes for proven track records for large scale organizational and crisis management and skill in risk mitigation. Hire clowns and amateurs and you destroy entire civilizations.
Compare our Mayor’s resume and the resumes of our City Council members with that of this Mayor in a neighboring and well run city. Kindly also note that the
mayor’s salary is $10,560 per year, according to the City of Irvine’s 2023 City Compensation data. This includes an annual auto allowance of $8,580.
https://cityofirvine.org/city-council/mayor-larry-agran
It’s never about money. It’s about insisting on skill, experience, and proven leadership. #firetheclowns #hirebetter #leadershipmatters