Altadena residents call for state investigation into LACo for Eaton fire response

A group of fire-impacted Altadenans and local organizations called on California Attorney General Rob Bonta Tuesday to investigate Los Angeles County's response to January's Eaton Fire, including delays in evacuation orders being issued to residents in the western Altadena area.

The group, Altadena for Accountability, urged Bonta to "compel testimony, examine withheld data and records and hold public agencies accountable for their failures before, during and after the fire." The move comes in the wake of the county-commissioned "Independent After-Action Report" by the McChrystal Group that identified systemic failures in emergency notification and evacuation order procedures during the January fires.

"It shouldn't be controversial to insist that we have an honest independent commission to examine the issues that wiped out this entire town and killed 20 people," Cora Bella, an Altadena fire survivor, said.

According to the community group, the McChrystal report failed to answer key questions on evacuation notifications, disparities in firefighter presence in historically Black western Altadena, and process breakdowns by the sheriff and fire departments.

Gina Clayton Johnson, a fire survivor, said "there is a history of failures here." She described the report as bending over backwards to "shield any decision maker or agency from accountability."

"Los Angeles County promised the report would provide a clear, fact- based review of how alerts, warnings, and evacuations were handled. Instead, the McChrystal Group's After-Action Report is a carefully, conveniently worded PR spin, tip-toeing around county missteps, assigning responsibility nowhere in particular, and worse, pointing fingers at fire victims," Shawna Dawson Beer, an organizer with the Beautiful Altadena Community and a total loss fire survivor, said in a statement.

"The report confirms what we already knew -- there was no plan," Dawson Beer added.

Fire survivors fear that due to "inadequacies" of the report, the next emergency could be worse.

"McChrystal Group's repeated blatant misuse of the term `perfect storm' to describe the Eaton Fire is both dishonest and strategic," Lauren Randolph, a total loss fire survivor, said in a statement.

Bonta's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday held an hours-long discussion of the after-action report. During that discussion, Supervisor Kathryn Barger -- who represents the Altadena area -- acknowledged that the report "has generated some anger" for not placing specific blame on any single reason for delays in evacuation orders.

"To our survivors, I wish there were a single point of failure we could point to," Barger said.

But she also expressed frustration with what she called omissions in the report, including details about the delay in evacuation orders despite 911 calls coming from western Altadena.

The report stressed that investigators found "no single point of failure" relating to public alerts, warnings and notifications.

"Instead, a series of weaknesses, including outdated policies, inconsistent practices and communications vulnerabilities impacted the system's effectiveness," according to the report. "These systemic issues did not manifest uniformly across the two major fires. The effects of these weaknesses varied based on environmental conditions, community readiness and operational complexity caused by the variables of wind, power outages and fire behavior."

The wildfires killed 31 people and destroyed 16,251 properties in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, along with parts of Los Angeles, Pasadena, Sierra Madre and Malibu.

The Board of Supervisors was expected to approve motions Tuesday intended to begin the implementation of various solutions detailed in the after- action report, such as expanding the county Office of Emergency Management, increase staffing, and to possibly overhaul operating emergency protocols.

“We are committed to fighting for Los Angeles County officials to be held accountable for any maladministration, negligence or unlawful conduct during the Eaton Fire that may have contributed to the destruction of our beloved town, including the deaths of more than 19 of our neighbors,” an Instagram post from the group says. 

State Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, sent a letter to the board encouraging them to implement reforms as detailed in the after-action report.

The report confirmed that while residents east of Lake Avenue in Altadena were told to evacuate as early as 7:26 p.m., residents west of Lake Avenue -- where 18 of the 19 deaths occurred -- did not receive an evacuation alert until 3:25 a.m., hours after the first 911 calls from the area, according to Chu's office.

"We owe it to the victims, survivors, and their families to ensure that these evacuation delays and failures are never repeated," Chu said in a statement.

Additional reporting by City News Service.