Officials detail fire containment efforts, home access timelines, and future wildfire prevention plans as residents express frustration over delays
By Zach Armstrong
In what proved to be a tense evening, Los Angeles city and county officials held a community town hall meeting on Thursday at the Sinai Temple in Westwood to field questions and concerns regarding the ongoing Palisades Fire.
Since the devastating Palisades Fire ignited on Jan. 7, over 23,000 acres have been scorched and more than 3,000 structures have been destroyed with nearly others 600 damaged. Among the precious landmarks, establishments and more that have become rubble include Will Rogers Historic Ranch, Theatre Palisades, and a host of beloved shops that surrounded Palisades Village. Authorities have made 11 arrests related to fire, with charges including looting, unauthorized entry, weapons and narcotics offenses, and impersonating a firefighter.
Estimates put the total cost of damage, including those from other fires which continue to ravage other parts of Los Angeles, exceeding $250 billion. As of Thursday evening, the fire was 27% contained, up from 22% hours earlier.
The most posed question at the town hall: When can residents come home?
“Many areas are still being worked on by firefighting personnel and search operations are ongoing,” an official with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department stated to the crowd. “Additionally, significant road damage, debris and hazardous conditions in some areas further complicate safe reentry,”
“Nothing can enter into the area until that area is fully open,” said Randy Goddard, a commander with LAPD, responding to whether contractors can enter a home. “Right now, it’s only for essential services: emergency personnel, utilities. Once we get to the point where it’s fully reopened, you can get contractors in there to make necessary repairs and rebuild.”
Officials assured that once an area is safe, nonprofits and volunteers will provide equipment such as goggles, shovels, face masks, buckets and protective clothing. Some of which are already available at disaster recovery centers.
The second biggest inquiry of the night: How can this be prevented in the future?
In addition to assuring that data and reviews of the devastation will be made–the number of fire engines and firefighters on hand, how long it took to arrive on scene, water availability–officials suggested reinventing the community as wildfire-resilient.
“The challenge is going to be building fire-wise communities to make sure when we rebuild, that those structures are stand alone, that firefighters or fire engines won’t need to be at your home for it to survive,” Anthony Marrone, Fire Chief of the County of Los Angeles Fire Department, told the crowd.
“Due to climate change, we need to manage our wildfire ecosystem,” Marrone added. “What we’ve done in LA county is remove fire from our natural environment. We no longer allow fire to propagate naturally, so when it occurs under 100 mph winds or 70 mph winds, it is impossible for firefighters to put that fire out,”
Marrone acknowledged the difficulty of preventing future fires under current conditions. “We would love to be able to stop it next time, but I don’t want to lie to you. It’s going to be very difficult unless we change a few critical things,” he said.
People got restive. The event’s established format was to submit questions beforehand, which officials would read aloud and answer from the podium. But some weren’t patient enough.
As one official asked the community to be “patient” during this time, a woman stood and yelled complaints that her neighborhood remains inaccessible despite being untouched by flames, to which other attendees hollered “be quiet” and “be respectful” and “sit down.”
At that moment, another audience member rose.
“This whole time, you’ve been telling me you’ve done a good job and you continue to do a great job. I didn’t come here to hear that! I came here to ask questions,” he roared, drawing scattered applause throughout the auditorium.
A third crowd member rose to his feet, exclaiming “People came to ask questions, not to hear lip service,” he said. “I worked for the government as a public servant for 30 years in this country, from Washington all the way to California. You guys are doing a sloppy job for the people of this country!”
To that, some more scattered applause which was counteracted by a few “sit down!”s.
Outside the auditorium, restless Palisades residents expressed their concerns with a bevy of LAPD, LAFD and CalFire officials point blank one-on-one. Just as it was inside, access to homes was the main issue.
“There’s only so much information we have,” said Santa Barbara County Fire Capt. Mike Gray. “When orders will decrease, when the warnings will go away completely—we try to direct them to where they can get information.” He noted that interactions in the foyer were generally calm.
This week, the County released a resource map showing the damage status of Palisadian homes, including images. The map is available at: https://recovery.lacounty.gov/palisades-fire/.
Hours before the town hall began, the LA County Sheriff’s Department announced the repopulation of several zones, including zones north of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Mulholland Drive, as well as parts of Old Topanga Canyon Road and Summit Motorway. Other affected zones near Mulholland Highway and Red Rock Road are also being cleared for residents to return.
However, other areas and road closures remain in effect as containment efforts continue.
“We realize these structures are your homes and businesses and you might be facing one of the most difficult situations that ever had to deal with,” Marrone said candidly to the crowd. “For that, I profusely apologize. Not because we did something wrong, but because we weren’t able to protect a life, prevent a death, save your home or save your business,”
