NEWS stories
Banner on Rose Parade float calls for Eaton Fire inquiry from California AG Rob Bonta
A banner calling for an investigation into the Eaton Fire response from Los Angeles County officials was briefly spotted at the Rose Parade in Pasadena on Thursday. Tom Wait speaks with the people behind the statement and what they hope to change with their call to action.
LAFD Palisades fire report author called final version ‘highly unprofessional’
The author of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s after-action report on the Palisades fire declined to endorse it because of substantial deletions that altered his findings, calling the edited version “highly unprofessional and inconsistent with our established standards.”
With Altadena burning, L.A. County lacked satellite mapping tool used by other agencies
The L.A. County Fire Department lacked access to FireGuard, a satellite mapping tool other California agencies have used for years to track wildfires.
During the Eaton fire, when aircraft were grounded, officials couldn’t see the fire’s westward advance — relying instead on ground observations in heavy smoke.
FireGuard data showed fire advancing toward west Altadena hours before evacuation alerts were issued, where nearly all 19 Eaton fire deaths occurred.
When the Eaton fire broke out in the foothills near Altadena, the Los Angeles County Fire Department did not have access to a satellite-based fire-tracking program regularly used by other agencies, depriving officials of intelligence that could have been helpful in determining evacuations.