City delays release of Palisades fire report at request of federal officials, mayor says
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The city has delayed releasing a report detailing its handling of the Palisades fire so as not to interfere with a federal investigation into the cause of the blaze, the mayor announced Tuesday.
The U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California made the request late last week, the mayor said. The city will not release the report until the conclusion of the federal investigation.
The delay comes more than seven months after the Palisades fire broke out in January, killing 12 and largely destroying the Westside neighborhood.
“We want to see the report. It’s fire season. We need to know what worked and what didn’t,” said Sharon Delugach, who serves on the city’s Fire Commission, a citizen panel overseeing the Los Angeles Fire Department.
A fire test will begin Tuesday evening and run until Thursday. Investigators hope it will help them determine how the Palisades fire ignited.
Delugach said commissioners had not been shown the report.
Officials believe the Palisades fire was first detected about 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 7 as high winds sent flames coursing through the mountainous area near the Pacific Ocean.
Much of the focus of the investigation has been on whether a blaze sparked by fireworks a week earlier — which firefighters believed they had put out — might have reignited.
That fire, called the Lachman fire, was reported on New Year’s Day, and forward progress was stopped after just a few hours.
Pacific Palisades appeared more like a moonscape of destruction than an upscale neighborhood known for its ocean views, beautiful vistas and celebrity denizens.
Still, investigators have not determined whether the fire was sparked on Jan. 7.
Because there are no power poles near the point of origin and the trail area is well traveled, the fire could have been caused by a person.
The city’s report could answer questions about the Fire Department’s response to the blaze. In the aftermath of the blaze, Bass removed Fire Chief Kristin Crowley from her position, saying the top fire official did not contact her until after the fire broke out, despite worsening wind conditions.
Fire Department officials had decided not to pre-deploy any engines or firefighters to the Palisades, which they had done in the past, despite being warned about the severe winds.
Several former top fire officials said the department could have deployed at least 10 additional engines to the Palisades to patrol before the fire.
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