LA County's sluggish wildfire response due to resource shortage, outdated system: Review

Los Angeles County's delayed response to the deadly wildfires in January was due to a lack of resources and an outdated alert process, according to an outside review released Thursday.

Consulting firm McChrystal Group's Independent After-Action Report was commissioned by county supervisors weeks after the fires in Eaton and Palisades killed more than 30 people and destroyed thousands of homes, The Associated Press reported.

The report found that a series of vulnerabilities, including “outdated policies, inconsistent practices and communications vulnerabilities,” caused the county’s response to be less effective.

There were critical staffing shortages, according to the review, including a high number of sheriff’s deputy vacancies and an under-resourced Office of Emergency Management.

First responders and incident commanders were also unable to consistently share real-time information due to unreliable cellular connectivity, inconsistent field reporting methods, and the use of various unconnected platforms.

“While frontline responders acted decisively and, in many cases, heroically, in the face of extraordinary conditions, the events underscored the need for clearer policies, stronger training, integrated tools, and improved public communication,” the report reads.

County officials said that the report is not intended to investigate or assess blame.

The process for the Los Angeles County Fire Department and Sheriff’s Department to communicate the areas that required evacuation in the Palisades fire took between 20 and 30 minutes, according to the report. That amount of time was an improvement over the old system, which took between 30 and 60 minutes for the public to receive notice of an evacuation.

The report also noted that many of the county’s methods to alert the public require opting-in.

“If residents are not aware of or do not sign up for these services, such as Alert Los Angeles County, Genasys PROTECT, and WatchDuty, they will not benefit from the alerts and notifications sent from these systems,” according to the report.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to review the 133-page report.

Investigations are still ongoing regarding the causes of the two fires.