Bracing for another round of extreme fire weather conditions, Los Angeles Fire Department officials on Monday had staffed all of its available extra engines and staged 30 engines in fire risk areas, measures they failed to take ahead of the deadly Palisades fire, according to internal records and officials.
Fire officials told reporters Monday that the agency also ordered the outgoing shift of about 1,000 firefighters to remain on duty to staff the extra engines.
The actions came after The Times found that the LAFD decided not to take those drastic measures on Jan. 7, despite extraordinary warnings from the National Weather Service that a life-threatening and destructive windstorm was going to hit the region.
“The pre-deployment is very, very thoughtful and strategic,” LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley said at a news conference on Monday morning. She could not explain exactly where the engines were pre-positioned, saying officials would provide that information later.
Mayor Karen Bass said that the city was “well-positioned” to deal with any possible fires.
“I believe that we will be very, very prepared for what the worst possible case scenario [is] over the next couple of days, and then hopefully we don’t get there at all,” Bass told reporters at the news conference.
The weather service issued a “particularly dangerous situation” warning, which will go into effect Monday at noon and last through Tuesday at 10 a.m. in parts of Los Angeles County and most of Ventura County.
Peak gusts of 50 mph to 70 mph are possible along the coast and valleys and 60 mph to 100 mph in the mountains and foothills, while sustained winds are expected to be between 25 mph to 40 mph.
Ahead of Jan. 7, the weather service warned of damaging wind gusts of 50 mph to 80 mph, with isolated gusts of 80 mph to 100 mph in the mountains and foothills.
Without any recent rain, the fuels are critically dry.
“This means that if it is ignited, extreme fire weather and behavior is probable,” Crowley said.
Crowley said that extra firefighters were called in to staff available engines to backfill for the 20 LAFD engines that are still assigned to the Palisades fire, along with other state and federal resources. She said firefighters are still continuing to handle regular 911 calls elsewhere in the city.
“We’re extremely busy in the city,” she said. “That is our job to ensure that we’re providing that 911 service ongoing, on top of pre-deploying, augmenting and still responding to the Palisades fire.”
The Times found that ahead of the Jan. 7 windstorm, no extra engines had been placed in the Pacific Palisades, as had been done in the past. The fire broke out there about 10:30 a.m. The department had pre-positioned nine engines in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood, expecting that fires might break out there. Officials said they moved more engines “first thing in the morning” to also cover northeast L.A.
Fire officials also chose not to order 1,000 firefighters to remain on duty for a second shift that day as the winds were building — which would have doubled the personnel on hand — and staffed just five of more than 40 engines that were available to supplement the regular firefighting force in battling wildfires.
Known internally as 200 Series engines, they are identical to other engines and usually paired with hook and ladder trucks, which do not carry water. They are typically staffed staffed by a single engineer. When needed for wildfires, they carry four firefighters.
They also chose not to staff a set of nine “ready reserve” engines — known internally as the 400 Series — which are supposed to be available for weather emergencies and sometimes to replace broken rigs at station houses. Officials said two of the nine were out of service and needed to be replaced.
Battalion Chief Patrick Leonard said the outgoing shift of firefighters was not ordered to continue working on Jan. 7 because “we didn’t have apparatus for another 1,000 members,” including engines.
On Monday, fire officials decided to staff all the available 200 and 400 Series engines, according to an internal planning document.
Times staff writers Paul Pringle and Julia Wick contributed to this report.
