How the LA Fire Department fumbled the first response to the Palisades Fire, according to witnesses: ‘No one came’

LOS ANGELES — It took LA firefighters at least 45 minutes to respond to the Pacific Palisades blaze when it broke out last week, according to records and local homeowners.

And by that time, around 11 a.m. on Jan. 7, it was too late; what was at first a large plume of smoke had grown to a 10-acre blaze.

By 11:30 a.m., firefighters were reporting the fire was 200 acres, aided by strong winds that carried embers as far as two miles.

The timeline, compiled by the Washington Post, raises questions over whether the Los Angeles Fire Department’s slow start may have allowed the blaze spiral out of control.

The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating.

However, sources told the Los Angeles Times that the fire — which has claimed at least eight lives and consumed nearly 24,000 acres of land and more than 5,000 buildings — “appears to have human origins,” noting the area in which it started is a favorite outdoor spot for hikers, teenagers and others.

The Washington Post report theorized that the blaze could have reignited from a much smaller fire sparked by fireworks on New Year’s Eve, which may have continued to smolder in the hills of the upscale neighborhood even days after firefighters knocked it down, according to a forensic analysis by the outlet.

However, constrained resources, an awkward stutter-step response and muddled communications appear to have prevented crews from reaching the genesis point before it was too late, according to The Post.

Making matters worse, strong winds and very dry conditions allowed the fire to grow exponentially within a matter of hours.

The LAFD did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Michel Valentine and his wife — who own a pair of houses in the immediate vicinity of the fire’s likely origin point — told the Washington Post that they reported the smoke sighting at 10:15 a.m. and then again at 10:45 when nobody had shown up yet — only to get a busy signal.

Michel’s sister Julie Valentine told The Post that she was also on the phone from her home in Manhattan Beach, trying to rally the fire department to the Pacific Palisades.

“You can’t imagine the nightmare. There was hardly any communication, hardly any cell service,” she said. “I was calling 911 over and over begging them to come out and help Michel and the others. I was literally begging for mercy.”

LAFD radio traffic from that day show crews were stretched thin, battling a pair of blazes in other parts of the city, according to the Washington Post — saying they’d send units when they could.

At 10:33 a.m., firefighters said they saw the “camera showing smoke” from “the second brush in the Palisades” and that they “were going to divert” firefighters to fight the blaze, according to radio chatter.

Another fire official busy with a small brush fire in West Hollywood said to the dispatcher a few minutes later that he was “working real hard” to get responders to the area as quickly as possible.

Right around that time a firefighting helicopter laden with water radioed in that it was unable to respond due to strong winds in the area.

Valentine told the outlet that he saw another chopper fly over the fast-growing fire but it didn’t have any water.

Over the next 10 minutes, an agonizing back-and-forth unfolded among firefighters over the radio as they tried to ascertain who was heading to the scene.

“Currently, it’s a 10-acre brush fire and heavy fuel on top of a ridgeline,” an official said at 10:48 a.m. before an ominous warning.

“It is 100 percent in alignment with the wind. It has the potential for a few hundred-plus acres in the next 20 minutes. We have a potential for structures being threatened in the next 20 minutes.”

Traffic records reviewed by the outlet showed trucks were still on their way to the fire a full 25 minutes after it was first reported.

“For the longest time, I didn’t see any police, firefighters, not on the ground or in the air,” Valentine told the outlet. “I was disappointed because the second fire was moving so fast, and there was no one there.”

Somewhere around 11:30 or 11:45 a.m. — as much as 90 minutes after his wife called 911 — Valentine said he finally saw fire trucks pulling into the neighborhood.

But by then it was already too late, the crews eyeing the street and making an immediate U-turn out of there because “the fire had extended far into the hillside,” he told the outlet.

The first responders arrived in the Pacific Palisades a little before 11 a.m., but focused their efforts on the foot of the fire near Palisades Drive, the outlet writes.

By 5 p.m., the wind-fanned fire had spread throughout the tony suburb, closing in on Michel’s homes, as well as those of his mother and sister, Julie.

Absent help, Michel even desperately tried to beat back the flames himself, his sister said.

“We had to be our own firefighters. Our leadership totally failed us. We pay taxes for people to help us and no one came,” Julie fumed.

“The fact that there were no resources for him and he had to do this alone is shameful.”

She also faulted city and state officials for their lack of diligence in clearing the dry brush from the hills, which became an accelerant that helped the wildfire spread nearly unabated.

“I am mandated to clear the brush on my property — but beyond the fence line nobody from the city or state took care of it,” she said.