The Los Angeles County Fire Department will bring in an independent investigator to examine a reported three-hour delay in evacuation orders for west Altadena during January’s Eaton Fire, a move that follows a new state timeline showing the blaze pushing toward the neighborhood long before officials ordered residents to flee.
The L.A. County Fire Department said it will hire an outside investigator to review how and when evacuation alerts were issued to West Altadena on the night of Jan. 7, when the Eaton Fire tore through foothill neighborhoods.
Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone told local media the review is intended to provide "accountability and clarity" on the evacuation process, following questions about a reported three-hour lag in ordering residents to leave.
Kathryn Barger, chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and a Republican, endorsed the move Friday.
"I fully support launching an independent investigation into evacuation orders in West Altadena. The Fire Safety Research Institution Timeline Report has brought more data to light that warrants action," she said in an email, adding that she will continue "championing transparency and accountability" and that "Altadena residents deserve nothing less."
The Eaton Fire ignited the evening of Jan. 7 near Eaton Canyon and grew rapidly in powerful Santa Ana winds, burning more than 14,000 acres in and around Altadena and Pasadena, according to incident summaries from Cal Fire and satellite analyses by NASA.
The blaze was part of a wider January fire siege that destroyed thousands of homes across Los Angeles and Ventura counties and contributed to at least 32 deaths when combined with the Palisades Fire and other blazes, according to state and county reviews.
A new "Southern California Fires Timeline Report" from UL Research Institute’s Fire Safety Research Institute, commissioned by the governor’s office, reconstructs the minute-by-minute spread of the Palisades and Eaton fires.
The state report, released Thursday, found the Eaton Fire was moving toward West Altadena as early as 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 7, with multiple radio calls between about 10:20 p.m. and 12:15 a.m. describing fire activity pushing toward Lake Avenue and into west-side streets.
Yet evacuation orders for West Altadena were not issued until after 3 a.m., and no evacuation warnings were ever issued for the area, the Los Angeles Times reported.
All but one of the Eaton Fire’s 19 deaths occurred in west Altadena, the neighborhood that received evacuation alerts hours after the eastern side of town.
Earlier this year, county supervisors had already called for an independent review of evacuation policies and wireless alerts after residents described relying on neighbors pounding on doors rather than official warnings.
A separate county-commissioned assessment released in September found that outdated emergency protocols, overlapping alert systems, and understaffed emergency operations contributed to delayed and confusing evacuation messaging during the Eaton and Palisades fires.
Conservatives and disaster preparedness advocates have focused on those findings as evidence of a sprawling emergency bureaucracy that failed to deliver clear, timely orders when it mattered most.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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