(NewsNation) — Firefighters warned their battalion chief it was “a bad idea” to leave a smoldering brush fire in the Pacific Palisades but were ordered to pack up and leave anyway, according to text messages that suggest the deadly fire that killed 12 people could have been prevented.
According to text messages reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, firefighters told their battalion chief that “the ground was still smoldering and rocks remained hot to the touch” at the site of the Lachman Fire, which burned on New Year’s Day before being contained.
Despite that warning, “their battalion chief ordered them to roll up their hoses and pull out of the area on Jan. 2 — the day after the 8-acre blaze was declared contained — rather than stay and make sure there were no hidden embers that could spark a new fire,” the Times reports.
That first fire, which prosecutors say was started by an Uber driver, remained burning underground until the strong winds of Jan. 7 rekindled it.
That blaze grew into the Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people and devastated the Pacific Palisades.
Officials have said that they thought the Lachman Fire had been extinguished.
Plenty of rank-and-file firefighters, however, disagreed with that assessment and made their displeasure known in the texts reviewed by the Times.
“In one text message, a firefighter who was at the scene on Jan. 2 wrote that the battalion chief had been told it was a ‘bad idea’ to leave the burn scar unprotected because of the visible signs of smoldering terrain,” the Times reports. “’And the rest is history,’” the firefighter wrote in recent weeks.”
Spencer Pratt, who lost his home in the fire, posted some of the text messages from current firefighters weeks ago. Pratt and Gabriel Mann, who directed the documentary “Hot Shots,” have been communicating with active Los Angeles Fire Department personnel about the response.
An anonymous firefighter who was on scene confirmed the account, according to Mann and Pratt.
“When he was on scene, he saw multiple smoldering stumps, red hot coals, stuff that would not be considered mopped up properly for a wildfire this size,” Pratt said. “He communicated this to his battalion chief, and he was even trying to dump water that was still left in the uncharged hoses, just to try to put this stuff out, and he was told to pick up the hoses and get out.”
In a new text shared with NewsNation, the firefighter placed ultimate responsibility on the state.
“The city could have done better. However, we’re super busy and understaffed,” the firefighter wrote. “The state should have been there to assume command. This highlights the lack of unified command and proves that the state and local agencies have huge gaps in managing the urban interface brush that led to the Palisades fire.”
The Los Angeles Fire Department had previously maintained it completely extinguished the earlier fire. The department did not respond to requests for comment about the text messages.
The revelations come after newly obtained video showed the fire smoldering on Jan. 2, with hikers calling 911 to report smoke rising from the ground. No crews were dispatched to investigate those calls.
Mayor Bass requests investigation into Lachman fire response failures
Mayor Karen Bass on Friday sent a letter to LAFD Interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva requesting a thorough investigation into the Lachman fire response.
“This week’s report about the Lachman Fire is tremendously alarming, and underscores the reforms and new leadership we have been bringing to the Los Angeles Fire Department since January,” Bass wrote. “A full understanding of the Lachman Fire response is essential to an accurate accounting of what occurred during the January wildfires.”
Bass said the investigation will guide ongoing reforms, including enhancing pre-deployment protocols, strengthening interagency coordination, upgrading communications technology and expanding training at all staff levels.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Roger Behle, an attorney representing Palisades fire victims, has said the state bears ultimate responsibility for failing to monitor the fire on state land, especially with a red flag high wind warning in effect.
A spokesperson for Newsom’s office previously called lawsuits against the state “baseless,” saying the state was not responsible for responding to or monitoring the fire and that it did not begin on state land.
However, both the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and a legal land survey conducted by Behle’s team indicate the fire did originate on state property.