In the wake of an independent report, the Los Angeles Fire Department acknowledged missteps leading up to the 2025 Palisades fire and in its initial response to the blaze, which killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 structures.
An investigation commissioned by Gov. Gavin Newsom found the Fire Department ignored multiple warnings that the Jan. 1 Lachman fire still was smoldering days before it exploded into the Palisades fire. The department also lacked a comprehensive procedure to ensure such fires are fully out, the report found.
Once the Palisades fire erupted on Jan. 7, the LAFD struggled to track all of its personnel who were responding and lacked coordination with the Los Angeles Police Department, which assisted in evacuations, according to the investigation by UL Research Institutes’ Fire Safety Research Institute.
“While FSRI found that no single decision explains last [year’s] tragedy, that does not lessen LAFD’s responsibility for the decisions that were ours,” the department said in a statement to The Times on Friday.
“The report identifies a number of areas where the LAFD must do better. They include how we confirm a fire is truly out before dangerous weather returns, how we track and direct every unit on a major fire, and how we plan and carry out evacuations with our partners.”
“We accept those findings,” it said.
The statement marks a significant change in response from last October, when federal prosecutors first argued that the Palisades fire was a rekindling of the Lachman fire. At the time, an LAFD public information officer posted on social media that “holdover fires” like the Lachman fire are “extremely difficult to detect.”
However, reporting from The Times later found both firefighters and nearby residents had observed smoldering in the burn area. LAFD leaders did little when these concerns were reported.
After Mayor Karen Bass appointed Jaime Moore to lead the LAFD, Moore committed to an outside probe into the department’s handling of the Lachman fire.
Since Moore took the helm, the LAFD said it has implemented 92% of the recommendations of its own after-action report. The report did not analyze the Lachman fire response in detail.
The department said it also has put “new post-containment procedures in place, using drones and thermal imaging to confirm a fire is fully out.”
Many fire survivors have joined lawsuits against the city of Los Angeles and other entities over missteps that enabled or worsened the fire. In August, a lead attorney announced the city agreed to enter settlement talks. Expected to begin in early October, the mediation will not determine responsibility, only negotiate potential victim compensation.
