New Life Chief Slams Media ‘smear’ of Firefighters who snatched Palisades fire

On his second day as chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Jaime Moore criticized what he called the media’s efforts to respond to the wildfires in the city’s history.

Moore’s comments on Tuesday appeared to coincide with reports that the Battalion Chief had ordered firefighters to evacuate the fire, even though they had complained back then that the ground was covered in weeds.

The Times reviewed text messages between firefighters and a third party, sent in the weeks and months after the Palisades Fire, that show crews expressed concern that the Lachman fire would take hold if left unprotected.

“The audacity is that people are commenting and saying there are text messages out there that we don’t put out fires, that we don’t put out fires,” he told the Board of Fire Commissioners. “I’ll still see some of those text messages though.”

Moore’s statements represent a surprising change from his words last week, when he told the Public Safety Committee of the City Council – before the full Council approved his appointment as chief – that reports were produced by the “lack of confidence” of the fire department.

“The thing that scares me is … Our members didn’t listen, or they weren’t heard,” he said last Wednesday.

In response to Mayor Karen Bass’ request to investigate the department’s missteps during the Lachman fire, Moore asked an outside agency to conduct an investigation.

On Tuesday, he said he would review Lafd’s response to the Lachman fire, although he did not specify who would conduct the investigation.

“I will act as the Mayor of Bass asked, and I will look at the Lachman fire, and we will look at how that was handled, and we will learn from it, and we will be better from it,” he said.

In one document reviewed by the Times, a firefighter who was at the Lachman Scene Jan. 2 we wrote that the Battalion Chief had been told that it was a “bad idea” to leave because of the visible signs of the swimming pool.

A second firefighter was told that tree stumps were still burning in the area when the packed group left, according to documents. And another firefighter said in recent documents that have been developed that the members were upset when they were directed to the scene, but that they could not ignore the orders.

Firefighters’ accounts coincide with video recorded by a hiker above the Skull Rock Trailhead on the morning of Jan. 2 – About 36 hours the fire started – showing smoke coming from the dirt. “Still shaving,” Hiker said from behind the camera.

At least one battalion chief assigned to the LAFD’s risk management division had known about the complaints for months, the sources said. But the Department did not include those findings, or any detailed tests of rehabilitation, in its After-Action report on the Jan. 7

Moore, a 30-year veteran, told the City Council on Friday that one of his priorities is to increase morale in the department, which is under the control of the kings, who have killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

In January, The Times reported that LAFD officials decided not to use engines or fire engines to go to Palades – as they have done in the past – despite the fact that some of the most dangerous winds in recent years have been in the region.

An LAFD after-action report released last month described the fire department’s response, which was plagued by major bottlenecks and communication problems, as the large blaze concerned them.

After Beass Ousched History Creakley Kristin Creamley for his management of the Palisades Fire, the department was led by interim chief Ronnie Villanueva until Moore took over on Monday.

Genethia Hudley Hayes, President of the Board of Fire Commissioners, which provides public oversight of the fire department, said at Tuesday’s meeting that she had not seen the messages quoted in the sessions. Because he had never seen them, he said, the Messages have no function for the Fire Commission. “

He also said that the Commission supported the fire department’s report after the department’s action, noting that the report was not about the revival of the Lachman fire, but about the first 72 hours of the Department’s response.

“It has nothing to do with anything and it shouldn’t have had anything to do with the Lachman fire, because that’s not what we asked for,” said Hudley Hayes.