The writer of the Los Angeles Fireplace Division’s after-action report on the Palisades hearth declined to endorse it due to substantial deletions that altered his findings, calling the edited model “extremely unprofessional and inconsistent with our established requirements.”
Battalion Chief Kenneth Cook dinner emailed then-interim Fireplace Chief Ronnie Villanueva and different LAFD officers with the topic line “Palisades AARR Non-Endorsement,” about an hour after the extremely anticipated report was made public Oct. 8.
“Having reviewed the revised model submitted by your workplace, I have to respectfully decline to endorse it in its present kind,” Cook dinner wrote within the e mail obtained by The Occasions. “The doc has undergone substantial modifications and comprises vital deletions of knowledge that, in some situations, alter the conclusions initially introduced.”
Battalion Chief Kenneth Cook dinner complained to former interim Fireplace Chief Ronnie Villanueva about deletions and revisions within the Palisades hearth after-action report.
(L.A. Metropolis Mayor’s Workplace)
He continued, “Whereas I totally perceive the necessity to tackle potential legal responsibility considerations and to switch sure sections in session with the Metropolis Legal professional to mitigate litigation dangers, the present model seems extremely unprofessional and inconsistent with our established requirements. I strongly urge you to rethink publishing the report because it stands.”
Within the e mail, Cook dinner additionally raised considerations that the LAFD’s ultimate report could be at odds with a report on the January wildfires commissioned by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s workplace, which has but to be launched.
“I’m involved that substantial disparities could exist between the 2 stories,” Cook dinner wrote.
Izzy Gardon, a spokesperson for Newsom, mentioned in a press release Tuesday, “The Governor commissioned an impartial evaluate by the world’s main hearth security specialists to make sure the general public receives an entire, correct, and unvarnished accounting of the occasions main as much as the Palisades hearth and the way responding companies carried out their response.”
Cook dinner — who emails present supplied a ultimate draft of the after-action report back to Villanueva in August — has declined to remark. Makes an attempt to achieve Villanueva had been unsuccessful.
The LAFD has refused to reply questions from The Occasions concerning the deletions and revisions. Mayor Karen Bass’ workplace mentioned the LAFD wrote and edited the report, and that the mayor didn’t demand adjustments.
On Sunday, The Occasions reported that Cook dinner was upset concerning the adjustments to the report. The day gone by, The Occasions had disclosed the watering down of the after-action report after analyzing seven drafts obtained by a public data request. Essentially the most vital adjustments concerned the LAFD’s failure to order firefighters to remain on obligation for an extra shift and to completely pre-deploy engines in high-risk areas earlier than the Jan. 7 hearth, because the wind warnings turned more and more dire. It’s unclear who precisely directed the revisions.
Cook dinner’s Oct. 8 e mail laying out his considerations in stark language provides to the rising proof that metropolis and LAFD officers tried to burnish the LAFD’s picture in a report that ought to have been an trustworthy evaluation of the division’s failings in getting ready for and preventing the fireplace, which killed 12 folks and destroyed hundreds of properties. The objective of such a report is to stop comparable errors.
Cook dinner’s e mail reached Bass’ workplace in mid-November, in accordance with Bass spokesperson Clara Karger.
Karger mentioned final week that “the Mayor has inquired with Chief Moore concerning the considerations,” referring to Jaime Moore, who turned LAFD chief final month.
The Occasions submitted a public data request final month for all the mayor’s emails concerning the after-action report, a request that town has not but fulfilled. Bass’ workplace supplied Cook dinner’s e mail to The Occasions on Tuesday.
The town had withheld Cook dinner’s e mail from its response to a separate data request filed by an unknown celebration in October. Virtually 180 of Cook dinner’s emails had been posted on town’s data portal on Dec. 9, however the one which expressed his considerations concerning the report was lacking. That e mail was solely posted on the portal Tuesday, after The Occasions requested about it.
The LAFD didn’t reply to a Occasions question about why the e-mail was not launched with Cook dinner’s different emails. Bass’s workplace additionally didn’t reply to a question about Cook dinner’s considerations and the truth that they had been withheld from the general public.
Gene Cameron, who lived within the Palisades for 50 years earlier than his house burned down within the Jan. 7 hearth, was disturbed by the LAFD’s revisions, which he mentioned amounted to a canopy up.
“I admire his bravery to face up in opposition to these unprofessional immoral edits,” he mentioned of Cook dinner, including that the purpose of the report is to not assign blame, however to stop future errors. “It’s simply to ascertain a algorithm, procedures and tips in order that this doesn’t occur once more.”
Metropolis Councilmember Traci Park, whose district contains the Palisades, mentioned in a press release Tuesday that town can’t repair systemic failures or rebuild public belief with out full transparency.
“I’ve mentioned from the start that LAFD shouldn’t be investigating itself. After a catastrophe of this magnitude, the general public deserves a full, unfiltered accounting of what went incorrect and why — and my impartial after-action report will present precisely that,” she mentioned, referring to a report she requested that the Metropolis Council authorised and funded earlier this yr, although it hasn’t been accomplished.
Genethia Hudley Hayes, president of the Board of Fireplace Commissioners, didn’t instantly reply Tuesday to a request for remark. She beforehand instructed The Occasions that she heard rumors that the writer of the report was sad, however that she didn’t look into the matter.
A July e mail thread reviewed by The Occasions exhibits concern over how the after-action report could be obtained, with the LAFD forming a “disaster administration workgroup.”
“The first objective of this workgroup is to collaboratively handle communications for any crucial public relations situation that will come up. The speedy and most urgent disaster is the Palisades After Motion Report,” LAFD Asst. Chief Kairi Brown wrote in an e mail to eight different folks.
“With vital curiosity from media, politicians, and the group, it’s essential that we current a unified response to anticipated questions and considerations,” Brown wrote. “By doing so, we are able to guarantee our messaging is obvious and constant, permitting us to create our personal narrative fairly than reactive responses.”
Cook dinner was not included on that e mail thread. It’s unclear how a lot of a job, if any, that group had on the revisions.
The after-action report has been extensively criticized for failing to look at a New 12 months’s Day hearth that later reignited into the Palisades hearth. Bass has ordered the LAFD to fee an impartial investigation into its missteps in placing out the sooner hearth.
One edit to the after-action report concerned language stating that the choice to not totally workers up and pre-deploy all out there crews and engines forward of the intense wind forecast “didn’t align” with the division’s coverage and procedures throughout crimson flag days.
The ultimate report didn’t embody that language, saying as an alternative that the variety of engine firms rolled out forward of the fireplace “went above and past the usual LAFD pre-deployment matrix.”
A bit on “failures” was renamed “main challenges,” and an merchandise saying that crews and leaders had violated nationwide tips on the way to keep away from firefighter deaths and accidents was scratched.
One other passage that was deleted mentioned that some crews waited greater than an hour for an task the day of the fireplace.
Two drafts include notes typed within the margins with solutions that appeared supposed to melt the report’s impact and make the Fireplace Division look good. One observe proposed changing the picture on the quilt web page — which confirmed palm timber on hearth in opposition to an orange sky — with a “constructive” one, akin to “firefighters on the frontline.” The ultimate report’s cowl shows the LAFD seal.
The ultimate model listed solely 42 objects within the part on suggestions and classes realized, whereas the primary model reviewed by The Occasions listed 74.
