To the editor: Even though the extreme fire warnings that preceded the Palisades and Eaton fires extended from Santa Barbara to San Diego and included Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the only large-scale loss of lives and property occurred in the Los Angeles area. (“L.A. fire officials could have put engines in the Palisades before the fire broke out. They didn’t,” Jan. 14)
With this stark reality, and to minimize the potential for further, wide-scale tragedy, an independent commission of experts should be formed immediately to investigate the following:
- Were the winds that occurred in L.A. so much stronger and punishing as to make comparison to the outcomes in other counties meaningless?
- Was L.A. County more vulnerable than other areas due to factors such as unique topography, poorer brush and land management and homeless encampments near flammable areas?
- Were first responders hampered more so in L.A. than in other places by understaffing, poor or unavailable equipment, insufficient water and deficient advance planning?
Given the concerning facts that have already emerged, getting to the bottom of questions such as these should be viewed as critical and not dismissed as finger-pointing.
Russ Swartz, Granada Hills
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To the editor: I pause in reading the latest dispatches from smoldering embers. I struggle to frame a coherent response.
Words have failed me.
Wordless.
Speechless.
Frederick Miller, Los Angeles
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To the editor: If the elected and appointed officials of the Los Angeles area were corporate employees, they would be terminated.
My son’s home in Altadena was leveled in the fire. There was no warning whatsoever, no fire apparatus in sight, and he was fortunate enough to escape ahead of the flames. He has lost everything along with countless others. Some paid the ultimate price, being consumed by the inferno.
We knew this was coming. The Santa Ana winds and rainless winter should have been clue for city and county officials to prepare for the worst.
It’s time for a change in leadership at all levels. We are hurting and fed up.
Kevin Collopy, Mission Viejo
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To the editor: I spent 60-plus years in hurricane country. Disasters have phases:
- Panic.
- Search for the guilty.
- Punishment for the innocent.
- Praise and honors for nonparticipants.
- Promises to fix the causes.
- New priorities.
- Repeat.
Parrish Hirasaki, Culver City
