More than 75 residents gathered Tuesday, Sept. 30, in a West Altadena neighborhood most acutely impacted by the Eaton fire to criticize the Los Angeles County-backed after action report.
Ahead of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting where the McChrystal Group presented its report to the full board, residents and local nonprofit leaders called for an independent investigation by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
A group of about 50 people stood in front of media cameras holding signs behind a series of speakers. They shared their personal experiences stemming from not being alerted about the approaching fire on Jan. 7 and 8. During the 40-minute press conference, a growing number of residents continued arriving on the property.
Several people held signs behind speakers with names of people killed in the fire and messages that included “LA County Left Us to Burn,” and “Altadena, West of Lake: We Saved Ourselves.” The group said it planned to attend the Board of Supervisors meeting later that morning.
The property everyone stood on used to be the home of Kara Vallow, who said she evacuated her home around 11:50 p.m. on Jan. 7 hours before any evacuation alerts were sent to her neighborhood, near Lake Avenue and Las Flores Drive.
“There has to be accountability for 20 deaths,” Vallow said. “You do not just get to walk away from that.”
Gina Clayton-Johnson, Altadena resident and executive director of nonprofit Essie Justice Group, lost her home and her parents home in the fire. Her family did not get any warning before deciding to evacuate. She described the scene of families driving down Fair Oaks Avenue around 11 p.m. and not seeing any Los Angeles County Sheriff vehicles or fire department vehicles.
Clayton-Johnson said without an independent investigation the next Los Angeles climate disaster will be just as catastrophic if not worse.
“We should all be alarmed that this report did not even look into why the historically Black community in West Altadena was left to burn. There is a history of failures here and this report bends over backwards to shield any decision maker or agency from accountability,” Clayton-Johnson said. “If anything, it reads like an agency pitch doc asking for more taxpayer dollars for their departments. Altadena fire survivors would be right to wonder, was the point of this report to keep politicians safe from liability or to keep LA County safe during emergencies?”
Bonta’s office declined to comment on the residents’ concerns, citing the need to protect the “integrity” of ongoing investigations.
“We’re unable to comment on, even to confirm or deny, potential or ongoing investigations,” a spokesperson said.
There are multiple investigations going on into the response to the fires, including at the state and federal level.
At the state level, the Fire Safety Research Institute, part of UL Research Institutes, is conducting an analysis of the windstorm event and fires in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The two-phase analysis will be shared with the public, state officials said.