The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will review a report on evacuation policies and alert notification systems for the Eaton and Palisades wildfires, which may have contributed to some of the 31 deaths in both fires, at the next board meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 30.
The board will review the findings of the report by the McChrystal Group, a consultant group which began an independent investigation into the delay of the alerts in early February. The group will also be presenting recommendations. The board ordered an after-action review on Jan. 28.
The Eaton fire broke out during intense winds on Jan. 7, ultimately burning 14,021 acres and destroying or damaging over 10,000 structures, Cal Fire data shows. 19 people were killed, mostly in west Altadena, where alerts were not sent out until fire was already descending on the neighborhood. The Palisades fire began on the same day, burning 23,448 acres and destroying or damaging over 7,000 structures, according to Cal Fire.
Evacuation alerts weren’t issued to Altadena residents until hours after the blaze began. West of Lake Avenue, residents received evacuation alerts hours after they were sent out to residents living east of Lake Avenue, which may have contributed to fire deaths. Evacuation orders in the Pacific Palisades were also sent after some homes were already burning, according to the Associated Press.
The review included data collection, interviews with fire agencies, law enforcement, the communication division of the county, the National Weather Service, the company that sends out emergency alerts and more, community listening sessions and feedback, as well as analysis, according to an update after the first 90 days of the investigation.
The cause of the Eaton fire is still under investigation, but trial for the first lawsuits against Southern California Edison, the utility giant whose equipment is at the center of a claim from hundreds of plaintiffs in a suit that alleges SCE’s electrical equipment started the blaze, is set for January 2027.