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 ordered firefighters to increase their hoses and leave days after the deadly blaze, despite complaints of smoke.

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 order of people is that they comment and say that there are messages to be sent out there where we don’t put out the fire, that we don’t put out the fire, that we didn’t put out the fire,” 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 Jan. 2 — about 36 hours after the Lachman fire started — showing smoke rising from the dirt. “Still shaving,” Hiker said from behind the camera.

At least one battalion chief assigned to the Lafd’s risk management unit had known about the complaints for months, it has been revealed. 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 Bess Ousti Chief Kristin Creamley for her management of the Palisades Fire, the department was led by Chief 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.