LA County agencies given chance to review Eaton fire after-action report, raising questions over draft edits

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County agencies were given an opportunity to review and provide feedback on an independent after-action report examining alerts and evacuations during the catastrophic January wildfires that destroyed parts of Altadena, officials said on Wednesday, Feb. 4.

It was unclear whether county agencies proposed minor or major edits to the report. County Counsel said drafts of any documents, including the alert after-action report, will not be released, citing legal concerns.

KNX News first reported Wednesday that County Counsel declined to release draft versions of the report in response to a public records request.

County Counsel said in a statement that for a review of this significance, it is standard practice to include a validation step in which stakeholders review a draft report.

“This process is to ensure that findings are accurate and complete, and that the recommendations are realistic and informed by the stakeholders who must implement them. Once this process is complete and the consultant has determined that its findings are accurate, the report is finalized,” the statement said.

“McChrystal Group was retained by County Counsel to do this work, and drafts of any documents, including of the Alert AAR, are not going to be released because they are drafts and are also protected by attorney-client and attorney work product privileges,” the statement continued.

The city of Los Angeles has released drafts of its own after-action report examining its response to the Palisades Fire.

County officials confirmed that agencies were given an opportunity to provide feedback on the report, though McChrystal Group was not required to do do. Similar validation steps have taken place for prior after-action reports to ensure accuracy, officials said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the Fifth Supervisorial District, which includes Altadena, said in a statement that “obtaining the truth to prevent future tragedies.”

“This is why our Board invested nearly $2 million to have a specialized, independent third party — the McChrystal Group — conduct this review with the highest level of integrity. While internal legal protections are necessary to encourage the brutal honesty required from stakeholders, I expect the McChrystal Group’s professional standards to have delivered validated findings that are helping us build a safer County,” Barger said in a statement.

Following the Eaton fire, the Board of Supervisors contracted with McChrystal Group, a consulting firm led by retired four-star Gen. Stanley McChrystal. The county paid $1.9 million for the firm to produce the report and provide “a comprehensive picture of actions taken during the catastrophic January wildfires along with recommendations to help guide future Los Angeles County responses.”

Concerns arose during and after the fires regarding the effectiveness of community notifications, particularly evacuation warnings and alerts for many western Altadena residents at the onset of the Eaton fire.

The report noted that investigators found “no single point of failure” relating to public alerts, warnings and notifications.

“Instead, a series of weaknesses, including outdated policies, inconsistent practices and communications vulnerabilities impacted the system’s effectiveness,” according to the report.

“These systemic issues did not manifest uniformly across the two major fires. The effects of these weaknesses varied based on environmental conditions, community readiness and operational complexity caused by the variables of wind, power outages and fire behavior.”

The county also faced criticism for delays in evacuation orders, which were not issued until roughly 3:35 a.m. Jan. 8, hours after spot fires were reported in the area.

The report also cited “longstanding challenges” regarding training, staffing, resource management and interagency cooperation that “further strained the response.”

According to county officials, the Los Angeles County Fire Department has already implemented some recommendations from the after-action report.

The wildfires killed 31 people and destroyed 16,251 properties in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, along with parts of Los Angeles, Pasadena, Sierra Madre and Malibu.