Altadena fire crews lacked satellite maps

L.A. County did not have access to the common tracking tool that can save lives.

- GRACE TOOHEY

When the Eaton fire broke out in the foothills near Altadena, the Los Angeles County Fire Department did not have access to a satellite-based fire-tracking program regularly used by other agencies, depriving officials of intelligence that could have been helpful in determining evacuations.

The National Guard’s FireGuard program, which analyzes images from military satellites to distribute real-time fire progression maps several times an hour, is considered particularly helpful to fire officials when aircraft can’t fly. But officials with the L.A. County Fire Department said they weren’t aware of the resource during the Eaton fire and therefore didn't utilize FireGuard’s data or maps.

This may have left Altadena at a disadvantage. With all aircraft grounded within an hour of the Eaton fire’s start, fire officials lost significant situational awareness and were forced to rely almost exclusively on ground observations. That became increasingly difficult as night fell, smoke intensified and powerful winds pushed flames and embers farther and more rapidly into neighborhoods.

The county has faced months of criticism after The Times revealed in January that officials did not order evacuations for west Altadena until nine hours after the fire started. All but one of the 19 people who died in the Eaton fire were found in west Altadena, among them a 54-year-old woman whose family has claimed she died because of the delayed evacuation alerts.