BIG HOLES SEEN IN WILDFIRE REPORT

Inquiry into failures falls short, supervisors say, even as they push to enact reforms.

- REBECCA ELLIS AND TERRY CASTLEMAN

ALTADENA residents voiced displeasure Tuesday with the report and called for the state attorney general to investigate the fire response.

Los Angeles County supervisors criticized the long-awaited $1.9-million outside investigation on government failures during the January wildfires as full of gaping holes after outcry from residents who say the report failed to answer their key question: Why did evacuation alerts come so late for so many?

"I've heard from many residents, some of whom are in the audience, who share that this report leads to more questions than answers, and, quite frankly, a lot of anger," said Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents unincorporated Altadena, as the board discussed the report's findings at its Tuesday meeting.

Nineteen people died in the Eaton fire, all but one of whom was found in west Altadena, an area that did not get evacuation alerts until hours after the fire threatened the area.

The report from McChrystal Group found, among other failures, that there was no clear guide of which county department was responsible for deciding which areas to evacuate. The responsibility for evacuations is split among the Office of Emergency Management, the Sheriff's Department and the Fire Department, and none have taken responsibility for the evacuation blunders. The county also failed to consistently issue evacuation warnings to neighborhoods next to ones that were under an evacuation order, the report found.

The pushback by supervisors is notable because they commissioned the report in January and vowed it would get to the bottom of what went wrong. When it was unveiled last week, top county officials hailed it as a blueprint for improvements.

But it almost immediately faced criticism from residents and others.