An earlier call for Altadena evacuations went unheeded

Official says county fire department responsible for 'gap' when alerts were needed and actually ordered

- BY GRACE TOOHEY AND TERRY CASTLEMAN

ROBERT GAUTHIER Los Angeles Times L.A. COUNTY firefighter Scott Takeguma works to douse the flames on a home in North Altadena on Jan. 8.

The Eaton fire was cutting a destructive path into Altadena and parts of northern Pasadena just before Jan. 8 when some fire officials urged more widespread evacuations.

With home after home going up in flames, several Los Angeles County firefighters on the ground suggested to incident commanders that the rest of the nearby foothill communities, from Altadena west into La Cañada Flintridge, be evacuated.

Most of east Altadena had been evacuated, but residents on the west side had not yet been told to flee. They were not even under an evacuation warning.

For unknown reasons, it took another three hours—and in some cases even longer — for officials to issue west Altadena mandatory evacuation orders.

By then, homes in the area were on fire and residents were in danger, as embers rained down on streets and smoke filled bedrooms and obscured sight lines. In the end, all but one of the 19 people who died in the Eaton fire were found in this section of Altadena.

The evacuation recommendation, revealed in county documents released last month, raises new questions about the L.A. County Fire Department’s handling of the Eaton fire.

County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, conceded last week that the county fire department was responsible for what she called “a gap” between when evacuation alerts were needed and actually ordered.

“That was where the breakdown was,” Barger told The Times. “There was a gap there.”

West Altadena received its first evacuation order at 3:25 a.m., four hours after 911 callers started reporting smoke and flames in the area. Some parts of west Altadena weren't evacuated until just before 6 a.m.