Los Angeles Times investigation raises questions about Eaton Fire evacuation

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- An investigation by the Los Angeles Times has raised new questions about why it took so long to issue evacuation warnings to parts of Los Angeles region devastated by the deadly Eaton Fire earlier this month, said the biggest newspaper in U.S. West Coast on Tuesday.

Records, radio logs and interviews show that residents living west of Lake Avenue in Altadena were not told to evacuate via electronic alerts until many hours after the Eaton Fire started, said the report, adding that residents said they were stunned how long it took to get the evacuation order, and by then many homes in the area were on fire.

The Eaton Fire, one of the two largest active wildfires in Los Angeles area, was 89 percent contained as of Tuesday morning. The fire has burned over 14,000 acres (56.7 square km) and destroyed 9,418 structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

Of the 17 deaths confirmed so far in the fire, all of them occurred in the area west of Lake Avenue, noted the report of the Los Angeles Times.

The fire roared out of Eaton Canyon around 6:30 p.m. local time on Jan. 7, pushed west by intense Santa Ana winds. Many neighborhoods in eastern Altadena and surrounding areas got evacuation warnings and orders that Tuesday night, said the report.

The report pointed out that records reviewed by the newspaper show that Altadena neighborhoods west of North Lake Avenue did not get electronic evacuation orders until 3:25 a.m. and never received evacuation warnings. By then, burning embers were raining down on neighborhoods on the west side of Altadena and igniting homes.

Los Angeles County emergency officials declined to discuss details of the evacuation process, which they described as a unified command involving the Sheriff's Department, county fire department and other agencies, said the report.

According to the report, the Office of Emergency Management noted in a statement that "Wireless emergency alerts are only one of several means of notifying residents to evacuate their homes during a fire emergency."

"Our response also includes door knocks, patrols with loudspeakers driving up and down streets messaging the need to evacuate, as well as leveraging local media to help us get the news to residents. This is a layered process and system intended to provide redundancy during local and widespread disasters," the agency added.

Officials have vowed to conduct a full review of their actions during the fire, said the report. ■