The ABC7 On Your Side Investigates team combed through hours of public meetings to see what LAFD leaders said about the Lachman Fire in the past.
LAFD continues to not answer ABC7's questions on Lachman Fire
We went through a Jan. 16 community meeting held in Westwood when the anger was still raw.
At the event, the people of the Pacific Palisades were already asking then-Chief Kristin Crowley if there was any connection between the Jan.1 Lachman Fire and the Jan. 7 Palisades Fire.
"I can look you in the eye and tell you that, full disclosure, if that is indeed what they find out, we will tell you that," Crowley told the crowd.
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At that same community meeting, then-LAFD Assistant Chief Joe Everett for the West Bureau, which includes the Palisades, told the crowd he was out of town on New Year's, but was on the phone with the Lachman Fire Incident Commander.
"I can tell you those people on that fire ground were highly qualified and well-trusted. They also did what they call a 'cold trailing operation' well into the next day," Everett said on Jan. 16.
"We kept a patrol well over 36 hours. We kept the hose line on the hill. We kept it plumbed just to go back and continue to patrol. That fire was dead out. If it is determined that was the cause, it would be a phenomenon," Everett said.
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Crowley has since been fired as chief, while Everett was promoted by her replacement, Interim Chief Ronnie Villanueva.
While LAFD continues to decline Eyewitness News' requests for interviews, Villanueva released the following statement on Thursday:
"Holdover fires can be nearly impossible to detect with infrared imaging, as smoldering often occurs deep below the surface, especially in chaparral terrain where dense root systems conceal residual heat. Under extreme winds, low humidity, and prolonged drought, these fires can reignite despite full suppression and containment efforts. The Jan. 7 fire was not a rekindle or due to failed suppression, but the reactivation of an undetectable holdover fire under extraordinary wind conditions."
Wildfire Investigator Terry Taylor says it's very likely the Palisades Fire was in fact a "holdover fire," which erupts from the underground smoldering of a past fire.
But, Taylor says -- knowing the Lachman Fire burned on Jan. 1 -- LAFD should have had firefighters checking the burn scar a week later as dangerous winds whipped in.
"If you know the wind event's coming and you don't pre-prepare, you're behind the eight ball from the first minute the first 911 call comes in," Taylor said.
But of course, checking on the burn scars takes boots on the ground.
As ABC7 On Your Side Investigates has reported on extensively in the past, metrics show the department is understaffed.