LA Officials Warned of Extreme Fire Risk Days Before Mayor Skipped Town
The U.S. Forest Service, National Weather Service, others warned over a week ago that fires would strike Los Angeles on Tuesday. They were right.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was nowhere to be found on Tuesday, January 7th, as multiple fires raged through her city, destroying homes and forcing an unprecedented evacuation that has become a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.
Bass’s disappearance was related to her decision to leave for a diplomatic trip in Ghana to attend the inauguration of President John Dramani Mahama.
Her late arrival back to the city on Wednesday afternoon was met with outrage by residents and reporters. A two-minute video of a Sky News reporter quizzing Bass’s decision to leave the city and her cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department last year has gone viral. In the video, the mayor remained seemingly stunned and silent as she was peppered with questions about her disappearance and decision to cut funding from the LA Fire Department last year.
Evidence has emerged that the mayor’s office had ample warnings about the potential extreme weather, with agencies forecasting strong Santa Ana winds and warning about a potential fire risk in the LA region days before Bass left town. Many pointed to a wind-fueled fire event on Tuesday, the exact day the fires began.
Last Thursday, January 2nd, the National Weather Service explicitly warned Los Angeles about “extreme fire conditions” over the next week. That day, Jonathan O’Brien, a meteorologist with the U.S. Forest Service, spoke to officials and posted openly about the incoming threat.
O’Brien noted that weather models for Southern California showed a “strong-extreme Santa Ana wind event starting Tuesday 1/7.”
The next day, on Friday, January 3rd, Rose Schoenfeld, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Los Angeles office in Oxnard, Calif., gave a briefing that warned that the lack of rain this winter season, coupled with forecasted strong wind, posed an imminent threat. Vegetation and brush throughout the region could easily transform into a serious fire. “With those fuels being so dry, we’re practically in September, October conditions,” said Schoenfeld.
On Saturday, January 4th, as Bass was leaving for her trip to Africa, more warnings were broadcast openly about the imminent danger. “Fire Weather Watches & High Wind Watches are in effect Tuesday-Friday next week,” the National Weather Service in Los Angeles noted.
The following Monday, on January 6th, Gov. Gavin Newsom had begun emergency preparations for the expected fire danger. That day, in expectation of wind conditions fueling wildfires, the governor directed CAL FIRE, the state agency, to mobilize resources, bringing additional water tenders, helicopters, dozers, and specialized personnel into Southern California.
By Monday, the Los Angeles Times was reporting on the threat. "Unusual ‘life-threatening and destructive’ winds bring risk of winter fires, power outages to Southern California,” the paper warned its readers. That day, the National Weather Service blared, “HEADS UP!!! A LIFE-THREATENING, DESTRUCTIVE, Widespread Windstorm is expected Tue afternoon-Weds morning across much of Ventura/LA Co.”