1/2 this was a large scale competency crisis, not a natural disaster. it was the biggest competency crisis yet (the last one was the boeing 737 max): > la fire department (lafd) giving away firefighting equipment to ukraine when the department is most at risk for wildfires > diverting water from the county to save a fish species > la mayor cut fire budget by 20 million, since 2010 call volume to lafd doubled but 68 fewer firefighters and they fired firefighters bc of vaxx mandates > a large reservoir in the pacific palisades that is part of the los angeles water supply system was out of use > because the reservoir was out of use, they ran out of water during the firefight, literally no water in fire hydrants > lafd chief wasn't informed that there was no water in the hydrants so they sent firefighters to areas with no water and therefore nothing to do > emergency services mass spamming false evacuation orders to the entire county (88 cities), then sent emergency notifications saying it was a mistake, then followed up with more false evacuation orders, blamed on a "technical glitch". la newscasters phones were going off during the livestream multiple times, they didn't even know if it was a legit evacuation or not. > livestream showed lafd panic bulldozing fire roads right next to an active fire instead of part of fire prevention plan > lafd/city not having firefighting planes on standby but instead borrowing both of them from canada, one of which is down for the weekend because it hit a drone, so they're down to one operational airplane > mayor and fire chief blaming each other in public, rumors of the mayor firing the lafd chief but later denied. > prison inmates being used for fire crews > insurance companies and the wealthy didn't trust local response, private firefighting crews spotted near palisades fire
United States