California to launch investigation over delayed response to wildfire in Altadena | California wildfires
The California Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation into whether Los Angeles County discriminated against the predominantly black community in West Altadena during its response to the Eaton Fire last year.
The investigation will evaluate whether the response to the fire resulted in a “disparate impact” on west Altadena based on race, age or disability.
Residents in the wealthier, whiter eastern side of the unincorporated community received evacuation alerts less than an hour after the fire started, while residents in western Altadena received alerts about eight hours later, according to the Los Angeles Times. As flames began to ravage western Altadena around 3 a.m. local time, only one fire truck had reached the area to battle them, while dozens were deployed to the eastern side of Altadena.
These vast disparities have long led to accusations that Los Angeles County has failed west Altadena residents, thousands of whom remain displaced more than a year later.
“There was, unquestionably, a late emergency notification and evacuation of west Altadena,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a livestreamed news conference Thursday. “We are here to ask why.”
Delays in reporting and an unbalanced dispersion of firefighting resources appear to have cost west Altadena dearly. All but one of the people who died in the Eaton Fire resided in west Altadena. Nearly six in ten black-owned homes were damaged.
“The investigation we have launched is driven by one overarching question: Did the delay by the Los Angeles County Fire Department in warning and evacuating the historically black community of Altadena during the Eaton Fire violate the state’s anti-discrimination and disability rights laws?” Bonta said. “Did unlawful discrimination based on race, disability or age in emergency response result in a delay in the evacuation notice that disproportionately impacted west Altadena residents?
Los Angeles County “will fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation,” officials said in a statement.
“We believe the Attorney General will find that emergency responders did their best under extreme and unprecedented conditions as they fought to save lives, homes and businesses. »
Altadena for Accountability, a group of residents affected by the fire, called the investigation “a pioneering move for civil rights and environmental justice” in a press release.
“No other analysis or report has done what this investigation will do – only the Attorney General has the authority and subpoena power to examine whether our civil rights were violated,” Sylvie Andrews, a survivor of the fire, said in a statement.
