Overview
- The Los Angeles Times reports at least one LAFD official knew by June that crews were ordered on Jan. 2 to leave the Lachman burn site despite smoldering, a finding the department did not disclose or include in its Palisades after-action report.
- Mayor Karen Bass directed an internal investigation, with fire chief nominee Jaime Moore designated to lead the review pending City Council confirmation.
- A federal grand jury subpoena seeks firefighters’ communications, including text messages about smoke or hot spots in the Lachman area, according to an internal memo.
- Firefighters’ texts and a Jan. 2 hiker video describe visible smoldering and hot tree stumps, contradicting earlier public assurances from LAFD leaders that the prior blaze was fully out and had been thoroughly cold-trailed.
- ATF investigators say the Lachman fire was intentionally set and later rekindled into the Jan. 7 Palisades fire, and suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht has pleaded not guilty following his October arrest.