Overview
- The blaze burned roughly 23,000 acres, killed 12 people and forced more than 60,000 evacuations, making it one of Los Angeles’ most destructive disasters.
- On the fire’s first day, the LAPD and LAFD failed to establish unified command, and uncertainty over the National Guard’s role compounded confusion.
- Radio and cell outages drove repeated command-post moves and forced hand delivery of documents between Zuma Beach and Will Rogers staging sites.
- During evacuations, police recorded 90 crime reports and made 19 arrests, with burglaries, theft and identity theft among the most common offenses.
- The department maintained a 29-day tactical alert and deployed over 700 officers daily at the peak, reported PPE shortages, and recommended fallback radio options, Genasys training and disaster kits for patrol cars, noting a presidential visit initially tied up motorcycle officers before 65 patrol units were released.