The Pacific Palisades fire, one of the most destructive fires in California state history, has been burning for over a week. What started as a brush fire in the hills of Pacific Highlands has grown to consume thousands of acres and structures. The enormous fire has remained largely uncontained, causing more than 100,000 people to evacuate. As of January 16, the death toll from the current Los Angeles fires is 25. Firefighters are struggling to contain the Los Angeles fires as there are still strong winds and dry conditions (NBC News).
The fire started unexpectedly on January 7, and since then, thousands of valiant first responders have been tirelessly working to keep people safe. This includes LAPD officers sent to the area to perform evacuations and search and rescue. In an interview with Detective Jose Diaz-Ibarra from LAPD, he recounted that on January 7, he and some of his fellow officers had initially been sent to control traffic for President Biden as he made his way to the airport. However, because of the smoke from the fires, the flight was canceled, and Diaz-Ibarra’s unit was sent to help with evacuations for the Pacific Palisades fire.
They soon encountered difficulties when heavy traffic and abandoned cars prevented evacuations from occurring and firetrucks from reaching the surrounding fires. The officers began evacuating people from their cars, directing them to leave their vehicles and walk to safety. After clearing the streets, they witnessed firemen from all over Southern California rushing to the fires. Detective Diaz-Ibarra commented, “I was in awe at seeing all these fire departments trying to get there. You can imagine these giant trucks trying to put out fires, but they couldn’t get up to the mountains because of the narrow, winding streets, and fires everywhere. And people were stuck up there.”
Their duties then turned to evacuations of Marquez Middle School, a retirement home, and apartments. At this point, the fire was dangerously close–just across the street from the officers. Detective Diaz-Ibarra described urging a man trying to water his house to leave, telling him, “You’re going to burn.” Immediately after, a tree close behind lit up instantly, and “the fire started jumping” from bushes to a car. The officers realized they had to relocate because of the proximity. Their flimsy face masks weren’t meant for these circumstances, causing them to have poor vision and difficulty breathing. While moving further down, they witnessed the firehouse burn up in flames. Upon reaching the new location of the command post, the officers had to relocate again because the fire had caught up to them. Detective Diaz-Ibarra estimated that the fire traveled over a mile within 20 to 30 minutes. Devastatingly, they found out that the school they helped evacuate had burned to the ground.
Detective Leo Vargas and Police Officer III Sandoval commented on the difficulty of not being supplied with the proper equipment. Officer Sandoval mentioned not having the proper masks and goggles and how it was hard to communicate and pull up maps because of the poor phone service and internet. Detective Leo Vargas, supervisor of the squad, reflected on the difficulty of sending officers into the fires with inappropriate equipment and how it affected them. He said, “I wish we could have been better prepared to be more effective in our role because there were members of my squad that couldn’t affect their mission since the fires got out of control so quickly.”
Hours later, the unit began search and rescue operations for people stuck in the fires. Once they got through, they advised the remaining people to get to safety at shelters. They even encountered one man driving with melted tires, so they transported him to a shelter. In the chaos, some officers made arrests because looters took advantage of the evacuated homes. At one point during the day, Detective Diaz-Ibarra claims he overheard from the command post that they didn’t have water in the fire hydrants, and he described the firemen as being overwhelmed.
Their day started at 5 am and ended at midnight, a total of 18 hours. Despite these long hours in exhausting conditions, Detective Diaz-Ibarra notes that the most difficult part of his job that day was the emotional aspect. For example, when evacuating the kids from their school, many of them were crying from distress and you had to realize they were losing their school, their homes, and their community. He also stated, “The hardest part for me was the feeling that I couldn’t do more for others stuck up in the hills. I didn’t know where they were or who was up there; the flames were too strong for us to go up there on foot. One person came up to us and said, ‘My mom is 95 years old; she’s in a wheelchair and can’t drive. She’s stuck up there,’ but no one could go up to save her, so we were just hoping those houses didn’t catch on fire. We were at a standstill, there’s nothing you can do, you just watch it happen. And it humbled me as a first responder to see how powerful a fire can be.”
Firefighters have made great progress over the week, but the Pacific Palisades fire was only 22% contained as of January 16 (CBS News). These fires have caused devastation and will leave a heavy mark on this community. Detective Vargas shared, “People’s entire lives disappeared before your eyes.” However, this has also been a time of unity. Detective Diaz-Ibarra reported that he witnessed everyone working together: “Different fire departments, police officers, agencies—they were all coming to help. Everybody wanted to help, people helping each other, regular citizens helping elderly people.” During these tragic times, the silver lining is truly the sympathy, bravery, and unity within the community.
Thank you to all the selfless first responders risking their lives to help with the fires.