A federal grand jury subpoena has been served on the Los Angeles Fireplace Division for firefighters’ textual content messages and different communications about smoke or scorching spots within the space of the Jan. 1 Lachman brushfire, which reignited six days later into the huge Palisades fireplace, in accordance with an inside division memo.
The Instances reported final week {that a} battalion chief ordered firefighters to pack up their hoses and go away the burn space the day after the Lachman fireplace, although they complained that the bottom was nonetheless smoldering and rocks had been scorching to the contact. Within the memo, the division notified its staff of the subpoena, which it stated was issued by the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in Los Angeles.
“The subpoena seeks any and all communications, together with textual content messages, associated to studies of fireplace, smoke, or hotspots obtained between” 10 p.m. on New Yr’s Eve and 10 a.m. on Jan. 7, stated the memo, which was dated Tuesday.
A spokesperson with the U.S. lawyer’s workplace declined to substantiate {that a} subpoena was issued and in any other case didn’t remark. The memo didn’t embody a replica of the subpoena.
The memo stated the subpoena was issued in reference to an “ongoing prison investigation” carried out by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Final month, an ATF investigation led to the arrest of former Pacific Palisades resident Jonathan Rinderknecht, who was charged with intentionally setting the Jan. 1 fireplace shortly after midnight close to a trailhead.
It’s unclear from the memo whether or not the subpoena is instantly associated to the case in opposition to Rinderknecht, who has pleaded not responsible.
Through the Rinderknecht investigation, ATF brokers concluded that the hearth smoldered and burned for days underground “throughout the root construction of dense vegetation,” till heavy winds brought about it to spark the Palisades inferno, in accordance with an affidavit connected to the prison grievance in opposition to Rinderknecht.
The Palisades fireplace, essentially the most harmful within the metropolis’s historical past, killed 12 folks and destroyed hundreds of houses, companies and different constructions.
Final week, The Instances cited textual content messages amongst firefighters in reporting that crews mopping up the Lachman fireplace had warned the battalion chief that remnants of the blaze had been nonetheless smoldering.
The battalion chief listed as being on responsibility the day firefighters had been ordered to go away the Lachman fireplace, Mario Garcia, has not responded to requests for remark.
In a single textual content message, a firefighter who was on the scene on Jan. 2 wrote that the battalion chief had been informed it was a “unhealthy concept” to go away due to the seen indicators of smoking terrain, which crews feared may begin a brand new fireplace if left unprotected.
“And the remaining is historical past,” the firefighter wrote in current weeks.
A second firefighter was informed that tree stumps had been nonetheless scorching on the location when the crew packed up and left, in accordance with the texts. And a 3rd firefighter stated this month that crew members had been upset when informed to pack up and go away however that they might not ignore orders, in accordance with the texts. The third firefighter additionally wrote that he and his colleagues knew instantly that the Palisades fireplace was a rekindle of the Jan. 1 blaze.
The Fireplace Division has not answered questions concerning the firefighter accounts within the textual content messages however has beforehand stated that officers did all the pieces they might to make sure that the Lachman fireplace was absolutely extinguished. The division has not supplied dispatch information of all firefighting and mop-up exercise earlier than Jan. 7.
After The Instances revealed the story, Mayor Karen Bass directed interim Fireplace Chief Ronnie Villanueva to launch an investigation into the matter, whereas critics of her administration have requested for an impartial inquiry.
