To the editor: Much blame has been cast on the Los Angeles Fire Department for abandoning the site of the Lachman fire before it was fully extinguished, thereby allowing it to rekindle as the Palisades fire (“3 critical days, many ignored warnings: How the LAFD failed to prevent the Palisades inferno,” March 11). The LAFD does not have enough resources to assign a fire crew to monitor a situation for a week. There is a gap in resources.
What is missing is a trained volunteer crew that can be assigned in shifts to monitor 24/7 for many days at a time. A team could be stationed for as long as needed, much like the volunteers who serve in mountain lookouts.
A team of ham radio operators would be ideal fire monitors. Ham operators specialize in emergency communications. They have specialized communications equipment and training, and they already have established relationships with many law enforcement agencies.
A new volunteer monitoring service might fill the gap in our fire management arsenal.
Carina Lister, Long Beach
