It took over a year for California officials to launch a full investigation after wildfires devastated the historic Black neighborhood of West Altadena last year. Specifically, the probe led by Attorney General Rob Bonta aims to finally answer questions on whether systemic racism played a role in a delayed emergency response that could have saved lives.
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As we previously told you, the California Eaton fire was the fifth deadliest in state history with 19 deaths. Of the total deaths, 18 were living in the West Altadena area during the Jan. 2025 fires. Black folks raised concerns, however, calling out officials for not providing a proper response time for residents to escape the flames. Now, we have an inside scoop into what the ongoing investigation is really about.
AG Bonta announced the probe on Feb. 12, saying “The West Altadena community rang the alarm and brought compelling evidence to the attention of my office.” He added, “We know that evacuation warnings for the historically Black neighborhood of West Altadena came many hours after these same warnings were sent to the rest of Altadena. We must let the facts uncovered by our investigation determine what went wrong here.”
L.A. County emergency management officials were told to send out high wind advisories to residents at least two hours before the fires reached West Altadena, according to the LA Times. The problem is that no alerts were issued until the next day, around 3:30 a.m., which means residents needing to prepare to evacuate were left in the dark as strong winds pushed the fires over their homes.
Discrepancies over these “prefire” alerts are a large part of the official investigation. In response, the county’s Office of Emergency Management argued they couldn’t justify sending out prefire advisories because the winds weren’t a “specific life-safety incident requiring an immediate protective action,” according to an official statement.
Black folks make up just over 20 percent of residents in the Altadena area. If you compare that to Los Angeles County’s overall Black population of 8 percent, you can understand why Altadena residents are questioning their treatment versus areas with more white residents, as we told you. It’s also important to note that 25 percent of Altadena residents are 65 and older.
On the other hand, more timely alerts went out to the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, which is nearly 84 percent white. California natives like rapper The Game called out the city and political officials like President Donald Trump, who failed to respond to the devastation in the Black West Altadena neighborhood, as we previously reported.
In a video on Instagram, he said, “Most of the big media outlets, the president… I think President Trump went over to the affected areas of Pacific Palisades, but he didn’t make his way to Altadena.” He said, “I’m not telling President Trump what he has to do or what he should do or nothing like that, but let’s not forget about Altadena.”
As the formal investigation continues, the AG’s office is also set to review communication logs, evacuation protocols and even dispatch data from the LA County Fire Department.
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