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For many West Altadena residents, it’s difficult to shake up the feeling that they were killed twice in the January fire swept into their neighborhood.
Not only was a massive belt in the neighborhood destroyed by flames, but hundreds of people were forced to flee in dangerous situations as evacuation alerts came hours after smoke and flames threatened the community. Many believe that Western Altadena’s delayed alert is the main reason for all but one of Etonfire’s 18 deaths.
The revelation of the delays made by the Times in January sparked an outrage at Los Angeles County officials who were tasked with issuing evacuation warnings and continued independent investigation into what was wrong.
Despite the continued anger and frustration of the community, no one has yet filed a lawsuit against the county for its lapse.
Almost 12 residents told the Times that at one point they are considering legal cases against the county over the late evacuation warning, but more and more people have abandoned the idea as the six-month deadline to file such claims rapidly approaches.
After talking to his lawyer, he decided that he could not risk putting a settlement with Edison in Southern California. Hundreds of residents have already sued, claiming that utility should launch a fire and be held responsible.
Others were worried that the legal hurdle could make the court battle unwinnable. Many, like Heather Moreau, simply realized that they either have no time or have nothing to keep going as far as they support the effort.
Morrow had planned to file a legal claim against the county – in hopes that the lawyer will ultimately take on the cause – but after several weeks of consideration, she decided that she couldn’t spend that much time on another tired effort, in addition to the complicated restructuring process and the art show she is honouring.
Heather C. Moreau on the Altadena grounds where her home was burning;
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
“I still want the answer,” said Moreau, 55. “I just decided that it wasn’t an effort I had the time to do.
This decision has resulted in some of the unstable limbo states. They fear that they cannot rebuild or move forward without transparency and assurance that mistakes will not be repeated. Others simply want answers from Los Angeles County officials about why and how a section of town was left behind, so they can handle their trauma and prepare for the future.
County officials confirmed this week that no lawsuits have been filed against the county related to Eton Fire. It was not immediately clear whether the claim, the predecessor to the lawsuit, had been filed.
Morrow said he is worried that residents may not understand what went wrong on the night of the Eton fire without pressure from a legal incident.
“I don’t know there’s an answer,” Morrow said. “Hopefully they’ll get there. Hopefully they’ll realize they need to tell the community what happened… There’s no lesson to learn if the truth is not revealed.”
Los Angeles County officials repeatedly refused to share information or answer questions about what happened in the late evacuation warning in West Altadena on Jan. 7 and 8.
In a statement this week, the county’s coordinated joint information center said residents “deserve an answer to what happened in the evacuation of Western Altadena.” However, the statement said county officials had no timeline when it came. Authorities said they would not speculate on what an independent investigation found or what could be included in the next update of McChrystal Group, scheduled for late July.
The company’s final report simply shared the status of the investigation, without any substantial information. The McChrystal Group did not answer Times questions about the TS’ next report.
No electronic evacuation orders were issued to residents west of North Lake Avenue, the town’s east-west avenue, until around 3:30am on January 8th, nearly nine hours after the Eton Fire began, and a few hours after smoke and flames began to threaten the area. According to a Times review, they did not evacuate until 6am, east of North Lake, east of North Lake.
The disparity was particularly concerning as Western Altadena is known as a black homeowner enclave and is home to a much more diverse population compared to its eastern neighborhoods in Northlake.
Photographer Heather C. Morrow, who lost Altadena’s home in the Eton fire, has documented the damages from the fire in her neighborhood.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
For many, it felt like an obvious case of a lawsuit. Their electronic evacuation alerts not only came hours after the area became unsafe, but many residents reported that there were no paramedics in the area when they were evacuated.
“I couldn’t hear the fire engine,” Morrow said. “They may have gone through the streets they are using megaphones to evacuate. There are other ways to notify people if the system fails… I don’t know why there was no notification.”
However, it was even more challenging as the Western Alta Denan coalition turned more attention to pursuing lawsuits against local governments.
Because the lawyers did not agree to undertake the light letter, several lawyers advised residents that such cases could destroy payments from Edison if the utility attempted to divert liability to the county.
Experts said suing government agencies is much more difficult than suing private companies. Also, there appears to be no precedent in California for cases where successfully proved liability related to delayed or failed evacuation warnings.
But the most obvious hurdle is to avoid broad immunity from California’s government agencies failing to provide fire prevention or evacuation warnings, and the president of the West Coast Trial Law Office in Los Angeles is handling the Eton fire case against Edison.
“We have failed to provide fire protection or inadequate fire protection or fire service. They are absolutely not responsible for that basis,” Ramani said. “These cases are very, very difficult.”
Ramani said the lawyers who agreed to file such a case would give residents “false hope” as they expect most judges to dismiss such cases.
And David Levine, a law professor at UC San Francisco, said it is difficult to cause particularly harm or damage from a failed county evacuation warning.
“It would be really difficult to isolate the categories of damage that could lie under the feet of LA County officials,” Levine said.
Given all the challenges in such cases, Ramani and Levine said they believe the situation is suitable for the public sphere.
“The remedy is in the political realm, not in the legal realm,” Levine said. “If you’re really looking for future prevention, accountability, it’s probably a much better route. It’s far better than litigation, because there are so many hurdles in this case.”
The county says it is working to learn what happened in Altadena.
“We will also not spare any efforts to address any findings found. [through] Several post hoc reviews the county is currently engaged and collaborated with, said in a statement.
However, many residents question whether the McChrystal report sheds light on exactly what was wrong, and whether county officials will accept full responsibility for their mistakes.
After a lengthy discussion with her attorney, one woman decides to file a claim against the county over a failed evacuation warning decided at the last moment she doesn’t want to risk her case against Edison.
A woman who requested anonymity for fear that she could be summoned in a future lawsuit said she wanted the government to hold her accountable. Ultimately, she said she faced an impossible choice. “Do you want accountability or money? … do you want to be a whole financially?
Mark Douglas was one of the first people to call for the county’s failure during evacuation. I started an Instagram page with his partner and a partner called West of the Lake. There, they continued to appeal to county and local leaders for better protection and response. He said he was not opposed to the idea of the case against the county — and said that if he took the case, he would hear an attorney — but he decided to focus his time on increasing public pressure and raise awareness about everything that was wrong.
“All we want is the answer,” Douglas said. “There was no coordinated effort to warn people, knock on doors, or sirens up and down the streets, that’s the stick of failure.
Moreau said she found a new peace that focused on her photoshoot show and detailed the aftermath of Eton Fire. The exhibit, called “Bearing Witnesses: Fragments of Humanity,” is scheduled to debut on July 12th at Artists & Makers Studios in San Gabriel.
“There’s humanity here, and now there are only these fragments,” Morrow said. “We have to keep moving forward. We cannot live in that misery or rage.”
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