The Palisades Fire forced people to make life-changing decisions in minutes. Not hours. Not days. Minutes.
After securing humans and pets, families grabbed medications, passports, photo albums, and whatever else they could carry before leaving homes they had spent decades building. There was no time to carefully weigh options or create a plan. People simply made the best decisions they could with the information they had at the moment.
And with virtually NO EMERGENCY RESPONSE. Not a single police car, ambulance or fire truck directing traffic or saving lives from my drive in or out of the Palisades. They were there. Just so few that I experienced not a single one! This was an almost total meltdown of a municipality from planning, to precaution, to prevention, to terrible choices, followed by massive coverup including all Mayor Bass texts erased, a manipulated after action fire report, misdirection about climate or weather in an attempt to mitigate scrutiny, hidden discovery and then a failed claim for immunity. Awful stuff.
That reality is why I try not to judge the choices others made during those chaotic hours OR the choices they make today 17 months after the fire. Chaos. Manipulation. Gaslighting.
Most saved NOTHING. Despite clear indicators of little to no emergency help, we believed in the system. Surely, they wouldn’t fail entirely. Some saved family heirlooms. Some grabbed hard drives full of memories. Others went back for a treasured car, artwork, or collection. When faced with the possibility of losing everything, people cling to the things that represent a lifetime of work, passion, and memories.
The Palisades Fire wasn’t just about property loss… it was a series of impossible decisions made under extraordinary pressure, with no way of knowing what would survive and what wouldn’t.
And a complete and total failure of our government and leadership.
Jeremy Padawer
Pacificpalisades.com
#losangeles #fire #fail #porsche #fyp @Hotshot_Movie @spencerpratt @415FirePhoto