With Altadena's delayed Eaton Fire evacuation alerts, Supervisor Barger says she's "not going to place blame"

As an investigation continues into delayed evacuation alerts in the Eaton Fire, all in an area of Altadena where all 17 fire victims died, what exactly led to the issue remains unclear — as does accountability for the government-led response.

"Well, I'm not going to place blame on anybody or any entity right now because we've got a report that's gonna be coming in from an independent outside consultant that's gonna really address what happened, but also what we need to fix moving forward," LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, said Wednesday as she spoke to CBS News Los Angeles.

"It's important when we give alerts, that they're credible," she said. "And it's obvious that there was a breakdown somewhere."

Several members of Congress called for an investigation into the apparent alert failure after an LA Times investigation uncovered some concerning details around it. The Times reported residents in Altadena west of North Lake Avenue did not receive alerts until 3:25 a.m. on Jan. 8. — nearly nine hours after officials reported the blaze had started. Hours earlier, just after midnight, a Cal Fire report said winds were "driving rapid fire growth, posing a significant threat to nearby communities," as hurricane-force gusts carried the flames.

The LA Times report found that all 17 people who died in the Eaton Fire were in the same western area of Altadena where the delayed evacuation alerts were sent, citing records from the LA County Medical Examiner. The unincorporated community in northeast LA County is just about 8.5 square miles in size. 

It wasn't the only issue with the county's alert system during the January windstorm and wildfires.

Less than a week after two deadly wildfires started, an emergency evacuation alert intended only for people in an area of LA near a Woodland Hills blaze was sent out to all 10 million residents of Los Angeles County. Genasys, the company behind the county's emergency alert system, said in the days following that safeguards were being added to its software to avoid such a mistake again.

In early February, Long Beach Congressman Robert Garcia led several members of Congress in calling for answers as some local leaders faced criticism over the fire response. Garcia, who sits on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, joined other lawmakers in sending oversight letters to Genasys, Inc., Los Angeles County, FEMA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

"In life-safety emergencies, appropriately timed, targeted, and clear emergency alert messages can mean the difference between life and death," reads a Feb. 3 letter from members of Congress addressed to Los Angeles County CEO Fesia Davenport, saying that multiple erroneous alerts occurred after the one sent out to all county residents. 

"Members of Congress and our constituents are working to understand the precise failures which allowed messages to go out erroneously," the letter reads, listing 10 questions for the county's chief executive officer to be answered by April 1.

But more than two months later, amid an ongoing probe into the Altadena situation, it remains unclear what exactly led issues with the county's alert system. As for the delayed alerts in the deadly Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday that county emergency management officials tasked with sending out the alerts had not been instructed to send them out to the western area of Altadena until hours later. The Times citing two unnamed sources with the county in confirming the report.

Since they did not receive those instructions, the Times reported, it appears fire or sheriff's officials failed to put the alerts into motion.

Barger, who also called for an investigation into the delayed alerts, said Wednesday that she's hoping the ongoing investigation being carried out by an independent, third-party consultant will offer more insight. Meanwhile, as accountability for the mistakes remains in the air, Barger said "it's too early" to place responsibility on any specific person or entity. 

When asked how she would "grade" the county's response, Barger did not offer an answer but said she has tried to reflect on the county's response.

"That is a good question, and I've thought long and hard about what we should've done differently," Barger said. "In talking to the (LA County) fire chief, this truly was a once-in-his-lifetime experience as it relates to a firestorm."

She pointed to the hurricane-force winds seen when the wildfires broke out, gusts reaching up to 100 mph in some parts of Southern California at the time, as well as what she described as "herculean" efforts by firefighters to carry out life-saving rescues while also grappling with a series of quickly spreading, devastating blazes around the sprawling 4,000-square-mile county. 

"I've talked to sheriffs who work up in the Altadena area who are beating themselves up (thinking) 'What could we have done differently?'," Barger said. "We're gonna have a lot of lessons learned. But I think it's too early to give any blame or any, any- I don't even know what the word would be other than shedding any disgrace, if you will, on any entity that tried to save lives and properties." 

Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Anthony Marrone, who led the Eaton Fire response, defended his agency's handling of the disaster as he spoke to reporters during the first days of the fire. With forecasters warning of a "life-threatening and destructive" windstorm days before, he said he took preparations well in advance.

"I did everything in my power to make sure we had enough personnel and resources before the first fire started," Marrone said. "I was the one who made the call to the state Office of Emergency Services."

"So it wasn't for a lack of preparing and decision-making that resulted in this catastrophe," he said. "It was a natural disaster."

On the opposite side of the county, the response to another deadly wildfire led to the demotion of the LA Fire Department's former chief, Kristin Crowley, as Mayor Karen Bass said she failed to put adequate resources and personnel in place for the Palisades Fire.

"We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley's watch," Bass said last month of her decision to remove Crowley as chief.