Anger and resentment rise in Los Angeles over fire response

Smoke and flames from the Palisades Fire burn towards the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, January 10, 2025. Massive wildfires that engulfed whole neighborhoods and displaced thousands in Los Angeles have killed at least 10 people, authorities said, as California’s National Guard soldiers readied to hit the streets to help quell disorder. (AFP)

ALTADENA, United States – After being largely reduced to ashes by wildfire, Altadena was being patrolled by National Guard soldiers on Friday.

For residents of this devastated Los Angeles suburb, the arrival of these men in uniform is too little, too late.

“We didn’t see a single firefighter while we were throwing buckets of water to defend our house against the flames” on Tuesday night, said Nicholas Norman, 40.

“They were too busy over in the Palisades saving the rich and famous’s properties, and they let us common folks burn,” said the teacher.

But the fire did not discriminate.

In the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, the first to be hit by the flames this week, wealthy residents share the same resentment toward the authorities.

“Our city has completely let us down,” said Nicole Perri, outraged by the fact that hydrants being used by firefighters ran dry or lost pressure.

Her lavish Palisades home was burnt to cinders. In a state of shock, the 32-year-old stylist wants to see accountability.

“Things should have been in place that could have prevented this,” she told AFP.

“We’ve lost everything, and I just feel zero support from our city, our horrible mayor and our governor.”

Not prepared

Multiple fires that continue to ravage Los Angeles have killed at least 11 people, authorities say.

Around 10,000 buildings have been destroyed, and well over 100,000 residents have been forced to evacuate.

So far authorities have largely blamed the intense 100 mile (160 kilometer) per hour winds that raged earlier this week, and recent months of drought, for the disaster.

But this explanation alone falls short for many Californians, thousands of whom have lost everything.

Karen Bass, the city’s mayor, has come in for heavy criticism because she was visiting the African nation of Ghana when the fire started, despite dire weather warnings in the preceding days.

Budget cuts to the fire department, and a series of evacuation warnings erroneously sent to millions of people this week, have only stoked the anger further.

“I don’t think the officials were prepared at all,” said James Brown, a 65-year-old retired lawyer in Altadena.

“There’s going to have to be a real evaluation here, because hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people have just been completely displaced,” he told AFP.

“It’s like you’re in a war zone.”

‘Point fingers’

Mayor Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, have separately called for investigations.

Republican president-elect Donald Trump has fanned the flames of controversy, blaming California’s liberal leadership and encouraging his followers to do the same.

But the highly politicized attacks by Trump — who made false claims about why fire hydrants ran dry — have also frustrated some survivors in Altadena.

“That’s textbook Trump: he’s trying to start a polemic with false information,” said architect Ross Ramsey, 37.

“It’s too early to point fingers or blame anybody for anything,” he told AFP, while clearing ashes from the remains of his mother’s house.

“We should be focusing on the people who are trying to pick up their lives and how to help them… Then we can point fingers and figure this all out, with real facts and real data.”