LA fires: California probes late warnings in Black neighborhoods

More than a year after deadly wildfires swept through Los Angeles communities, California launched an investigation Thursday into claims of delays in issuing warnings to historically Black neighborhoods which could have increased the death toll.

Flames that tore through the city of Altadena in January 2025 killed 19 people, the majority of them on the west side -- home to a large African-American community. Evacuation orders there were much slower than on the east side, where most residents are white.

"My office will be investigating whether there was race, age, or disability discrimination in the emergency response in West Altadena, which claimed the lives of at least 19 people," California's Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

"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."

Fierce blazes that erupted almost simultaneously in and around Los Angeles claimed 31 lives, and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses.

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Collectively one of the costliest natural disasters in US history, the fires devastated Altadena and laid waste to the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades as well as part of the coastal city of Malibu. 

Thirteen months on, resentment towards city and county authorities continues to bubble, with persistent claims of mismanagement and ineptitude.

In the coastal Palisades, fire hydrants ran dry as LA's municipal water system buckled under the strain of an unimagined disaster, while an empty reservoir fueled accusations that local managers were not ready for the catastrophe.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has also been heavily criticized for approving budget cuts to the local fire department months before the fires. 

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