LOS ANGELES - A new twist in the Palisades Fire investigation… a whistleblower inside the Los Angeles Fire Department is questioning why critical heat detection equipment used for years to detect lingering heat underground was not deployed before that fire ignited.
What they're saying:
This firefighter has been with the department for decades. He contacted FOX 11 because he says the public still doesn't know the whole truth about the Palisades Fire.
"That fire was dead out. If it is determined that was the cause, it would be a phenomena," LAFD Assistant Chief Joe Everett said during a press conference on January 16, 2025, about a small fire that sparked on New Year's Eve.
But that fire was not dead. Videos posted on social media show the ground smoldering days before the Palisades inferno, and now we are hearing from a veteran LA City firefighter who says the disaster could have been prevented if leadership had followed standard protocol.
"The arsonist might have started it, but it's our responsibility as a fire department to extinguish it completely. They abandoned it, left it, and went on their way," the unnamed whistleblower said to FOX 11.
According to the whistleblower, the fire was never fully extinguished and key heat detection technology to find lingering hot spots underground was never deployed.
"FLIR is a tool that we use to see hot spots that we cannot see visually during the daytime. Especially when you have so much overgrowth. This is an absolute necessity...
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