LA firefighters warned brush fire was still smoldering before it sparked Palisades blaze, but officials did nothing: report

Los Angeles firefighters had warned their chief that a brush fire that would eventually grow into the deadly Palisades inferno had not been fully extinguished, but the department did nothing about it, a high-ranking LAFD source said.

The site of a brush fire was still smoking and covered in burning-hot rocks when fire crews left the scene Jan. 2, the official told the Los Angeles Times.

That blaze — the Lachman Fire — reignited a week later, kicking off the most expensive wildfire in US history that killed 12 and torched thousands of homes, according to federal investigators.

Fire crews had wanted to continue mop-up operations on the Lachman Fire at the time, the source said.

But a battalion chief commanded them to pack it in, the source said.

The firefighters’ concerns had been recorded in written notes and were well-known within the department, the Times reported.

Yet the dispute was not mentioned in the 70-page after-action report for the Palisades Fire.

The report did mention the Lachman Fire but only briefly, and it never directly identified it as the cause of the Palisades Fire — even after federal agencies officially made the connection and arrested a firebug for starting it.

The Department of Justice has now subpoenaed texts and communications from firefighters who battled the Lachman Fire, according to an LAFD internal memo obtained by ABC 7.

LAFD officials previously publicly insisted the Lachman Fire had been completely extinguished at the time.

“That fire was dead out. … If it is determined that this was the cause, it would be a phenomenon,” Chief Deputy Joe Everett said at a Jan. 16 community meeting.

The department’s after-action report said a “perfect storm” of conditions — including dry vegetation, extremely strong winds, and a depleted water supply — made the area ripe for a catastrophic burn.

The report still also admits to several key mistakes that caused a chaotic, disorganized response that ultimately led to Mayor Karen Bass firing LAFD chief Kristin Crowley.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, intentionally lit the Lachman Fire and then called 911 to report it — but only after typing “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic] because of your cigarettes” into ChatGPT, prosecutors have said.