The Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, has called for a thorough investigation into the Lachman Fire following a report from the Los Angeles Times. This report revealed that firefighters were instructed to leave an underground fire that eventually developed into the Palisades Fire.

Text messages uncovered that the firefighters had informed their battalion chief of ongoing smoldering and hot rocks at the scene of the Lachman Fire, which had initially ignited on New Year’s Day but was subsequently contained.

Despite these warnings, the battalion chief directed the fire crews to pack up and vacate the area on January 2, the day after the 8-acre blaze was declared under control. This decision was made without ensuring that there were no concealed embers that might reignite, as reported by the Times.