A new policy from the California State Parks Department may have allowed the Palisades Fire to ignite.
Documents obtained by KNX News Special Correspondent Steve Gregory revealed that the wildfire mitigation plan for Topanga State Park reads that “unless specified otherwise, State Parks prefers to let Topanga State Park burn in a wildfire event.” He also found that on page 56, it reads, “Avoidance areas should be shared with fire incident command, but measures should be taken to keep the information confidential, ensuring maps shared with the media do not contain sensitive resource data.”
Gregory also obtained a recording of a call to a state parks dispatcher in Sacramento on the day of the Lachman Fire. You can listen to it below:
Roger Behle, an attorney representing more than 3,300 people and businesses impacted by the Palisades Fire, told Gregory that officials followed the policy of keeping firefighters out, not the policy that may have prevented the Palisades Fire from starting.
“If they followed their own policy and they closed the state park and they inspected and then rectified public safety issues like smoldering embers, you don't have the Palisades Fire,” he said. “There is no Palisades Fire.”
An official with state parks told Gregory that employees did not direct or interfere with any firefighting or mop-up activities.
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