Scott Pike’s testimony on fire – Latest News
Scott Pike’s deposition lit a rhetorical fire that can destroy LA’s and California’s protection in opposition to Palisades Fire victims in court docket.
Pike, a 23-year veteran of the LA Fire Department, testified that he noticed proof that the Lachman Fire final Jan. 1 was nonetheless burning the next day — as firefighters had been ordered to desert the positioning.
Just a few days later, on Jan. 7, high winds fanned what had been the Lachman Fire into what grew to become the Palisades Fire, and a national tragedy.
Pike instructed legal professionals for the 2 sides that he noticed “red hot like coals” that had been “still smoldering.”
Scott Pike’s deposition lit a rhetorical fire that can destroy LA’s and California’s protection in opposition to Palisades Fire victims in court docket. YOUTUBE/ABC7
He noticed 5 areas that had been nonetheless smoking. He discovered an ash pit that was too scorching to the touch — even together with his glove on.
He testified that he alerted his captain — who did nothing.
“It kind of sits heavy on me that no one listened to me,” he stated.
It sits heavy on everybody — and it ought to sit heaviest on the shoulders of Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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Lawyers for town tried to keep Pike’s testimony secret, together with the testimony of 11 different firefighters.
One of them was Tom Kitahata, who stated that the burn scar from the Lachman Fire was on state land. Other firefighters additionally stated that state officers instructed them they’d monitor the positioning.
The state denies that, and claims that firefighting is strictly LA’s duty.
But as The California Post reported final 12 months, California State Parks had simply adopted a coverage limiting firefighting in “Avoidance Areas” on state land.
Those areas embody spots suspected to have engendered plant species, or archeological websites.
According to a California State Parks doc, “No mop-up techniques are allowed in avoidance areas without the presence of an archaeologist.”
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All of that is rising long after the fire — after state, metropolis, and fire officers instructed the public that they’d performed the whole lot attainable to stop and to stop the catastrophe.
The reality is trickling out — in paperwork and depositions from non-public lawsuits, and thru investigative journalism.
But it’s not coming from metropolis and state leaders, whose main concern has been avoiding blame.
That is why Bass’ workplace edited the LAFD’s weak after-action report. That is why Newsom barely bothers to show up in Pacific Palisades.
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If they’d simply been trustworthy from the beginning, they’d have retained the trust of residents in fire zones.
Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) have launched an investigation of the Palisades Fire, and for good motive: Local officers have misled the public.
We need transparency if the communities affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires are to rebuild as shortly as attainable.
Honesty is at all times the best coverage. It would have been best for Bass, Newsom, and different officers to inform the reality from the beginning — and to just accept duty for his or her errors.
Because prefer it or not, the reality will finally emerge.
And Scott Pike’s reality may simply drive LA and California to confess fault.
