Rage And Fury At Fire Department – Chief Promises Changes
Written by 991KBU on January 28, 2019
Boos.
Catcalls.
Shouts of rage.
And maybe … just maybe … a little bit of communication and understanding.
That’s the predictable result of Saturday afternoon’s appearance by top brass from the L A County Fire Department … at Malibu City Hall.
But some changes were announced … possibly as a result of what fire chief Daryl Osby actually heard at the meeting.
More on that … but first … the rage.
Residents like Susie Greff … angry at seeing idle fire trucks as houses burned.
AAAA
SUSIE GREFF [PHONETIC]: “This is a sadistic and crazy, they were there for 3 1/2 hours hours.
“I want to know who was giving those orders s… pecifically … while 19 homes on my street and the adjacent street burned to the ground!?!?!”
VOPICE: “Yay Susie!”
FIRE COMMANDER: “Orders like that would be translated down … we’ve had dialogue on that.”
SUSIE GREFF: “Many, many hours.”
FIRE COMMANDER: “Yes, so I think what we as a department can commit, is, as the Fire Chief mentioned, there are after action reports coming out.
“I am hopeful, again, if that’s occurring, if we have somebody coming from a city fire department, outside of the county, that responds to a mountainous area and potentially has concern because he has never seen anything like that before, that is a red flag, that is a training issue.”
Time and time again … fire chief Daryl Osby and his three top commanders were shouted down.
Mayor Jefferson Wagner several times had to stand up and plea for calm.
BBB SHOUTING VOICES: “Chief Osby, you need to.”
TUMULT OF VOICES,
JEFFERSON WAGNER: okay let’s let’s, if we don’t tone it down … they are going to walk out.
“We need to tone it down here a bit so so we something to …”
TUMULT OF VOICES: “no, no.”
SHOUTING VOICE: “reevaluate your position…
TUMULT OF VOICES.
WAGNER: “… bUT if you don’t tone it down there going to walk out.”
VOICE: “We are tired of it.”
OTHER VOICE: “They are not answering!”
BIG TUMULT OF DISCORD.
WAGNER: “OK? Susie can you just give me a moment here, please.”
“I raised my hand when you asked how many saw trucks or effective firefighters standing down near or in proximity of fires.
“I raised my hand too.
“I am going to work with you on this, but let’s get through this day so that we can pull something constructive out, and point fingers and find a direction so that we can move forward … so that when the east end of Malibu burns we can say ‘we addressed it.’
“Because in the next couple of years he is that the town is going to burn.”
VOICE: “Jefferson!”
… And so it went.
The fire chief … Daryl Osby … asked for details on the parked fire trucks.
He wants to know their engine numbers .. and is asking anyone with photos to email them to hi,’
NEWSCART 1371 FIRE OSBY CCC
“I recognize that and I want to hear this.
“Because the fact of the matter is this:
“There is not a major incident in my profession that has gone 100 percent well.
“And it is obvious that this one didn’t.
“There is always room for improvement.”
But these essential facts were laid out for the crowd … for anyone who wanted to listen.
LA County Fire has 200 fire trucks.
100 of them were sent to the Woolsey Fire as it burned into the cities north of us … Agoura Hills … and others along the 101 freeway.
LA County asked for mutual aid … for other cities to send fire trucks to protect Malibu.
None were available.
The fire department tried to stop the fire at the 101.
When that failed…. almost every single asset was on the wrong side of the mountains.
Malibu was defenseless … as fire burned in a 16-mile-wide front down to the beach.
No other fire trucks came …. all the LA County trucks had to make their way over the mountains … thru the fire … down roads that had fallen trees power lines and rockfalls.
No other trucks were available.
——-
Looking forward … the fire chief did announce some changes … possibly some that he crafted on his feet … while listening to residents during the meetings.
One important point was raised by residents … who said tough new fire codes may prevent them from rebuilding their houses.
They pleaded to the Fire Chief for help …
They need someone from the fire department tell them … right now … if their burned out lot can even be rebuilt.
Or … if narrow driveways or lack of water flow or some toher problem … means the lot simply can’t be rebuilt.
The residents say it is expensive to draw up plans only to see them rejected by the fire department at the end of the permitting process.
It is a waste of money to redesign a new house only to be told no at the end of the expensive planning process by the fire department.
They asked for the fire department to help them determine … before spending money on redesign … if they’re going to get a red light at the end of the process.
Chief Osby.
NEWSCART 01517 FIRE OSBY DDD QQQ OBJECTIVE IS TO REBUILD THE CITY.
“And you hear it from me, that I recognize that the fire code talks about access.
“It talks about grades, it talks about turnarounds.
“The fire code also mentions gallons per minute: 1250 gallons per minute.
“Here’s what we will do, and this is what we commit to, that we will do what is reasonable.
“I will commit to you that we would look at each property and do what is reasonably safe.
“That’s a relationship from all of us in this room, that we are going to commit an additional staff to the city.
“That we are going to work collaboratively with the agencies that are responsible for the codes, to make reasonable decisions.
“It’s our objective to rebuild the city.”
LA County fire chief Daryl Osby.
