LA County Sheriff’s Dept Fails To Awaken Malibu To Fire 7 Miles Away, Headed This Way
Written by 991KBU on October 29, 2019
LA county sheriff”s officials failed to notify Malibu city officials about the Sepulveda Pass fire as it broke out in the middle of the night … and city officials say that lead to a delay in official response and notifications.
The fire broke out about 1:45 yesterday morning (Monday Oct 28).
City staff were not awakened … despite the threat it posed to P C H for the morning commute … and the fact that it was moving rapidly towards Malibu from 7 miles away.
That lead to delays in city response … and in official notifications.
And the CHP and sheriff did not notify Malibu or the news media that they were closing PCH heading east into Santa Monica, at the same time that the 101 east was closed for the smaller fire at Calabasas.
The city’s fire safety officer … Jerry Vandermuelllen .. told the city council last night that they sheriff notified the city late.
NEWSCART 75331 VANDERMUELLEN
“On the Getty Fire we were ntot immediately notified on that incident
“It never did pose a direct threat to the city of Malibu but nevertheless we were concerned.”
Less than two weeks after Lt. Jennifer Seetoo was removed as the Malibu liaison, communication failures marred the local response.
Such communication failures were discussed in the County After Action Report, as well as the need for a coordinated multiagency command system and communications effort.
We have a request for an explanation in with the Malibu-Lost Hills sheriff’s station … no reply yet.
