The fire “brought to the forefront the issues of us being unincorporated; in some ways it did put us at a disadvantage,” said Darlene Greene, a member of Altadena’s town council, which can pass along concerns or recommendations to Los Angeles County leaders, but holds no real governing power or spending authority.
“Incorporated cities, in my opinion, just have more resources. … I certainly think that hurt us,” Greene said. Other cities “have coordinated efforts for emergencies. For us, we do have it [through the county], but anytime there’s a middle person, there’s gaps. … It’s not top of mind.”
It’s unlikely that Altadena could have fared better — even with its own city government — against the major ember-cast fire driven by hurricane-force winds, which fire officials say was impossible to fight at times, much less predict. But some local officials and residents wonder if dedicated resources and leadership could have improved the emergency response, especially surrounding evacuation alerts.
Reporting by The Times revealed that west Altadena did not get official evacuation alerts until hours after flames threatened the area, an issue that is now the subject of multiple investigations and reviews. It was in those neighborhoods west of Lake Avenue where 17 of the Eaton fire’s 18 deaths occurred.
“It’s catastrophic failure,” said Seriina Covarrubias, a west Altadena resident who has been advocating for better public resources and government representation for the town since even before the fire. “It just tells me that there was no centralized communication, no one was calling the shots and it was a hot mess.”
