Californians deserve the truth, and the Los Angeles Times report makes clear the LAFD quietly skipped a standard step that might have prevented one of the worst infernos in the city’s history. Officials admitted they did not deploy thermal imaging after the Jan. 1 blaze, claiming the technology wouldn’t reach deep roots, even though experts and common sense say detecting hot spots is basic prevention. That shrug from the department is unacceptable when entire neighborhoods and lives were on the line.
Even more troubling, the department’s own after-action account appears to have been watered down after the fact, with the author complaining his draft was altered to soften criticism of senior leaders. When the people who wrote the report say it was edited to downplay failures, you can’t chalk that up to bureaucratic nitpicking — that smells like cover-up. Voters should be furious that politicians and chiefs might be rewriting history while families try to rebuild.
The laundromat of excuses keeps coming: LAFD and city officials failed to pre-deploy engines and didn’t force firefighters to stay on duty despite clear red-flag warnings, choices that cost time when the wind hit. This is basic emergency planning, not rocket science, yet the city’s playbook was business as usual while flames accelerated. When bureaucrats prioritize optics and politics over readiness, the people pay the price.
Yes, authorities have now charged a suspect in the earlier Jan. 1 ignition — a grim reminder that evil and negligence can both be parts of the same disaster — but arson does not absolve command decisions that left smoldering embers and failed to mitigate known risks. Investigations showed the catastrophic Jan. 7 blaze likely re-ignited from a “holdover” fire, the sort thermal imaging and aggressive mop-up are meant to catch. Knowing the cause only doubles the outrage that preventable missteps may have amplified the carnage.
Then there’s the censorship of accountability: the very officer who authored the after-action review said his findings were softened before release, and the mayor’s office has had to publicly prod the fire chief about the edits. That’s not transparency, it’s political triage — cleaning up a report to protect reputations rather than fix the system. If you lead, you own the mess; if you hide mistakes, you ensure they repeat.
Conservative critics like Steve Hilton have been right to say this episode reveals the rot of California governance — millions poured into feel-good relief concerts and bureaucratic initiatives while on-the-ground rebuilding and honest accountability lag. Residents complain of a slow, byzantine rebuild process and relief that never reached the right people, and that’s what happens when political theater replaces practical action. Leaders who promise grand plans but deliver endless paperwork are betraying the hardworking families who lost everything.
This is why California needs a change at the top. Voters should be considering serious alternatives who will stop the spin, cut through red tape, and prioritize public safety and rebuilding over political self-preservation — exactly the message Republican candidates like Steve Hilton are taking to the airwaves and to the ground. If we want real reform and honest leadership, we must elect people who will answer to the people, not to their image consultants.
