Firefighters' fateful choices: How the Woolsey fire became an unstoppable monster
LOS ANGELES - It was clear from the beginning that the Woolsey fire had the potential to be a monster.
It broke out mid-afternoon Nov. 8 on Boeing property near the Santa Susana Pass, fueled by strengthening winds and burning toward populated areas.
But during the critical first hours, the Woolsey fire took second priority.
Ventura County firefighters were already engaged in a pitched battle with another blaze, called the Hill fire, about 15 miles to the west that had jumped the 101 Freeway and was threatening hundreds of homes and businesses.
The Woolsey fire was growing but still far enough from subdivisions that it got fewer resources from Ventura County. Neighboring fire agencies sent some help, but it would take hours before they launched an all-out attack at the fire lines.
These turned out to be fateful choices in what would become the most destructive fire in Los Angeles and Ventura county history.
A Los Angeles Times review of hundreds of pages of public records and several hours of radio transmissions show that first responders on the front lines of the Woolsey fire struggled during those first critical hours, stymied by communication breakdowns and a scarcity of air tanker support, equipment and firefighters.
Los Angeles County Fire Department sent some firefighters to the front lines but decided early on to deploy dozens more several miles away in the Agoura Hills area, according to interviews, incident logs and planning reports obtained under the California Public Records Act.
L.A. County Fire Capt. Tony Imbrenda said the department knew the fire was headed toward L.A. County and staged four strike teams - 20 engines and 88 firefighters total - in Agoura Hills to assess how the fire would affect homes and businesses once it reached the area.
Imbrenda said the department didn't send the strike teams, each comprised of five engines and 22 firefighters, directly to the Woolsey fire line "because the fire hadn't crossed into L.A. County yet. These resources were all set up to protect L.A. County."
Imbrenda said sending the strike teams to the fire line earlier would not have made a difference. "There was no way, no engine, no apparatus, no aircraft in this world
