The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday approved a motion calling on various departments to enhance red flag warning declarations to improve preparedness while carving out some exemptions for outdoor barbecuing.
Last week, the council was set to vote on the motion, introduced by members Nithya Raman and Katy Yaroslavsky on Jan. 14, 2025. The matter was rescheduled after concerns were raised about the impact it could have on residents barbecuing in their backyards.
In a unanimous vote, the council agreed to advance the motion while taking steps to ensure residents aren’t barred from certain activities during red flag days or red flag warnings.
“Let me be clear, wildfire prevention and public safety matter deeply to everybody in the city of Los Angeles, especially as we continue to face growing climate and fire risks,” said Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who introduced an amendment to the motion regarding barbecuing.
“However, we need to be thoughtful about the types of policies that we’re advancing here and having conversations that single out barbecuing in a residential area on a red flag day misses the mark, and frankly, it is tone deaf when we know that so many of the fires that are actually impacting neighborhoods have often been derived from other activities that are not being enforced on,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez is concerned that the proposal may lead to over-policing of family gatherings, in particular for Latino families cooking meat, also known as carne asadas. She echoed the concerns of several residents who spoke out against the proposal related to limiting barbecuing on red flag days.
“We know this type of policy would frankly land on the feet of certain communities and not others,” Rodriguez said.
The council advanced the rest of the proposal, however, instructing the city administrative officer and the city attorney to report on options to increase fines, allocate revenue to wildfire preparedness and expand patrol and towing capacity during red flag or pre-disaster events.
Additionally, the Department of Building and Safety is expected to work with the city attorney on the creation of an ordinance to temporarily pause construction in very high fire hazard severity zones during pre-disaster and red flag warning days.
The motion states that ongoing extreme wildfires and windstorm events in the city and county of Los Angeles are unprecedented in scope and scale for the region.
“Yet the frequency of such extreme weather events is likely to increase as the impacts of climate change intensify,” the motion reads. “It is critically important for future public safety that the city formalize, operationalize and expand its response to National Weather Service red flag warnings and particularly dangerous situations.”
A red flag warning indicates that weather and fuel conditions are expected to meet the threshold for a particular fire weather zone within 48 hours. The National Weather Service issues the warnings when specific regional criteria are met, and the agency can issue a fire weather watch up to 96 hours in advance when hazardous conditions are expected to develop.
In 2020, the NWS introduced the “particularly dangerous situations” designation for red flag warnings of extreme severity. The designation was typically reserved for extremely severe weather events such as tornadoes and floods, according to a report from the city’s Emergency Management Department.
While the NWS issues red flag warnings, the Los Angeles Fire Department declares a “Red Flag Day,” based on specific microclimates within the city in coordination with the federal agency and other weather data calculations.
A Red Flag Day is normally declared when the following conditions are met: wind speeds reach 25 mph or greater with humidity levels at 15% or less and the NWS declares a red flag warning impacting the city. The Red Flag Day declaration imposes street-parking restrictions in select areas to ensure access for first responders if a fire should erupt.
Under the city’s current red flag restrictions, however, officials can only limit street parking on specific streets located in very high fire severity zones.
The council members said January 2025’s deadly wildfires impacted areas, which were left to coordinate with multiple departments and agencies in seeking park closures. While parking restrictions are meant to be implemented by the LAFD and the Department of Transportation during red flag warnings, they were “unfortunately not adequately monitored,” according to the motion.
“This experience highlights the need for more proactive work from the city to secure high fire risk areas and implement restrictions in advance of major fires,” according to the motion.