The state Attorney General’s Office Thursday announced a civil rights investigation into the response to the January 2025 Eaton Fire, questioning whether race, age or disability discrimination contributed to delays in emergency notifications and evacuations in the historically black West Altadena area.
Attorney General Rob Bonta noted that the 14,000-acre fire killed 19 people, all but one of whom lived in the West Altadena area, and the average age of the fire victims was 77 years old.
“The investigation we’ve launched is driven by one over-arching question — did the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s delay in notifying and evacuating the historically Black West Altadena community during the Eaton Fire violate state anti-discrimination and disability rights laws?” Bonta said at a Los Angeles news conference announcing the investigation. “Meaning, did unlawful race-, disability- or age-based discrimination in the emergency response result in a delayed evacuation notification that disproportionately impacted West Altadena residents?
“That’s the question. We don’t know the answer. We don’t know what this investigation will turn up, which is the whole point — to pursue the facts, uncover, reveal the facts and follow the facts.
“We’re also not starting from a blank slate here. There are concerning circumstances surrounding the Eaton Fire that have raised questions, making this investigation necessary. The biggest of which is that there was indisputably a delayed emergency notification and evacuation of West Altadena. We’re here to ask why.”