A local Forest Service official declined to comment on the county report because he had not read it.
In addition to recommending greater amounts of brush clearance, the report also urged looser U.S. Forest Service restrictions on nighttime flying. Both could have improved efforts to combat the Station fire.
County fire officials created the report to address concerns that the initial firefighting response to the Station fire was inadequate.
Officials evaluated the first five days of the fire response to reach their conclusions, which included the policy change suggestions.
“This is not a declaration of war or anything like that, but they have their policies which come from Washington that set limits and boundaries for them,” Los Angeles Fire County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said. “But the magnitude of this fire, even with what I see is the possibility with what I am recommending could in some way be turned around as a criticism — I think that is not my intention and I tried to make that clear in the observations.”
Communication sites are also vulnerable because of the steep terrain and 30-foot clearances.
The report also addressed public criticism that the air response to the fire was too slow and inadequate in the early days of the fire.
The U.S. Forest Service currently prohibits nighttime flying, so county fire helicopters couldn’t conduct water drops overnight, according to the report.
“County helicopters could have dropped water as needed throughout the night, attempting to control these spots,” the report stated.
