Two Republican senators announced an investigation on Monday into the response to the Palisades fire in Los Angeles, saying the state and local governments, which are led by Democrats, were to blame for the disaster.
Senators Rick Scott of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said their investigation would examine why the area’s main reservoir was empty before the fires began and whether preparation for the emergency was sufficient.
At least 31 people died in the wind-driven wildfires that swept through Southern California in early January. Twelve of them died in the Palisades fire, which was centered in the affluent Pacific Palisades community that lies within the Los Angeles city limits, and 19 people died in the Eaton fire, which erupted hours afterward in Altadena, a separate suburb in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains to the east.
The fires, which destroyed thousands of structures in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, have spawned more than a half-dozen investigations, as devastated homeowners and local authorities have sought to pinpoint their causes.
Fire experts have said since January that, in many ways, the catastrophe was almost impossible to fully prepare for. There were hurricane-force winds, supercharged by a rare alignment of powerful atmospheric conditions, driving an inferno through communities that had seen less than a quarter-inch of rain in eight months.
Nonetheless, the disaster has been politically fraught almost from the outset.
In January, Republicans were quick to say that Democrats were to blame for the fires. President Trump accused Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California of being ill prepared and failing to provide enough water to fight the blazes. Ms. Bass and Mr. Newsom have countered that dangerous winds and other environmental conditions hampered the response.
Critics of the mayor publicly castigated her for being out of the country when the blaze erupted in Pacific Palisades. Critics of the Los Angeles fire chief said that, despite increasingly urgent warnings from meteorologists, she had seriously underestimated the wind risk, leaving the city vastly underprepared.
Questions have been raised about a key Los Angeles reservoir that was under repair and out of service before and during the Palisades fire. The New York Times has reported that the reservoir, the Santa Ynez, had been empty for seven months before the fire swept through the area because of a torn cover, and that the reservoir being offline caused firefighters in the area to run short of water while battling the flames.
Accusations that the loss of the reservoir had led to a drop in water pressure and made fire hydrants inoperable prompted a lawsuit in January by a group of Palisades homeowners against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
The plaintiffs include Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, reality TV stars best known for “The Hills,” who lost their home in the fires. Mr. Pratt has been pushing for an investigation on social media, and recently led Mr. Scott on a tour of the Palisades, including the debris-strewn lot where his and Ms. Montag’s home once stood.
Mr. Pratt’s allegations and the questions about the reservoir appeared to be at the center of the Republican call for a congressional investigation on Monday. In their statement, Senators Scott and Johnson charged that “on the day of the Palisades Fire, reservoirs were empty, fire hydrants went dry and innocent people, including many vulnerable seniors, perished while thousands more lost their homes, businesses and everything they owned.”
The Senate investigation appears to focus solely on the Palisades fire and does not explore the conditions surrounding the Eaton fire in Altadena.
The Fire Safety Research Institute is conducting an independent review into the fires at the request of Mr. Newsom, which will include a comprehensive timeline and an analysis of state and local prevention efforts. Separate after-action reports are pending from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire.
Last week, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit that blamed Southern California Edison, one of the state’s major utilities, for the fire in Altadena, charging that improperly maintained power lines had ignited dry brush in the nearby Angeles National Forest.
Separately, a federal investigation has been underway since January into the specific cause of the Palisades fire, which local fire officials have speculated arose from the smoldering embers of a blaze caused by fireworks on New Year’s Day.
Last month, Mayor Bass said that the United States attorney’s office in Los Angeles had asked her to withhold a pending report on the Palisades fire response by the Los Angeles Fire Department “to avoid interference with the ongoing federal investigation.”
A spokesman for U.S. attorney’s office said on Monday that the department had no comment on that investigation. A spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said that fire investigators and other specialists were “working diligently” but that “at this time, no final conclusions have been reached.”
In a statement, Mr. Newsom said on Monday that the state had “mounted one of the most aggressive wildfire responses in American history” and that he welcomed the congressional attention.
“It complements the thorough investigations already taking place — including by the federal government, the state, and an independent review by the nation’s leading fire experts,” he said. “From Day 1, we’ve embraced transparency because Californians deserve nothing less.”
Conor Dougherty covers housing and development, focusing on the rising costs of homeownership. He is based in Los Angeles.
Shawn Hubler is The Times’s Los Angeles bureau chief, reporting on the news, trends and personalities of Southern California.
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