Police Halt Re-Entry Escorts Due to Safety Concerns, Approaching Critical Fire Weather
After the announcement of mandatory evacuations in Brentwood on Friday night and the extension of the evacuation warning area into West Los Angeles past the 405 freeway, CAL FIRE, the Los Angeles County and City Fire departments have been courageously fighting the advancing flames all weekend.
On Friday evening, aircraft were using the Encino Reservoir to do water drops on the flames every five minutes. While one home on the 3300 block of Mandeville Canyon Road was sadly lost to the fire on Saturday, that seems to be the only structure so far that firefighters were not able to save.
As of Sunday night, all mandatory evacuation areas and evacuation warning areas in nearby West Los Angeles remain in force since the fire has not been extinguished in the area and it is not safe for residents to return, especially since Los Angeles will again be subject to a dangerous Critical Fire Weather and Red Flag Alert until Wednesday. The warning was upgraded to include life-threatening force winds of up to 70 miles per hour.
Senior Lead Officer Matthew Kirk sent an email out on Sunday morning regarding residents trying to get back into the mandatory evacuation zone.
I appreciate everyone’s patience while we are all still dealing with the active fire that has ravaged our community. While some may believe that the danger has passed in some areas, unfortunately, this is not the case. The wind continues to push the fire in differing directions and it is still a very dangerous and hazardous environment all throughout the Palisades. The fire has now expanded into the Brentwood and San Fernando Valley areas. With this expansion of the fire and the number of available Officers we have to cover the entire fire zone, our patrol resources are at critical mass.
The resources we have been using to conduct police escorts have put a strain on our ability to assist LAFD and adequately patrol our evacuated and vulnerable neighborhoods. I understand that everyone would like to retrieve their medications and check on their homes, but we are not able to safely sustain the sheer volume of residents who want an escort into the area. The Command Post has expressed concern with the amount of traffic going in and out of the mandatory evacuation area impacting emergency operations. For every time we go in and out of the area, we pose a potential risk to our officers, the public, and especially the fire department personnel that are still actively working in the area. With this being said we will be halting the police escorts into the evacuation zone for the time being. No one other than emergency personnel will be allowed into the area.
We recommend contacting your nearest pharmacy to have an emergency prescription filled, explaining that you had to evacuate due to the fire.
I understand the frustration with having to wait for so long to get back to our homes to check on them. But in these unprecedented times, we must prioritize our precious resources to focus on the ongoing threat. We need to keep the area clear for our firefighters and our officers focused on supporting those efforts while also keeping an eye out for any potential looting, search, and rescue efforts for missing persons, and protecting crime scenes in the event evidence of arson is discovered.
We can only imagine the uncertainty and anxiety that you are facing, but we ask for your continued patience and support.
Please do not come to any checkpoints asking to access your residence as you will be turned away. Please do not try and access the area by the beach as you will similarly be turned away.
I will be conducting a patrol in the evacuated areas in Brentwood today along with my partner. I know many people have heard that there have been numerous burglaries throughout Brentwood since the start of the evacuations. I have just spoken to the watch commander and there has been no uptick in burglaries. That being said when the evacuations are lifted we may have unreported burglaries. I hope everyone is staying safe during these unprecedented times.
Take Care, Matthew Kirk
