Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Political Gumbo: The Politics of the Fire

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, Managing Editor

The state Attorney General’s Office announced a civil rights investigation into the response to the January 2025 Eaton Fire last week, questioning whether race, age or disability discrimination contributed to delays in emergency notifications and evacuations in the historically black West Altadena area.

Yes, the wind-driven fire led to the deaths of 19 people, all West Altadena residents.

“The investigation we’ve launched is driven by one overarching question — did the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s delay in notifying and evacuating the historically Black West Altadena community.”

Don’t jump up and down.

Our leaders have no problem rightfully pointing out low hanging fruit issues that the majority of residents across the state find horrific, read ICE and Epstein files.

But they have issues when it comes to pointing out the flaws in our very system.

There was one fire truck in West Altadena, and more than 60 in East Altadena. All of the deaths in the fire except one were in West Altadena.

Evacuation alerts either were not sent out timely, or not sent out at all. Meanwhile, orders for East Altadena came early and often, a good thing for people in those neighborhoods.

And still the same leaders that condemn ICE, the cover-up in the Epstein Files, the Democrats that condemn the Republicans and the Republicans that condemn the Democrats, won’t openly and publicly point fingers at those that dropped the ball on Jan. 7.

And it’s not just the Eaton Fire. According to published reports, Mayor Karen Bass ordered the findings in a report on the Palisades “watered down” because the original findings left Los Angeles open to liability.

Bass denies the claim.

It’s no wonder that nearly 1 in 5 residents believe the Los Angeles County Fire Department intentionally allowed their town to burn, according to one poll.

First, let’s set the record straight, LA Fire Justice, led by former mayor and assemblymember Chris Holden, was the first one to file a Civil Rights lawsuit. They have skin in the game, locals work there.

As far as that so-called overarching question,

I don’t know anybody who received the notice in the first place, and people self-evacuated when things got crazy.

We knew that on day two or three. Yet, a full year later here comes the probe.

An election year.

This sounds like the part of the movie where ‘historically black’ and ‘Altadena’ become political fodder for people needing Black votes.

It would not be the first time politicians have used Civil Rights for votes. The practice dates back pre-Civil War.

Don’t hold your breath on the results of this probe, just keep this in mind.

The fire didn’t happen in an election year. But the politics of the fire almost certainly will.