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RANTZ & RAVEZ - A personal perspective of the Deadly, Historic and Tragic Pacific Palisades Fire and Frantic 100 mph Windstorm that killed innocent people and destroyed thousands of homes, cars and commercial properties and left countless families without a place to live or clothes to wear or any form of security in LAPD’s West Los Angeles Division. West L. A. Then and Now after the Fire…Will it ever return to the beautiful and peaceful paradise that overlooks the Pacific Ocean?
It was 1969 and I was a rookie LAPD Officer assigned to the West L A Police Division located on Purdue Ave south of Santa Monica Blvd. The vintage police station was aging and moved years later west to Butler Ave. I was assigned to the morning watch which placed me on the midnight shift. Roll Call was around 10:00 pm and EOW (End of Watch) was around 6:45 am as best I can remember some 56 years later. As a rookie officer just out of college, I was assigned to veteran officers who showed me the ropes of police work on the West Side of Los Angeles. The friendly and well-maintained neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades, Bel Air, Brentwood, Mandeville Canyon, Westwood Village were all nice places to work with friendly neighborhoods and business owners who all appreciated the men in blue. At that time in LAPD history only male officers were permitted to work in the field in B/W police vehicles. Female officers were assigned to detective and administrative duties. As years passed, women would move into all field and command positions in the dept and throughout law enforcement agencies in America.
There were “Pin Maps” in the Roll Call Room that marked the various crimes trends occurring in the division from Robbery, Burglary, GTA and the rest of the crimes that impacted the Westside community.
We used paper and number 2 pencils to complete crime reports and document the crimes in the division. The crime reports were then duplicated by records personnel on A.B. Dick Machines and forwarded to Detectives to investigate and hopefully arrest the “Suspect” and solve the various reported crimes.
There were no Cell Phones, Internet, Computers, DNA, Video or any of the tools law enforcement uses today to investigate crimes.
With the lack of today’s vast range of technology, police officers were able to investigate and arrest suspects and maintain order in society that mostly respected the laws of the land.
Back in the day, West Los Angeles Division was bordered by Mulholland Drive on the north, the Santa Monica Freeway on the south, La Cienega Blvd on the East and Pacific Coast Highway on the West. A huge portion of Los Angeles that was heavily populated and included Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and a number of other expensive neighborhoods including the sprawling UCLA campus.
Over the years, there were floods and at times massive mud flows invading homes along Mandeville Canyon and other West L.A. hillsides. Other than that, the Bel Air Fire in 1961 fueled by 100 mph Santa Ana winds was the worst disaster on the Westside. 484 homes destroyed including those of many Hollywood celebrates. Years later the area has returned to the once proud community with many changes in the building codes as time passed. For example, wood shingle roofs were banned for all new construction and strong brush control policies were established to protect property in the future.
On January 7 a major fire broke out in the West Los Angeles Division and was driven by near 100 mph winds. The winds consumed thousands of homes and businesses structures and drove thousands of families from their homes and business locations. Only on January 27th of this week were all the displaced resident finally permitted to return to their property and closely examine the destruction to their homes and business structures. Many locations have turned to ashes. All personal belongings are gone.
I worked the fire area along with hundreds of LAPD, LAFD, LASO, City, County, State and Federal Personnel. The loss of Life and Property is beyond belief. As we move forward the recovery will continue along with the nightmares shared by fire victims. I pray that God will bring light and comfort to those impacted by the fire and the losses they have suffered. May the City, County, State and Federal Governments come together and provide the assistance the victims desperately need and deserve at this time of desperation.
(Dennis P. Zine is the author of RantZ and RaveZ for CityWatchLA. Dennis is retired from law enforcement and local politics and continues serving as a Reserve Police Officer. Zine is the Law Enforcement Specialist for local TV and can be heard on KABC Radio.)
