LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — On the morning of Jan. 7, as thick black smoke billowed over the Pacific Palisades, newsrooms across the city mobilized without a key piece of news-gathering equipment. Television news choppers were grounded due to something called a “TFR,” a “Temporary Flight Restriction,” because President Joe Biden was in Los Angeles.
From a news perspective, this meant we couldn’t share key street-specific mapping technologies with viewers to show which neighborhoods were at immediate risk of the approaching flames. The Santa Ana winds were vicious that day and likely would have prevented flying anyway, but the TFR meant it wasn’t going to happen without a special FAA waiver.
At the Los Angeles City Fire Department, they were preparing to launch firefighting crews. Initially, they were headed to a structure fire in Hollywood. LAFD knew there was a presidential TFR in place. It’s something they prepare for. As they loaded crews towards the aircraft and hangar and did their pre-flight procedures, they needed an extra step on this day.
The LAFD told KTLA, “Like any other request to enter the TFR, that call creates an approximate four-minute delay while the Secret Service generates our unique squawk code. It takes under 10 minutes for pilots and aircrews to tow the aircraft out of the hangar, gather communications plans, begin the aircraft start-up procedures, and obtain tower clearance to depart and lift. The first aircraft lifted at 10:31 a.m.”
By that point, the Palisades Fire was already exploding.
“While en route to the Hollywood fire to which Air Ops was initially assigned, smoke from the Palisades fire was observed. One aircraft departed at 10:34 a.m., immediately diverting to the more significant, priority fire. With a load of water, the pilot circled the fire to gather situational awareness and selected the first water drop along the west edge of the fire, protecting homes. That first water drop on the fire came at 10:41 a.m.”
The aerial supervisor for LAFD advised Incident Command that all aerial assets would be redirecting to the Palisades. It became an aerial bombardment—even if it was a losing battle.
Four LAFD choppers were joined by two Los Angeles County Fire choppers.
By 11:12 a.m., the Canadian super scoopers Quebec One and Quebec Two were in the fight.
By 11:55 a.m., five fixed-wing aircraft were working the fire as well, capable of dropping 35,000 gallons of fire retardant.
By 12:40 p.m., Helitank 40 from Ventura County had joined, and later, Fire Copter One from Orange County.
The aerial supervisor said, “I was seeing a well-developed brush fire in an extreme wind event. I was frustrated that despite our best efforts, this would be an extended operation. It was not going to be extinguished in a timely manner. This was a wind-driven brush fire that was not going to allow us to gain control until the weather conditions improved. It was a ‘Perfect Storm.’”
And the weather didn’t improve.
A steady bombardment of water drops and fire retardant against that unprecedented firestorm went for hours until 7:45 p.m. when the LAFD said the wind and turbulence were just too severe to continue, and all aerial assets were grounded due to the wind – grounded at the worst possible time.
In that same hour—34 miles to the northeast—another fire had started. Flames were growing in the Eaton Canyon area near Altadena. The glow of flames was seen from news cameras positioned on Mount Wilson, where much of Southern California’s telecommunications reside. The severity of that fire wouldn’t be known for hours more. And it would be equally devastating.
As day broke on Jan. 8 in Los Angeles, news crews still couldn’t launch without special permission. Fire crews could, and they did, as soon as the weather allowed. Early that afternoon, President Biden and the First Lady departed Los Angeles.
The presidential TFR was lifted, and winds finally started to dial back a little. For the first time, news crews got an aerial view of the devastation as it was still unfolding.
Would the lack of a presidential TFR have changed the outcome? No. It didn’t change the aerial firefight. It was just another hurdle in an unprecedented wind and fire event. Posts claiming that Biden closed airspace to firefighting crews were just wrong.
The Palisades Fire scorched more than 23,000 acres. More than 7,000 structures were destroyed. The FAA told KTLA, “We implement TFRs for safety and security reasons. Firefighting aircraft can operate within the TFR as long as they coordinate with air traffic controllers.”
Days later, President Trump visited the Palisades burn area to speak with firefighters and tour the damage. Again, a presidential TFR was put into effect for the Los Angeles area.
