Residents told U.S. senators that local and state officials failed miserably<\/b>
\n\u2014 Republican Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rick Scott of Florida sat down Thursday with Palisades Fire victims to hear their stories firsthand. Residents told them local and state officials failed miserably.
The two-hour field hearing, held at a veteran\u2019s organization in the burned community, opened with remarks from Johnson and Scott. Former reality star Spencer Pratt, who\u2019s been outspoken about the lack of accountability from California leaders, spoke thereafter.
Each of the six victims said state and local officials failed to prepare residents for what was coming, despite knowing strong winds were forecast and another brush fire burned nearby just days before.
Here at Pacific Palisades field hearing with Sens. Rick Scott and Ron Johnson leading as victims are expected to speak about the impact of the disastrous fires.
Notably, @spencerpratt is opening with a statement and brought to tears about how he lost everything and the tragic\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/kur82W5pQP
\u2014 Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) November 13, 2025
\u201cI think it\u2019s notable that of the parts of government that have actually helped, it\u2019s been the federal government. I\u2019m not a big fan of the federal government, but it sounds like FEMA, the Army Corps, cleared out the debris very rapidly,\u201d Johnson said after the hearing. \u201cSo these people need help from the federal government.\u201d
\u201cWe\u2019re going to go back to Washington, D.C. President Trump knows how to get things done,\u201d Johnson added. \u201cWe need elected officials who are competent and unfortunately don\u2019t have them here in California, Los Angeles.\u201d
PLEAS FOR THE GOVERNMENT
Nearly every resident in the room asked the federal government to step in and help their city. Pacific Palisades Community Council Rebuilding Committee Chairman David Schwarz testified that if federal aid does come, LA County should not be handed a \u201cblank check.\u201d
\u201cBefore another dollar is appropriated, Congress should insist on four conditions to ensure that federal funding will actually be used to rebuild my community on budget and on time,\u201d Schwarz said.
The conditions listed by the chairman included the establishment an independent Pacific Palisades Reconstruction Authority (PPRA) board, with Governor Newsom delegating certain emergency powers to the PPRA, ensuring the board is accountable to residents and the federal government. A PPRA would allow residents to co-invest with the federal government in infrastructure repair projects.
\u201cThese are the sorts of conditions that President Trump insisted upon when he visited the Palisades nine months ago,\u201d Schwarz said. \u201cIt\u2019s also what our community wants.\u201d
\u201cThis is about accountability \u2026 these are not political issues. They are issues about decent and humanity,\u201d @spencerpratt said.
Pratt expanded on how residents have faced massive red tape by state and local politicians. Praising the out of state senators for using their power\u2026
\u2014 Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) November 13, 2025
OFFICIAL FAILURE
The Palisades Fire broke out Jan. 7, starting in the Santa Monica Mountains before rapidly spreading into Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu. The blaze scorched more than 23,000 acres, destroyed 6,837 structures, damaged another 973 in the affected areas and ultimately killed 12 people.
Questions over how the fire started erupted almost immediately, as evacuation footage from that first day showed absolute chaos. Backlash quickly centered on Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was seen on CNN sidestepping a resident begging for leadership as homes burned behind them. Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also came under fire for being in Ghana during the initial days of the disaster.
Palisades survivor John Alle told the senators that he was one of the last people to speak with Bass before she left for her Jan. 4 trip. Alle told the mayor about another disaster waiting to happen: incoming high winds and meth users starting fires in the park next to his MacArthur Park property.
\u201cI was concerned that that community would burn immediately since the buildings are 30s and 40s era construction,\u201d Alle stated. \u201cWe discussed her leaving LA without a deputy mayor in place, in charge of homeland security, police, fire, airport.\u201d
\u201cDeputy Mayor Brian Williams was on paid leave while the FBI investigated his reporting of false bomb threats at LA City Hall. Even our own police chief was not aware that Brian Williams was on paid leave,\u201d Alle added.
However, Alle said Bass allegedly seemed \u201cintent on leaving,\u201d describing her as becoming angry and \u201cpersonally threatening on the phone\u201d when he voiced his concerns.
\u201cShe told me she would miss just two days. I responded by saying she\u2019d be away five days. That being mayor of the nation\u2019s second largest city was a 24-7 job and that Saturdays and Sundays counted,\u201d Alle recounted.
After his home burned down and his family lost everything, Alle reached out to Bass once more, texting and leaving voicemails. However, the mayor allegedly never responded.
Bass\u2019 office did not respond to the Daily Caller News\u2019 Foundation\u2019s request for comment.
POOR ALERTS
Pacific Palisades Resident Association President Jessica Rogers testified that some residents never received an evacuation notice when the fire first broke out.
\u201cAs I ran through my house gathering belongings, I kept checking my phone for alerts from local government. Nothing came,\u201d Rogers said.
It wasn\u2019t until 12:30 p.m. that Rogers said she received her first alert from officials about a possible evacuation By the time the text came through, she could already feel the heat on her skin as if she were \u201ctoo close to a barbecue.\u201d
\u201cThe mandatory evacuation notice \u2013 that didn\u2019t arrive until nearly 5 p.m., when the homes on my street were already burned, and smoke made it impossible to breathe,\u201d Rogers said.
Another community member in the audience recounted to the senators that when he and his family attempted to evacuate, authorities blocked one of the exits and told him to turn back toward the fire.
The man said that after following officials\u2019 instructions, he was then ordered to go a different way. Retelling his frustration, his daughter sat beside him in tears as he described how desperate his family had been to get out of the danger zone.
ELDERLY LEFT TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES
Following Rogers\u2019 escape from her home, the fire survivor took it upon herself to step in because the local government\u2019s response was \u201cinadequate.\u201d After contacting their councilwoman\u2019s staff at the fire department\u2019s central command, she began relaying ground-level information from residents about whose doors officials needed to knock on.
\u201cMost critically, I coordinated sending firefighters and police officers to locations where elderly people were left behind. The Palisades Highlands situation was desperate,\u201d Rogers recalled. \u201cResidents were trapped because access points were blocked by abandoned vehicles.
\u201cPeople had been engulfed in flames with no option but to abandon their cars in the middle of the street. I made calls continuously through the night, so many that my tongue was bloody on both sides from the cuts from my teeth,\u201d Rogers added.
Among those testifying was 94-year-old survivor Rachel Schwartz, who spoke about surviving the Holocaust and coming to the United States at just 15 years old, working her whole life to afford her Palisades home. Schwartz voiced concerns about the lack of accountability from officials and insurance providers, noting her own insurer dropped her after the fire.
\u201cI watched everything I own disappear in flames. At my age it\u2019s not easy to begin again,\u201d Schwartz said. \u201cI was with my insurance company for over 25 years, always paying my premiums [and] never missed a payment. Now they tell me they will not cover \u2013 they will only cover about half of what I need to rebuild.\u201d
\u201cIt\u2019s not right. There are many seniors here in the Palisades who are in the same situation. We\u2019ve all done our part. Lived honest lives. And now we are left with almost nothing,\u201d Schwartz added.
An investigation into the fire, announced in September, is expected to include cooperation from both Newsom\u2019s and Bass\u2019 offices. Johnson suggested that if answers aren\u2019t provided, subpoenas will be issued.<\/p>\n