Every last word these men speak should hang another shred of Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass’s political careers out to dry like so much toxic dust in the wind.
Last December, the plaintiffs’ attorney (for some 3,000 fire victims) in the Palisades Fire obtained a court order allowing them to depose the dozen Los Angeles firefighters who went to the site of the Lachman Fire on the morning after it broke out and then supposedly extinguished on New Year’s Day, 2024.
If you’ll remember, the rekindling of the Lachman fire, which is believed to have been started by an arsonist a week before the Pacific Palisades fire that consumed a staggering 23,000+ acres, over 7,000 structures, and resulted in twelve deaths, has been determined to have caused that later devastating conflagration.
A ne’er-do-well, itinerant, 29-year-old former Uber driver who fled to Florida has been charged with starting the fire.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, the communist who ignited the 8 acre Lachman Fire was just charged with arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, destruction of property by fire, and timber set afire.
No word on whether the state and local employees who left that 8 acre fire… pic.twitter.com/hoQgDK5UuF
— Mann Made Cinema (@Hotshot_Movie) October 16, 2025
What was left to be determined was whether the LAFD crew that came to collect the fire hoses the next day would be held responsible for not securing the scene properly.
Leaked whistleblower testimony and LA officials’ own emails have dropped several bombshells regarding culpability for that site’s abandonment, which is critical to assessing responsibility and damages. The state is also invested in saying they bear no responsibility for the catastrophe.
Understandably, people want blood.
Text messages between the fire crews on scene that day backed up their statements that they did not want to leave, as they didn’t believe the fire was extinguished. But they were forcefully ordered to do so.
As John reported at the beginning of this month, it was revealed that not only had the official LAFD report on the fire been watered down and edited to ‘make the department look good,’ but LA mayor Karen Bass was busted lying about having taken no part in slapping the make-up on that pig when it turns out she had.
Everyone’s hands were dirty.
Except, as we now find out, the extraordinary firefighters who were at the Lachman scene the day after, through their own now declassified words.
These clips paint so ghastly a tale of incompetence and malfeasance, and maliciousness in the cover-up, it about makes you ill.
First and foremost, LA firefighter Scott Pike, a 23-year veteran, knew what needed to be done when he got to the site of the Lachman blaze. He describes what he found and how he fruitlessly fought to mop up what he knew had the potential to rekindle, and yet was denied.
The firefighters were told that state park employees would be patrolling the burn scar for signs of rekindling, since the fire had ignited on state park land.
So go away.
Unsurprisingly, Pike’s testimony was never solicited for the city’s official after-action report.
A Los Angeles firefighter says the Lachman Fire was still smoldering when crews were ordered to leave, days before embers reignited into the deadly Palisades Fire, according to newly released deposition testimony.
Scott Pike, a 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department, testified last month as part of a lawsuit filed by 3,000 Palisades Fire victims against the city and the state.
Pike said he saw at least five areas that were still smoking and extremely hot.
“I saw light smoke on the ground,” he said. “I saw branches that were smoking still. I could smell smoke, and there were … for what I would say … I would say several smokers.”
Pike said some of the hot spots were intense enough that he hesitated to touch them, even with gloves.
“I could feel the heat coming off of it, and I didn’t even want to use my gloved hand because it was hot,” he said. “So I just kicked it with my boot to kind of expose it and there was like red hot, like, coals, what I believe to be the base of a bush or branches that was still smoldering, and I even heard crackling.”
Pike testified that he reported what he found to other firefighters and a captain but felt his concerns were dismissed.
He also said he was never interviewed for the city’s after-action report on the Palisades Fire.
Bombshell testimony from the LAFD whistleblower revealing he saw multiple smokers, tried to get his colleagues to do more mop-up, was ignored, and ordered to pick up all the hose, despite hot coals and smoldering ash pits everywhere. https://t.co/ohIAOzLIVd
— Mann Made Cinema (@Hotshot_Movie) February 27, 2026
…This firefighter now fears retaliation from the LAFD for telling the truth. We were prevented from disclosing this shocking testimony before now, because the City’s attorneys imposed a “confidential” designation over 100% of the firefighters’ deposition testimony effectively embargoing it for the past 30 days pursuant to the Protective Order in the case. We are just now legally able to share this testimony with our clients and the public. The LAFD and likely the Mayor’s Office have known about this information since last year, but have tried to cover it up to avoid “reputational harm”. This testimony also corroborates our claim that CA State Parks allowed a dangerous condition – the smoldering embers – to remain on its land for days despite the extreme fire weather forecast, which rekindled into the Palisades Fire that destroyed 7,000 homes and killed 12 innocent civilians. The firefighters also testified that CA State Parks told them that Park employees would patrol the burn scar for several days after the firefighters left. We allege that the LAFD and Mayor Karen Bass have engaged in a massive coverup to conceal and suppress the truth about the Palisades Fire. We will hold them accountable.
What the firefighters initially thought was a park ranger, but turned out to be only a parks official named John Ota, was the person who told them to leave. State park personnel would be patrolling the area, they were assured.
If you would have said the whole operation relied on this guy, I could have told you it wasn’t going to end well pic.twitter.com/PYtNJ9LhjE
— AnominoUS (@anominoUS1111) February 27, 2026
Pictured above is State Parks official John Ota, who has since testified he never returned to the burn site after that.
BREAKING: LAFD depositions have been declassified! Damning moment where firefighters reveal State Park employees told them THEY would take over patrolling the Lachman Fire for rekindles for the next few days. State Park employee confesses he never visited the burn again. pic.twitter.com/s2HdPuUx8x
— Mann Made Cinema (@Hotshot_Movie) February 27, 2026
There is a still shot of Ota with the firefighters on site that day in the deposition video above. It’s damning.
Pike was devastated that they were leaving, bummed by the lack of urgency of the rest of his crew, and kind of confused by his captain’s attitude.
…Pike testified that when he reported his observations to other firefighters at the scene, “I felt like I kind of got blown off a little bit.”
Then he tried the captain.
“That’s how I approached him, is like, ‘Hey, Cap … We have hot spots in general. We have some ash pits,’” Pike said of the captain on the scene, whose name he did not know. “That’s an alert to double-check the whole area and maybe we need to switch our tactics.”
Pike testified that it was not his job “to overstep and tell him what to do. He earned that rank.”
The other firefighters, too, seemed eager to “just get this hose picked up,” Pike said, adding that he was working overtime the day after a holiday “because nobody else wanted to work it.”
“It kind of sits heavy with me that nobody listened to me,” he said.
Parks officials like Ota weren’t so much concerned about the fire as firefighting efforts.
Classic.
…Several California State Parks representatives also testified in the case. Their testimony and text messages show that their initial concern was whether the fire was on parkland and whether firefighting efforts and equipment would harm federally endangered plants and artifacts.
The state is already in a panicked CYA mode, calling the depositions, ‘deceptively edited.’
HEY! WE DON’T FIGHT FIRES!
“Deceptively edited” is the impotent refuge of the guilty. Buckle up, plant dorks.
— Mann Made Cinema (@Hotshot_Movie) February 27, 2026
The attorney for the City of Los Angeles attempted to intimidate whistleblower Scott Pike during his deposition because the firefighter had contacted a personal attorney.
The nerve of these charlatans.
In this clip the attorneys for the City of Los Angeles try to harrass the whistleblower firefighter for consulting with a private attorney before his deposition because he is afraid of retaliation from the LAFD and the City for exposing the lies. Let that sink in. Every chief and… pic.twitter.com/SMNV9rWNs8
— 415FirePhoto (@415FirePhoto) February 27, 2026
…Let that sink in. Every chief and company officer at the LAFD that participated in this coverup needs to be fired immediately and the Mayor needs to be held accountable. This is unacceptable. 7,000 families lost their homes and 12 people burned to death and all the LAFD and Mayor Bass want to do is cover up the truth. The victims deserve better.
And there are still liars to root out.
Even with a multitude of text messages and witness testimony to the contrary, the new LA fire chief (as of November), Jaime Moore, says the battalion chief on duty that fateful day swears nobody told him the hill was still hot.
…Even with the internal investigation underway, Moore said he spoke with the battalion chief who was on duty during the Lachman fire mop-up.
“He swears to me that nobody ever told him verbally or through a text message that there was any hot spots,” Moore said.
Nope. Never heard anything about it.
Pinkie swear.
Whata snek pit.
Editor’s note: If we thought our job in pushing back against the Academia/media/Democrat censorship complex was over with the election, think again. This is going to be a long fight. If you want to join the conversation in the comments — and support independent platforms — why not join our VIP Membership program? Choose VIP to support Hot Air and access our premium content, VIP Gold to extend your access to all Townhall Media platforms and participate in this show, or VIP Platinum to get access to even more content and discounts on merchandise. Use the promo code FIGHT to join or to upgrade your existing membership level today, and get 60% off!
