Was response for fire slow?

Managing a fire, especially one that takes off as quickly as the Sand fire did, means making tough decisions in a challenging, dynamic and fluid situation, a fire official said Thursday in response to some claims they were late responding to the blaze.

On Friday, the day the fire broke out, one fire official was heard informing responders that there was no need for use of fixed-wing aircraft. That decision was rescinded within the hour.

On Sunday morning, fire officials announced permission for residents of homes evacuated in Sand Canyon to return to the their homes at 1 p.m. That decision, too, was rescinded within the hour when wind direction suddenly changed – and fire direction changed with it.

“Decision-making when it comes to firefighting is a very dynamic process,” Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Justin Correll said Thursday.

Changes in decisions made along the way are typical of fires, which by their nature are unpredictable, he said.

Responding to some Santa Clarita Valley residents’ claims that the department was slow to respond to the Sand fire, Correll said he could speak only in general terms about firefighting, not about specific allegations leveled by residents.

“Southern California is such an environment conducive of fires, there is a lot of training that goes into decision-making and a lot of experience,” he said.

“The highest level of experienced personnel is upheld and is currently here.”

Lynne Plambeck, elected board member of the Newhall County Water District, said in a letter to The Signal that she wants to know why the fire wasn’t stopped before it became a conflagration.

“The map of this fire shows it emerging from a rather narrow bottleneck. Why wasn’t it stopped there? Why weren’t helicopters and (fire retardant) drops initiated immediately while the fire was still in that narrow area?”

Some posters on The Signal’s website also claimed the department was slow to respond to the Sand fire.