Santa Monica probes misinformation it spread during Palisades fire Play

Santa Monica officials are trying to get to the bottom of why confusing and inaccurate information was put out by the city during the Palisades fire.

At one point, Santa Monica City Hall was telling the news media and the public that the fire had burned south into Santa Monica. It had not, but the misinformation added to massive confusion on Pacific Coast Highway and in Pacific Palisades.

The frantic evacuation of Pacific Palisades down onto the beach has yet to be addressed by either the city of Los Angeles or the city of Santa Monica. Cars were abandoned on Sunset Boulevard, people ran for their lives to the sand, and cars were bulldozed out of the way so fire trucks could get up into the Palisades.

Santa Monica has no evacuation plan. One resident asked at a city council meeting how many people the evacuation routes could actually move, and how quickly. The North of Montana Association has asked for a study to account for how increased housing density in Santa Monica would affect evacuation capacity.

The fire came within a half mile of Santa Monica's northern boundary but caused no damage to the city. One city council member last week apologized for personally putting out bad information, reporting that the fire had crossed into Santa Monica.

The big question from Santa Monica residents is how they should evacuate during an emergency. The big question from Malibu is how PCH will be kept from clogging up again next time.