After the Palisades fire, some people began to say we need to keep Santa Monica Airport open in case of a similar disaster.
This same argument was used in 2014, when aviation interests said we needed to keep the airport open in case of an earthquake. The claim was undermined by the fact that during the 1994 Northridge quake, Santa Monica Airport was immediately shut down as being unsafe.
Recently, CalFire Unit Chief Shane Littlefield spoke at a meeting of the North of Montana Residents Association, and some reports claimed he’d said the airport was important during the Palisades fire. In fact, Chief Littlefield made it clear that, although the fire was just three miles from Santa Monica Airport, the actual firefighting took place from the airports at Van Nuys and Camarillo. If you do a Google search for videos of firefighting aircraft from those airports, you’re spoiled for choice. But for Santa Monica Airport, there’s nothing—despite it having one of the most active plane-spotter communities around.
There are several reasons why Santa Monica Airport played almost no part in fighting the fires in the Palisades. First, the runway is too short for the fixed-wing aircraft used to drop water on fires. Even if the runway were longer, Santa Monica couldn’t be used because the flight path of planes coming out of there intersects over Santa Monica Bay with planes coming out of LAX. They have to be carefully scheduled to avoid clashes. You can’t fight a wildfire with water-dropping planes stuck in line behind passenger flights at LAX—it would be chaos.
In fact, Santa Monica Airport has neither the space nor the facilities for fighting wildfires, which is why most of the activity took place from the airports at Van Nuys and Camarillo. If you need to use helicopters for wildfires or other emergencies, all you need is a flat, 35-foot circle with no obstructions. One of the design options for the Great Park is a great lawn, which could include such a space. That’s what Chief Littlefield actually said they want:
“A lot of areas we go to, we use just open space, whether it be a large park. We just need the space. Open space is a huge asset for us in any response.
“Initially, during the start of the Palisades fire, Santa Monica Airport was talked about to use as an Incident Command Post. But part of that discussion was would the airport would really want to shut down for a month and a half or two months.”
So, the emergency services themselves aren’t saying they need nearly 200 acres of asphalt and concrete to do their job. What they are saying is that they need exactly the kind of space that will be provided by the Great Park, opening January 1st, 2029—provided we all keep our eyes on the ball.
