LAFD Spox Profiting Off His Department's Massive Failures Is the Latest Insult to Palisades Fire Victims

After spending the year insulting the residents of Pacific Palisades by being the mouthpiece of the Los Angeles Fire Department's propaganda and deflection related to the Palisades Fire, LAFD Public Information Officer Erik Scott decided to add more insult to injury by hijacking their tragedy for his own personal profit.

Scott announced that he's written a memoir about the fire, "Calm Amidst Chaos: A Frontline Memoir of the Palisades Fire and the Voice That Guided a City," which is described as "a gripping, behind-the-scenes account of the January 2025 Palisades Fire," and dedicated to the 12 people killed in the fire and the firefighters who battled the blaze for weeks.

 If Scott was going to tell the truth about things like wind speeds, the effect of the empty Santa Ynez Reservoir in hampering the initial air assault, the failure to fully extinguish the Lachman Fire on January 1, and more, it might be helpful and worth reading. But he's not, and judging by the book's subtitle and the recommendations featured on the back cover, the book is really about him.

 

---

DIVE DEEPER: Bombshell: Key Reservoir Was EMPTY When Palisades Fire Started, Contributed to Loss of Homes and Life

---

Oh, and the biggest insult? Instead of releasing the book on a Tuesday, as is customary, he's releasing his book on January 7, the anniversary of the fire.

The back cover of the book, which features a foreword by Scott's buddy Sean Penn, says:

Behind the Flames Lies the Human Story of Courage and Resilience

When a wind-driven inferno swept across Southern California, it pushed first responders and entire communities to their limits. Amid hurricane-force winds, mass evacuations, and nonstop breaking news, millions searched for clarity in the chaos.

In Calm Amidst Chaos, Los Angeles Fire Captain and lead Public Information Officer Erik Scott delivers a gripping, behind-the-scenes account of the January 2025 Palisades Fire—one of the most complex emergencies the region has ever faced. Blending frontline interviews, on-scene observations, Hollywood’s red carpets, and leadership forged under impossible conditions, Scott reveals the human side of disaster: the emotional wreckage left behind, the toll on firefighters, and the quiet courage that carries a city through its darkest hours.

This is a non-political, deeply human memoir about resilience:

• Leading when the stakes are life and death
• Navigating the hidden challenges behind major incidents
• Witnessing communities rise from the ashes
• Finding calm when the world ignites

Equal parts cinematic and grounded, Calm Amidst Chaos is a tribute to courage, a study in leadership under fire, and a testament to what happens when ordinary people face extraordinary conditions—and how courage can spread faster than flames.

Palisades Fire victims don't want "equal parts cinematic and grounded"; they want truth and accountability. 

Scott had failed former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti endorse the book. Garcetti wrote:

“Captain Erik Scott has a gift for humanizing crises—his steady communication kept Angelenos informed and reassured when they needed it most. Calm Amidst Chaos is a powerful reflection and moving story of that same grace under pressure."

Color me skeptical, but I doubt many Angelenos were reassured by his voice.

Another endorsement perfectly describes the state of journalism in Los Angeles. Robert Kovacik, Anchor & Reporter, NBC Los Angeles, wrote:

"When breaking news unfolds in Los Angeles, Captain Erik Scott is the voice journalists trust. Calm Amidst Chaos takes you behind the cameras to show how leadership and empathy can save lives."

While Scott's been globe-trotting with his wife throughout 2025 when he's not working overtime, Palisades residents have been trying to rebuild their lives. Many of the homes that survived are uninhabitable due to the smoke damage, and at last count only about 200 out of the approximately 7,000 residences destroyed have started reconstruction. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass continually pat themselves on the back for spearheading the recovery effort, but their words are a stark contrast from the reality I saw when I recently drove through Pacific Palisades. This video of the Palisades Bluffs area is long, but necessary to show the scope of what's not happening in the area.

This is a long video but please watch to get a small taste of what it's really like in Pacific Palisades right now. This is from just one neighborhood.

Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass promised to expedite construction after the Palisades Fire, to cut red tape and regulations. In… pic.twitter.com/xwWRTApjQH

— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) December 10, 2025

Here's that "voice journalists trust" at the start of the Palisades Fire, bragging about LAFD's air assault capabilities.

And, just a few weeks later, setting LAFD's deflection narrative with the Wall Street Journal.

Profiting off of the disaster his department's ineptitude created is disgusting, but not entirely surprising.