Officials across the Los Angeles area had plenty of warning that a deadly confluence of wind and drought was coming. A bad fire was likely. Did they do enough to get ready?

A former Army pilot. An aging helicopter. Furious winds. The race to put out the Eaton fire tested Los Angeles County’s night-flying firefighters like never before.

As a disastrous fire continues to burn on the city’s west side, some are calling Chief Kristin Crowley to account: Why wasn’t the city better prepared?

“There were too many houses to protect, and not enough engines,” one fire captain in Los Angeles said. Though fire officials say they were well-prepared and simply overwhelmed by the elements, questions are being raised about whether the intensity of modern fires requires a new playbook.

Can a city lose an entire neighborhood now and simply shuffle on, dragging the local memory like a ghost limb?