They didn't fill the resovoirs
This is false. One of the areas that burned, The Palisades, has three giant water tanks that supply the water to the area. All three were completely full at the start of the day, as they always are, and are refilled throughout the night. Water was pumping into them 24/7. Due to the fire they were used 4x faster than normal, and so were drained. Then refilled. Then drained again. Then refilled. Etc etc. Now, if you want to ask "Why aren't the hydrants plugged into the wider city water so they don't need refilling?" Then that's a legit question, and the answer probably is "Well, they were made this way 50 years ago, and we haven't had the time/money/need to change that." It would probably take billions, cause a lot of delay, be for a purpose that would be extremely unlikely anyway, and upset a lot of very wealthy and loud NIMBY people, so they didn't.
The cut $17 million from the fire budget
True, but probably not the terrible thing you're obviously trying to make it out to be. First, the fire department came in UNDER BUDGET last year, by that exact amount, so they reduced it by that amount, which by the way, is 2% of the fire department budget. Second, the fire department (and, by the way, there are like 16 different fire departments, probably more, working on this fire. So, "the fire department" is not one entity.) spent $50 million more than their budget last year. "Wait, I thought you said they went under budget!" Yes, both can be true, can I explain how? When there is a disaster like this the fire department (all of them) does everything it can to fight these fires. They bring out all the big guns, all the equipment, spend untold hours of overtime, etc, and when it's an unprecedented disaster like this, state and federal funds often are used to reimburse the costs (As they are everywhere in the country). So, the fire departments do what they have to, and get paid for it. This "reduction" in their budget meant that maybe a couple fire trucks weren't repainted this year and will have to wait until next year. Nothing with fighting the fire.
They fired firefighters and are understaffed
This I can't speak to, but again, there is not one "fire department" on this event, there are firefighters from other states coming in, all over. So there are people, and resources aplenty.
The didn't comply with brush clearing
*Who* didn't comply with *what* brush clearing? You mean they didn't clear-cut the wilderness where all the animals live? Or do you mean the well-manicured lawns of the thousands of houses in the middle of cities had a couple decorative tree branches that were too close to their garage? You don't know what you're talking about and don't know the area.
The halted prescribed burns
We don't do those here. Because there are animals in the wilderness. And we like them and don't want to kill them. And the terrain is too complex. And probably 50 other reasons that you were not paying attention to.
The let storm water wash out to sea
What the hell does this even mean? When it rains we're supposed to prevent every drop from channeling through the thousands of streams and creeks and city drains to the sea? Where it has gone for literally hundreds of thousands of years? How? Also: where would we put all that water? My back yard has flooded 5 times since I've lived here. Am I supposed to build an underground reservoir in my backyard to stop it going to the street? There are places we store water, and they are FAR AWAY from the city. And they do collect everything they can. I don't know what you're thinking here, but it makes no sense.
Yeah... All climate change. Totally nothing we could have done.
Well, when you've had the driest start of winter in 60 years, and strongest winds in living memory, caused by a whole lot of extra energy being stored in the atmosphere due to the greenhouse effect of a bunch of extra carbon dioxide that wasn't there before, and you have a warmer ocean than you should have, and a bunch of other large-scale climatological situations, then... yea, partly it's climate change. And, "nothing we could have done"? I don't know about that, but the things we COULD do you don't seem interested in doing, like cutting carbon dioxide, investing in green energy, creating sustainable systems in infrastructure... so, I dono what you expect, but if you're upset that "nothing was done" maybe you should start by looking in the mirror and asking what YOU can do, eh?
From: A life-long LA resident who has dealt with fires and disasters my whole life.