It's the kind of scene that firefighters consider a "disaster waiting to happen”: bumper-to-bumper traffic on a narrow two-lane highway, hundreds of cars illegally parked on the shoulders, and 1,000 or more people camped out in the dry brush to get a prime view of Fourth of July fireworks, some of them smoking or setting off their own illegal fireworks.
But that's just what's been happening on a 3-mile stretch of Mulholland Drive through the Hollywood Hills west of the 101 Freeway on recent July Fourth holidays, and residents have been telling city officials for over a year it's a huge potential fire hazard.
"I think if we had a fire, and there's a very real chance of that happening, it would be mass panic. I don’t think people could get out," said Lindee Bowers, who lives in a modest house in the hills.
Residents worry with the July Fourth gridlock on Mulholland Drive, fire trucks and emergency vehicles couldn't get into the area if there was a fire or medical emergency.
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"Mulholland is the lifeblood of this community. And if it’s blocked, that means we’re trapped," said Stuart Wright, another hills resident.
Some firefighters liken the risk to the infamous Oakland Hills fire of 1991. The roads were so clogged with people trying to escape that some were incinerated in their cars, and 25 people died.
The city of LA classifies the hills all around Mulholland Drive as a "Very High Fire Hazard Severity" zone. After this year's heavy rains, there's a near-record amount of dry brush in the hills.
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But the area has become an increasingly popular place to illegally park and watch Fourth of July fireworks, due in part to social media.
"Beautiful view" of fireworks up on Mulholland, said one posting on TikTok, encouraging people to watch from up there.
So what is the city doing to avert a fiery disaster?
The I-Team asked the LA Fire Department to talk about it on camera, but officials refused and told NBC4 to talk to the LAPD. But for weeks, the LAPD didn't even respond to emails requesting to "speak with someone from LAPD about this safety hazard."
"I feel like everyone is passing the buck on this issue," said hills resident Lindee Bower. "There just isn’t any accountability with the city," she added.
So the I-Team took its questions about the potentially deadly situation to the area's city councilwoman, Nithya Raman, since residents have been asking her staff for a year to intervene.
Raman acknowledged that fire trucks couldn't get through Mulholland Drive on July Fourth with all the traffic up there.
She said she'd come up with a plan, along with the mayor's office and LAPD, to deal with the mass of cars and people there by adding "additional resources" to the area during Fourth of July.
The city plans to add two additional LAPD cars and one parking enforcement officer to the 3-mile stretch of Mulholland the night of the holiday.
"We're hopeful that with these additional resources we'll be able to manage the traffic," Raman told NBC4.
But residents say it will take a lot more than just one extra parking enforcement officer to ticket 400 or more illegally parked cars up there.
"The city's plan for July Fourth is a total failure. It's just not going to work," Bower said.
"Somehow they need to shut the traffic down. It's a huge fire hazard up here," she added.
The city does put up barricades to discourage non-residents from parking in the Hollywood Hills on busy nights at the Hollywood Bowl and Greek Theater.
Councilwoman Raman says shutting down Mullholland Drive July Fourth to non-residents isn't an option, and she's confident the city has a plan to avoid a fire disaster this upcoming Independence Day.
"My hope is that we can make it not happen, and if it doesn't work, I will commit to making sure that we learn from those lessons and really improve in the future," Raman told NBC4.
Late Thursday, an LAPD spokesperson confirmed the plan Raman gave the I-Team, but didn't provide any additional details.
Just hours before this story was first published, the LAFD still declined to answer the I-Team's questions, but sent NBC4 a video statement.
You can watch the statement below.
