What happened during the first four days of the Eaton, Palisades fires

Wildfires engulfing Los Angeles are likely to exacerbate the region’s housing affordability crisis now and long into the future, housing analysts and advocates said.

Rents will increase, especially near the epicenter of massive fires around the Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Those planning to rebuild their homes will face intense competition for contractors. And impacts on wavering home insurance markets could lead to greater costs for all Angelenos.

Before the fires they mostly tracked police pursuits and crimes in progress — maybe the occasional building fire.

But over the last week, since major fires began ravaging huge swaths of Los Angeles County, “scanners” on X — accounts who listen obsessively to police and fire radio chatter, then transcribe what they hear into digestible posts — have grown exponentially in popularity.

Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump on Friday inviting the incoming leader to California to meet with fire victims, survey the devastation in Los Angeles County and join him in thanking first responders.

The invitation, which the governor’s office said was emailed to Trump’s team, marks a change in tone in the political battle between Newsom and Trump.

When Mayor Karen Bass unveiled her budget plan for 2024-25, she called for a 2.7% reduction in spending at the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Her proposal, unveiled in April, sought $23 million in cuts to the department, with much of it focused on reduced equipment purchases.

But while her citywide spending proposal was being reviewed, Bass was also in closed-door negotiations over a major boost in pay for the city’s 3,300 firefighters. Those pay hikes — four years of raises and an array of other financial incentives — were not finalized until several months after her budget went into effect.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered an investigation into the causes behind water supply problems that left fire hydrants dry and hampered firefighting efforts during the devastating fires in Southern California.

Newsom’s demand for answers came amid criticism of city officials in Los Angeles over their handling of the disaster and questions about whether local water-related decisions and planning played a role in depriving firefighters of water during the most destructive fires in L.A. history. The governor has also come under criticism, largely on social media and in right-wing media coverage, for the state’s handling of the disaster.

A large reservoir in Pacific Palisades that is part of the Los Angeles water supply system was out of commission when a ferocious wildfire destroyed thousands of homes and other structures nearby, the Los Angeles Times found.

Officials said that the Santa Ynez Reservoir had been closed since about February for repairs to its cover, leaving a 117-million-gallon water storage complex empty in the heart of the Palisades for nearly a year.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has issued a moratorium that bars insurers from canceling or non-renewing home policies in the Pacific Palisades and the San Gabriel Valley’s Eaton fire zones.

The moratorium, issued Thursday, protects homeowners living within the perimeter of the fire and in adjoining ZIP codes from losing their policies for one year, starting from when Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Wednesday.

As quickly as the Sunset fire started charring through Runyon Canyon in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, an AI-generated photo of the Hollywood sign ablaze was rapidly circulating on social media.

It was just one example of misinformation surrounding the Los Angeles-area fires spreading on social media, and experts warn that false information during natural disaster events disrupts recovery efforts and harms community trust.

A man “attempting to start a fire” Thursday in a West Hills neighborhood that was burning from the Kenneth fire is under investigation in connection with the nearly 1,000-acre blaze, according to law enforcement officials and a document reviewed by The Times.

Juan Sierra, 33, was arrested by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Topanga Division around 5:30 p.m. after he was seen attempting to spark a fire, according to a law enforcement email obtained by The Times.

It is expected to take some time to determine the death toll from this week’s Los Angeles firestorms.

Officials confirmed 10 people died in the Eaton and Palisades fires, but Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna said that number is likely to rise.

A brush fire broke out Friday in Granada Hills.

The Archer fire had burned about three acres near the 17000 block of Sesnon Boulevard and was growing at a moderate speed, said fire officials. Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said the area was hit with erratic winds.

LAFD firefighters are on the scene along water-dropping aircraft. Officials said they were making progress.

It is burning west of the Hurst fire, which erupted in Sylmar earlier this week.

Evacuations

At 11:45 a.m., a mandatory evacuation order was downgraded to an evacuation warning for Balboa Boulevard at the 5 Freeway to Tampa Avenue; Session Boulevard to Sunshine Canyon Road.

Roads

Residents in those areas should leave, officials say. Others should avoid the area.

A small brush fire broke out Friday in Granada Hills.

The Archer Fire had burned about three acres near 17278 Sesnon Boulevard and was growing at only a moderate speed, said fire officials, who hoped to control it.

Walt Disney Co.’s KABC-TV Channel 7 station, which uses communications towers near Mt. Wilson, lost its over-the-air signal Friday as the Eaton fire continued its rampage through mountainous terrain.

Separately, radio station KLOS-FM 95.5, which also uses transmission facilities in the Angeles National Forest, went off the air overnight. Public broadcaster PBS SoCal lost signals for nearly 24 hours before transmissions were restored Friday morning.

The rapidly spreading wildfires are not only upending the lives of tens of thousands of Los Angeles County residents and business owners, but also stressing the region’s hospitals, health clinics, first responders and nursing homes.

At least one medical clinic burned down. Senior patients were evacuated by ambulance from nursing facilities as embers swirled around them and their providers. Medical offices have closed, and routine appointments have been canceled. Some providers have lost homes or had to evacuate their neighborhoods, keeping them from work in many cases and making it a challenge for some healthcare centers to maintain sufficient staffing.

Los Angeles County is experiencing a once-in-a-generation wildfire event, spurred on by a once-in-a-decade windstorm. A true catalog of the destruction is almost impossible to assemble at this date, since any figures are quickly rendered obsolete by the ongoing infernos.

What is possible is to trace the natural factors that conspired to produce such an apocalyptic result, and explain how these factors will likely continue to cause devastation across the country in the coming days.

County officials apologized Friday after residents across the Los Angeles area continued to receive erroneous emergency alerts that urged them to prepare to evacuate, even though many were not close to any of the fires sweeping across the foothills of the sprawling metropolis.

Residents were awoken in the middle of the night Friday by the now-familiar buzz and chime: “An EVACUATION WARNING has been issued in your area.” Panic ensued as many were left to make a quick decision — was it time to grab their bags and leave?

The Palisades fire, the most devastating in L.A. history, is now 6% contained.

Firefighters are beginning to make progress on the blaze, which burned about 20,000 acres and a huge swath of Pacific Palisades.

L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna announced several measures Thursday to ramp up security in areas that have been evacuated because of devastating fires in the area. More than 20 arrests have been made on suspicion of looting over the last few days.

“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has officially requested the support of the California National Guard for both fires,” Luna said. “They will be assisting us with traffic control and critical infrastructure protection.”

Officials said they are making progress in protecting two key institutions from the Eaton fire.

Don Fregulia, an operations section chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which has joined in the Eaton fire response, said that efforts to protect Mt. Wilson had proved successful and he expected that to remain the case.

The unprecedented scale of the destruction in Pacific Palisades came into horrifying focus Thursday from a fire that flattened a large swath of the community, rendering it unrecognizable.

As the smoke began to clear after two days of intense fire, Pacific Palisades appeared more like a moonscape of destruction than an upscale neighborhood known for its ocean views, beautiful vistas and celebrity denizens. Entire swaths of the residential district, from its quaint village to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, were completely gone, the architectural whimsy and lush landscaping reduced to burned-out ruins with white smoke still billowing from the wreckage.

SACRAMENTO —  As lawmakers regrouped Thursday after fiery devastation across Los Angeles, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas vowed to back legislation to help homeowners expedite insurance claims, while Senate leader Mike McGuire delivered a tearful floor speech addressing California’s “hellish week.”

“Words cannot explain the absolute shock, horror, sorrow surrounding the devastation that we see day in and day out,” McGuire (D-Healdsburg) said. “The residents of L.A. County need to hear us loud and clear. We have your back. But first and foremost, we have to get these damn fires out.”

All evacuation warnings have been lifted for the Kenneth fire, which was burning in eastern Ventura County near Calabasas.

The fire broke out Thursday evening and burned about 900 acres.

The confirmed death toll in the Los Angeles wildfires doubled Thursday night — from five fatalities to 10.

The office of the Los Angeles County medical examiner announced it was investigating 10 fire-related deaths as of 9 p.m. Thursday. No information was available on the identity of the deceased or the location of the deaths.

As crews have fought the fast-spreading fires across the Los Angeles area, they have repeatedly been hampered by low water pressure and fire hydrants that have gone dry. These problems have exposed what experts say are vulnerabilities in city water supply systems not built for wildfires on this scale.

The water system that supplies neighborhoods simply doesn’t have the capacity to deliver such large volumes of water over several hours, said Martin Adams, former general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

An experimental smoke forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggests smoke will move east toward the Los Angeles area by Friday night.

Smoke forecast

0–3 micrograms per cubic meter

3–25

25–63

63-158

158+

Jan. 9, 10 p.m.

Jan. 10, 10 a.m.

Jan. 10, 10 p.m.

The Palisades fire broke out Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. amid dangerously high winds and dry conditions, leaving dry vegetation primed to burn.

These maps show the blaze’s rapid spread.

World Central Kitchen, the global humanitarian aid organization spearheaded by celebrity chef José Andrés, is operating in three locations in Los Angeles to provide meals for first responders and families affected by the Southern California fires.

The local relief team mobilized on Tuesday, partnering with L.A. chefs and restaurants including Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken of Socalo and Border Grill, Roy Choi’s Kogi BBQ and Nate ’n Al’s chef Tony Leitera.

World Central Kitchen is serving free meals at the following locations: the Pasadena Convention Center, the Rose Bowl and St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge.

As of 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, the relief team had served 3,250 meals — 1,850 sandwiches and 1,400 hot meals.

Locations could expand and change, depending on the fires’ projected movements, said Carrie Hayes, a spokesperson for World Central Kitchen.

“Currently our teams are scouting for communities and first responders in need … and delivering the meals,” she said. “As always, we will scale our meal counts according to hour-by-hour assessments on the ground as to the need in particular areas.”

After the firefighters had moved on from neighborhoods reduced to rubble, officials from a different arm of local government arrived in white vans.

Investigators from the Los Angeles County medical examiner sifted through razed homes in Altadena and Malibu on Thursday as they continue to recover the remains of those killed in the Eaton and Palisades fires.

Los Angeles police have taken a man into custody on suspicion of arson after a witness reported seeing him attempting to start a fire in the Woodland Hills area, an LAPD spokesperson said.

A caller reported a man attempting to light a fire in the 21700 block of Ybarra Road at 4:22 p.m.

LAPD Senior Lead Officer Charles Dinse told News Nation that the department believes the Kenneth fire was intentionally set. But police told The Times that they could not connect the suspect to the Kenneth fire at this time.

The investigation is ongoing, police said. The suspect was being held at the LAPD Topanga station.

A fire broke out at the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties on Thursday afternoon and was spreading rapidly, threatening numerous hillside homes in the Calabasas and Hidden Hills areas.

The Kenneth fire ignited adjacent to a trailhead near Victory Boulevard around 2:30 p.m.

Around 5,300 of these structures were destroyed in the Palisades fire, while another 4,000 to 5,000 structures were estimated to be damaged or destroyed in the Eaton fire burning in the Altadena area.

Wind speeds dipped slightly Thursday morning in Los Angeles County, offering a brief respite for firefighters battling the deadly wildfires that have continued to ravage the region.

But after that lull, winds are expected to pick back up Thursday night, according to Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Oxnard.

All mandatory evacuation orders were lifted for residents near the Hurst fire, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Evacuation warnings remain in place for west of Interstate 5, north of Orcutt Lease Trail Road, south of East Canyon Mountainway, Sunshine Canyon Mountainway west of Ridge Fire road, and areas near Weldon Canyon, Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Sylmar and the Oak Tree Gun Club in Newhall.

An evacuation warning was also lifted for the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar. That came as a relief to the L.A. County Probation Department, which was preparing to relocate 96 youths from the facility.

Juvenile justice advocates and defense attorneys had been demanding the kids be moved ever since the Hurst fire ignited Tuesday night.

The Rams were scheduled to play the Vikings on Monday night at SoFi Stadium, but the NFL announced Thursday that the game is being moved to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. The decision was made in consultation with public officials, the participating clubs and the NFLPA.

A drone collided with a firefighting aircraft flying over the Palisades fire on Thursday, causing the plane to be grounded for several days of repairs and leading to an investigation into who flew the drone against flight restrictions, officials said.

“We hit a drone this afternoon — first one,” said L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone on Thursday. “Our Super Scooper hit a small drone.”

Officials said Thursday that at least 10 people were killed and more than 9,000 homes, businesses and other buildings appeared to have been damaged or destroyed in the Palisades and Eaton fires.

Around 5,300 of these structures were destroyed in the Palisades fire, while another 4,000 to 5,000 structures were estimated to be damaged or destroyed in the Eaton fire burning in the Altadena area.

Los Angeles County will likely implement a 6 p.m. curfew Thursday in the areas around the Palisades and Eaton fires in an effort to combat looting.

At least 20 people have already been arrested on suspicion of looting during the wildfires raging in Los Angeles, according to officials.

“As we work through the legal process to get that done, the goal is to try and implement it tonight,” L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

Read the full story here.

This week’s devastating Southern California wildfires and the winds fueling them have caused widespread and prolonged power outages and planned shutoffs that are upending the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across the region.

As the outages drag on, they are sparking anger and frustration from customers, including those who are many miles from the active fires or evacuation zones in Los Angeles County and have struggled to understand why their power was cut, and why it has not been restored.

Health officials are advising residents to avoid contact with ocean water across a swath of coastal Los Angeles County due to potential debris and runoff contamination from firefighting efforts in the area.

The advisory, issed Thursday afternoon, covers ocean and bay waters from Surfrider Beach in Malibu to Dockweiler State Beach at World Way — “especially near discharging storm drains, creeks, rivers and fire-damaged oceanfront properties,” according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

Health officials said the advisory was motivated by “the unknown quantity of firefighting runoff, including potentially toxic chemicals and debris, that have entered the ocean as a result of firefighting efforts.”

The department said the advisory would remain in effect until three days after the end of firefighting efforts in the area.

Vicky Collison and Andrew Grinsfelder hurried past a burning home on an upscale residential street just off Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades. There were piles of rubble on all sides and glowing embers swirled in the air.

The mother and son had just checked on a friend’s house threatened by the massive Palisades fire, and they were headed off to stop by another home. It was a grim duty. Metal railings or a charred brick chimney were all that remained to distinguish the ashen piles.

WASHINGTON —  President Biden pledged Thursday that the federal government will cover 100% of disaster assistance costs to California for the next 180 days and emphatically tied the devastating wildfires to human-caused climate change.

Biden referenced a phrase from the poem “Easter, 1916” by poet William Butler Yeats, who wrote, “All changed, changed utterly: / A terrible beauty is born.”

Nic Libonati was drinking Turkish tea with his sister on Tuesday morning as he started his day in Pacific Palisades.

She leaned over to pour the 21-year-old boot salesman more tea in their home office when she glanced out the window.

A one to two acre fire broke out on Big Tujunga Canyon Road in the Angeles National Forest Thursday afternoon, the forest service reported.

It appeared to be tied to an overturned vehicle, but immediately details weren’t available, though officials said it was “burning uphill, moderate rate of spread.”

U.S. Forest Service officials said the fire danger level in the Angeles National Forest had increased to a critical level Wednesday, which pushed authorities to temporarily close the forest. It remained closed Thursday through at least next week.

One by one, cars, SUVs and trucks were pulling up nonstop to the entrance of Loyola High on Thursday, dropping off food, clothing, toiletries, games — anything and everything necessary for a family that lost everything to the fires devastating Los Angeles.

“This is magical. This is the fabric of what we are,” said Loyola principal Jamal Adams, whose grandmother lost her home in Altadena.

The Eaton fire made a run up toward Mt. Wilson on Thursday afternoon, threatening the esteemed observatory and its antenna, which provides key broadcasting services for local TV and radio stations.

But officials said they were able to protect the site.

“We’re actively engaged there and, so far, no loss to any values at risk at Mt. Wilson,” said Don Fregulia, an operations section chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which has joined in the Eaton fire response. “We’re feeling good about what we have to do up there tonight to keep that site secure.”

Fregulia said he expects crews to be able to keep the upper hand against the fire around Mt. Wilson, though other areas remain a challenge.

Early Thursday, Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Anthony Marrone said much of the Eaton fire had been “significantly stopped,” but that was before it surged up to Mt. Wilson.

The charge ended up expanding the footprint of the fire by about 3,000 acres. Still, Marrone said winds had been much more manageable than earlier this week, allowing more air units to fly.

“We’re hoping that the weather is going to continue to cooperate so we can get some perimeter line in on the fire,” he said.

The fire had also spread close to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, Fregulia said. That’s a priority and crews were “making good progress there as well.”

However, the battle against the fire becomes more challenging in higher elevations given the stronger winds, he said.

“We get the aircraft up and we get them flying, and then it’s just too dangerous for the pilots and they have to come back down,” he said. “So it’s a constant evaluation. … We’re being successful when we’re able to fly them.”

Mt. Wilson Observatory evacuated all but a skeleton crew of staff on Wednesday as the Eaton fire approached, according to the institution’s Facebook page. On Thursday, it was included in an expansion of mandatory evacuation orders.

“We are relieved to report that the flare-up of the Eaton fire near the Observatory seems to be under control at the moment,” the observatory posted on Facebook. “There are fires below the towers and parking lot, but fire crews are monitoring the situation, letting the fire consume the fuel. There are 14 or so trucks, 80 or so firefighters, from around the state. We are eternally grateful to the firefighters and our mountain staff for their dedication to keeping the mountain safe.“

The observatory, whose buildings date from the early 20th century, has survived multiple wildfire scares. The 2020 Bobcat fire came within 500 feet of the observatory, and left a large burn scar that fortuitously now stands between the institution’s buildings and the approaching Eaton fire, Tim Thompson, a volunteer with the Mt. Wilson Institute, which manages the site, said in a Facebook post.

Before the proliferation of light pollution in greater Los Angeles, Mt. Wilson was for decades the best place on Earth to study the stars.

In addition to frequent concerts, talks and tours, the observatory is still used for scientific research. Georgia State University’s Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy Array runs a sextet of optical interferometric telescopes known as the CHARA Array at the site, the largest telescopes of their kind in the world.

The Lakers’ game against the Charlotte Hornets scheduled for Thursday has been postponed because of the continuing wildfire crisis in Los Angeles County, the league and team announced.

The game, which was slated to tip off at 7:30 p.m. at Crypto.com Arena, will be rescheduled at a later date. Tickets for Thursday’s game will be honored on the makeup date.

Los Angeles Times reporter James Rainey reporterd from Carbon Beach in Malibu, witnessing the massive destruction from the recent fires.

We’re speaking with Angelenos about the immense losses caused by the Palisades and Eaton fires. If you’re open to talking to a Times reporter about your home, and what home means to you, please fill out the form below and we’ll get in touch.

Victoria Ramirez has four children in school and a job to report to, so she understands the inconvenience of closing schools for any reason.

Yet she supported the decision to close campuses Thursday and Friday in the Los Angeles Unified School District as the region deals with an ongoing fire emergency.

The Getty Villa, the museum built by oil tycoon J. Paul Getty and home to thousands of priceless antiquities, activated its emergency operations center in response to the fast-moving Palisades fire at 10:40 a.m. Tuesday. At 11:44 a.m., fire could be seen over the ridge, less than one mile away. By 12:27, flames had reached the property.

Fast-moving, wildly unpredictable and catastrophic in the damage it caused along a vast swath of prime coastline, the Palisades fire ultimately spared the Villa and its more than 44,000 objects, including many Roman, Greek and Etruscan relics dating from 6500 BC to AD 400.

Wide swaths of L.A. County lay scorched after devastating fires. Long-standing restaurants that once defined the coastline were partially damaged or completely destroyed, including Gladstones, Moonshadows and Reel Inn in Malibu, as well as a growing number of Altadena restaurants.

Some don’t know whether they’ll be able to reopen.

The Eaton fire, which broke out Tuesday night near Eaton Canyon, has burned 10,600 acres in Altadena and Pasadena, spurring numerous evacuations.

By Thursday morning, some of the evacuations in Glendale were beginning to lift. City officials notified residents in Glenoaks Canyon and Chevy Chase Canyon that it was safe to return to their homes.

Read the full story.

WASHINGTON —  The destruction caused by the Los Angeles-area wildfires, possibly the worst ever in California, is almost certain to rank as one of the most costly natural disasters in U.S. history, with the total economic toll well into the tens of billions of dollars.

One preliminary estimate calculated by AccuWeather, the weather forecasting service, put the damage and total economic loss at $52 billion to $57 billion — a sum that could rise if the fires continue to spread. Late Thursday, AccuWeather said the loss could be as much as three times its earlier estimate.

The first thing Miles Soboroff noticed on Tuesday morning was the wind.

It was about 8 a.m., and he was sitting in front of his computer at his in-laws’ home on the west side of the Pacific Palisades in the Marquez Knolls neighborhood. He and his pregnant wife, Shana Tavangarian Soboroff, have been temporarily living there while building a house nearby.

At least 20 people have been arrested on suspicion of looting during the wildfires raging in Los Angeles County, according to officials.

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said at a Thursday news conference that sheriff’s deputies have arrested people in evacuation zones.

Los Angeles firefighters reached 100% containment on the Sunset fire Thursday, which had triggered mandatory evacuation orders and massive traffic jams in Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills late Wednesday.

“It’s a miracle that no homes burned here,” one firefighter told The Times on Wednesday evening. Hours earlier, the flames had approached the mansions that line North Curson Avenue. By 10:30 p.m., flames were barely visible on the distant hillside.

Wind speeds weakened across the Los Angeles region Thursday morning, with isolated gusts reaching 35 miles per hour in the Malibu area and 58 miles per hour in the San Gabriel Mountains, said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Oxnard.

But after a lull throughout the day, winds are expected to strengthen Thursday night.

“We’ll get a little bump up in winds as we get another little push of offshore flow,” Wofford said. “Nothing like we saw yesterday with the gusts of 80 to 100 miles per hour winds, but certainly enough to present some issues for the fires. … It’s kind of like a day on, day off sort of thing. At least until the middle of next week we’re going to be in that pattern.”

Late Wednesday, the National Weather Service downgraded the fire weather outlook for the region from “extremely critical” to “critical.” Wofford said Los Angeles residents should be prepared for a succession of sustained high wind events that could intensify fire risk.

“On Monday night into Tuesday, the winds will pick up again, with gusts of up to 60 miles per hour possible in some of the inland areas and mountains and getting down into some of the valleys.”

Exacerbating the hazardous conditions, humidity levels remain low. No rain is forecast over the next few days.

“We’re not going to have any rain,” Wofford said, “so any spark that happens from whatever ignition source could certainly trigger some fires.”

Arturo Garcia said he’s been working in the Palisades for 17 hours nonstop. His partner has been awake for over 24.

Like the firefighters he was surrounded by the night before, he’s guarding homes — not against the flames, but against looters, who might see opportunity in an affluent neighborhood suddenly deserted.

As thousands of Southern Californians flee fires to seek temporary lodging, a hotel room is suddenly a more valuable commodity — and hotel prices are big question. But California law is designed to keep the lodging rates flat at moments such as these.

Discover Los Angeles, the city’s principal tourism promotion organization, has listed more than 20 area hotels offering relief accommodations at varying rates.

State law prohibits businesses from boosting prices on hotels, motels and other temporary rental housing by more than 10% for 30 days after a local or state agency has declared an emergency.

The same law also bans price boosts for gas, transportation, food, emergency supplies, medical supplies and building supplies. Legal penalties could include up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine.

That monthlong limit is a substantial difference from business as usual at major hotels, which often adjust prices daily in response to demand, prices rising as vacancies dwindle. The emergency means hotels must stick with the rates they were charging before the emergency was declared.

The Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles reported that its members “are currently taking in thousands of Angelenos who have been displaced by the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires. Many of our hotels are providing guests with discounted rates and the necessities they may have left behind in their evacuation, including toiletries. Many hotels are also taking in pets. … We stand ready to continue assisting Angelenos and first responders during this crisis.”

Leaders at the Sacramento-based California Hotel & Lodging Assn. sent out an alert Wednesday morning to remind members of the 10% price-boost limit, urging all “to be mindful of the needs of our communities and avoid any form of price gouging within the lodging industry.”

It is a strange consequence of an always-on culture: at least a handful of people whose homes were destroyed in the Palisades fire learned of that dark fate via their mobile devices or television.

Shana Tavangarian Soboroff, a residential real estate agent who lives in Pacific Palisades, said that a few of her clients “found out their homes had gotten [burned] through their ADT security system.” She said they had received mobile alerts that said “fire alarm going off,” or a telephone call with similar information.

Another of Soboroff’s clients found out by watching television — the person’s home was burning on screen.

That Palisades resident wasn’t alone: Malibu evacuee Linda Stelzner said a neighbor’s son in Europe saw on television that the family home was on fire. And he had to break the news to his mother, who by then had evacuated.

Stelzner, 88, didn’t know the fate of her own home, and spent Tuesday night at a Red Cross emergency shelter in Westwood. After speaking to a Times reporter Wednesday afternoon, she got up from her seat — to watch a nearby television showing news of the inferno.

“This was much too close, and much too severe,” she said of the fire.

This week’s extraordinarily dangerous fire weather has improved somewhat Wednesday night, but red flag fire weather conditions will persist through much of Friday night for a wide swath of Southern California.

The National Weather Service said winds trended downward on Wednesday, and forecasters at 4 p.m. ended its declaration that weather conditions constituted a “particularly dangerous situation.”

But weather conditions still favor spread of wildfire, and gusty winds and very dry air continue to be a threat. By Thursday afternoon, winds are expected to bump back up along the region’s Santa Ana wind corridors, with gusts from the northeast of up to 40 mph, and isolated gusts of up to 70 mph.

Winds should peak Thursday evening into early Friday morning, the weather service said.

The weather service warned that foothills facing the south could face erratic winds, “which may lead to chaotic fire growth.”

The good news, though, is that the “mountain wave winds” that sent extraordinary gusts into Pasadena and Altadena, whipping up the Eaton fire, “are rapidly subsiding,” the weather service said. It’s estimated that 1,000 structures were either damaged or destroyed in the Eaton fire.

“Mountain wave wind” activity is a phenomenon that can cause short-lived but extremely destructive winds, particularly in the San Gabriel Valley and foothills.

Mountain wave wind activity occurs when gusts rapidly drop down mountain slopes, then gain strength upon hitting a flat landscape, causing “brief bursts of very strong, dangerous winds,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Rich Thompson.

The weekend could provide some temporary relief. But early next week, there’s about a 50% chance of a moderate-to-strong Santa Ana wind event Monday into Tuesday.

Southern California was particularly vulnerable to devastating wildfire in large part due to a lack of rain.

Since Oct. 1, the beginning of the water year, downtown Los Angeles has received 0.16 of an inch of rain — a tiny fraction of the average 4.64 inches that the area gets by this point in the season. The dry brush paired with extreme winds created a catastrophic scenario.

Santa Monica has issued an emergency curfew in neighborhoods ordered evacuated due to risk from the Palisades fire.

The curfew will persist from sunset to sunrise in areas where a mandatory evacuation order is in place, which is affecting northern Santa Monica.

Evacuation orders are in place for areas northwest of Montana Avenue and southwest of 11th Street, as well as all areas northwest of San Vicente Boulevard.

An evacuation warning is in place for the rest of Santa Monica that is northwest of Montana Avenue, as well as a swath of the city northwest of Wilshire Boulevard that is also southwest of 10th Street.

“It’s like Armageddon,” Canyon Bakery owner Patrice Winter said. “That’s all I can say. What they’re showing on the news is really real; they’re not sensationalizing any of this. It’s what I saw with my own eyes. It rocks your world.”

Winter was preparing pastries from the kitchen of her bakery Tuesday for the weekly Topanga Farmers Market when she saw a plume of black smoke: Something wasn’t right, she told her husband and business partner. Moments later, they received an app notification that the Palisades fire was raging through the Santa Monica Mountains and toward them. Winds tunneled through the canyon community. Neighbors began evacuating, and Winter, a resident of Topanga Canyon for 55 years, knew she had to leave. She’s seen fires before, but never like this one.

Jason Deach and Mike Griswold — two handymen at the Zorthian Ranch, an artists colony in Altadena — had escaped the flames hours earlier, racing into the smoke, wind howling, buildings burning, trees exploding around them.

“We started hearing about the fire around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday,” Griswold said. “The winds were blowing hard, and the flames were eating the canyon. Brush was catching fire everywhere, all around us. Embers hitting us in the face. We started loading up at 3:30 a.m. We went south.”

Firefighters scrambled to corral a fast-moving wildfire in the Los Angeles hillsides dotted with celebrity homes as a “life-threatening, destructive” windstorm hit Southern California, fanning the blaze seen for miles while roads were clogged with cars as residents tried to flee.

Forecasters warned the worst may be yet to come with the windstorm predicted to last for days, producing isolated gusts that could top 100 mph in mountains and foothills.

Firefighters extinguished a fire that engulfed a four-story home before spreading into surrounding brush in Studio City on Wednesday night, officials said.

More than 50 firefighters knocked down the fire with no injuries reported, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Officials said the structure fire led to small spot fires and some damage to other buildings. The extent of the damage was not yet known.

The blaze was reported just before 9 p.m., as high winds and low humidity continued to ravage the Los Angeles region and fuel multiple major fires.

The Fire Department responded to a call for a structure fire at a four-story home at 3656 N. Sunswept Drive at 8:52 p.m.

Aerial footage captured by KTLA-TV Channel 5 showed crews blasting water at burning structures situated amid vegetation on winding hillside roads.

Helicopters also responded to the blaze, KTLA reported.

Adam VanGerpen, spokesperson for the L.A. County Fire Department, told the news outlet there was “some ember-casting” from the burning structure. “With the winds picking up there in the hills, that is a concern.”

With thousands of structures destroyed by wildfires that continue to rage out of control around Los Angeles, homeowners and business owners face a long road ahead to recoup their losses.

Filing an insurance claim is one of the many tasks to take care of after the loss of a home or business. It is lengthy process that has become more fraught as insurance companies have canceled or scaled back coverage in fire-prone areas.

Firefighters made significant progress battling a fast-moving fire burning in Runyon Canyon in the Hollywood Hills overnight and evacuation orders were lifted Thursday morning.

The fire had been burning south toward Hollywood Boulevard. Firefighters on scene said the fire had been 50 acres at its peak.

Among the carnage wrought by the devastating Palisades fire were two pieces of California history dating to a bygone era.

Will Rogers’ historic ranch house, owned by the famous social commentator, actor and performer, and the Topanga Ranch Motel, built by newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst, were victims of the fires that have wreaked havoc throughout Southern California over the last two days, according to California State Parks Director Armando Quintero.

Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar is now under an “evacuation warning” because of the Hurst fire, according to probation officials, but authorities have not yet moved the nearly 100 juveniles who remain locked up inside one of L.A. County’s most troubled jail facilities.

As of 6 p.m., the 850-acre blaze prompted the warning, according to Vicky Waters, communications director for the L.A. County Probation Department, which oversees the county’s juvenile halls.

Waters said there are 96 juveniles currently at Nidorf, the location of the county’s Secure Youth Treatment Facility, which houses some youths accused of serious crimes. The Hurst fire began burning Tuesday night just on the other side of the 210 Freeway, less than two miles from Nidorf hall.

Waters said early Wednesday that although “air quality is poor, precautions are being taken to protect the youth and staff” inside Nidorf. Air purifiers were being used inside the facility, she said.

“The Department has deployed additional staff to assist with any emergency or possible evacuations,” she said. “We are prepared and have plans in place should an evacuation order be issued.”

The Sylmar Courthouse inside the juvenile hall was closed Wednesday due to the Hurst fire and will remain closed on Thursday. Camp Kilpatrick in Malibu, which is about 20 miles from the site of the Palisades fire, has also not been evacuated and is not subject to an evacuation order, Waters said. About 20 youth are housed there.

Nidorf hall used to be home to a larger population of juveniles, but most of the facility was shut down by the California Board of State and Community Corrections in 2023 because of staffing issues and other regulatory violations. The Secure Youth Treatment Facility remains open, as it is not under that regulatory board’s jurisdiction.

News that the youth had yet to be evacuated drew outrage from some juvenile justice advocates on Wednesday.

“This is another example of how the County, City, and Probation Department do not care about our youth,” said Alex Trantham, secretary of the union that represents L.A. County public defenders. “The courts should be stopping any transport for the kids and have all probation vans at Barry J. to get our detained youth to safety.”

Another fire in Los Angeles County, the Lidia fire in Acton, had grown to 348 acres and was 40% contained as of 6:20 p.m. Wednesday, the Angeles National Forest announced on X.

This was a major expansion for the blaze, which was just 80 acres and 30% contained two hours earlier, according to the national forest.

Acton is located north of the forest near the Antelope Valley, and a broad area south and west of the town was under evacuation orders Wednesday evening, per the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The fire was first reported shortly before 2 p.m Wednesday, after the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires had already ignited and began their destructive march across the county. The Sunset fire erupted in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday night.

More than 2,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have been damaged or destroyed and at least five people are dead in wildfires scorching communities across Los Angeles County, making this one of the most destructive firestorms to hit the region in memory.

The five bodies were found in three structures in Altadena, where the Eaton fire exploded Tuesday night, giving residents little time to flee. It is estimated that more than 1,000 structures have been destroyed in the Palisades fire and another 1,000 either damaged or destroyed in the Eaton fire, according to the L.A. County Fire Department.

By Wednesday morning, it looked as if a bomb had detonated on Sunset Boulevard.

As the catastrophic Palisades fire receded from one of the city’s iconic thoroughfares, smoke and ash rendered the once-picturesque landscape into something oddly lunar.

The Palisades and Eaton fires have left tens of thousands of residents evacuated and wondering what may be left of their homes in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and surrounding areas.

New satellite images give the first clear look at some of the neighborhoods most impacted.

The image below shows a famous strip of Malibu homes sandwiched between Pacific Coast Highway and the ocean just west of Topanga Beach.

The Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles reported that its members “are currently taking in thousands of Angelenos who have been displaced by the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires,” often at discounted rates. Many of the hotels are also taking in pets, the association board said in a statement Wednesday.

The association reported that these lodgings had rooms as of 4 p.m. Wednesday:

Air Venice

Weary Los Angeles firefighters were dispatched to fight two new blazes that erupted Wednesday night — a fast-growing brush fire that prompted chaotic evacuations near the Hollywood Hills and a structure fire in Studio City.

The Sunset fire was reported at 2350 N. Solar Drive in the Hollywood Hills shortly after 5:30 p.m. and spread to 60 acres by 9:25 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire created massive traffic jams as residents rushed to evacuate the densely populated area below Runyon Canyon.

Those looking to assist residents affected by the Los Angeles County firestorm have a number of options to donate money, materials or their time.

Communities in and around Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Pasadena, Sylmar and Hollywood are grappling with the devastation of the blazes, which collectively have scorched more than 28,000 acres and destroyed more than 2,000 homes, businesses and other buildings.

Los Angeles schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho arrived at Palisades Charter High School on Wednesday morning to find flames still ablaze atop a classroom building in the back of the historic campus.

Joined by school board member Nick Melvoin, he walked up concrete steps that now abruptly ended at nothing, only a view of rubble, smoke and a charred structural skeleton twisted by extreme heat.

At least two water utilities are telling Altadena customers not to drink the tap water — and not try to treat it by boiling it — because of possible contamination caused by the Eaton fire. These residents are advised to stick to bottled water for drinking.

The Kinneloa Irrigation District issued an alert Wednesday, explaining to its customers that some structures were destroyed in the Eaton fire and some areas of the water system lost pressure.

“These conditions may have caused harmful contaminants, including benzene and other volatile organic chemicals, to enter the water system,” the statement read.

The water utility said residents should not use the water for cooking or try boiling the water, as those chemicals can evaporate and become airborne.

The Lincoln Avenue Water Co. issued a similar alert.

The Eaton fire, which broke out Tuesday night, has burned 10,600 acres, and five deaths have been reported in the area. Multiple homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed across Altadena.

The Rubio Cañon Land & Water Assn. also said its drinking water system had sustained severe damage. It stopped short of telling people not to drink the water, but was asking residents to conserve. Las Flores Water Co. advised residents to limit the amount of water they used to conserve water levels amid damage to other nearby districts.

Representatives for each of the four water utilities could not immediately be reached for comment.

Five days before the Rams host the Minnesota Vikings in an NFC wild-card playoff game, the NFL said it was keeping an eye on the wildfires that have ravaged parts of Los Angeles County since Tuesday.

The league said it currently plans for the No. 4-seeded Rams to host the No. 5 Vikings during their playoff game Monday night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, which is south of where fires burned on Wednesday, but it has a contingency plan if the fires adversely impact the ability to host the game.

As L.A. County fires continue to wreak havoc, a fire-tracking app run by a Bay Area nonprofit is gaining popularity.

Watch Duty, launched in 2021, combines publicly available maps of fire incidents and evacuation order and warning zones — similar to what can be found on the Cal Fire website — with shelter locations, National Weather Service alerts and real-time text, photo and video updates, with the option to receive or turn off notifications about specific incidents.

Los Angeles Times reporter Noah Haggerty reported from Pacific Coast Highway, where numerous buildings were destroyed by fire.

Billowing wildfire smoke rolled over large swathes of Los Angeles County on Wednesday, prompting school closures and triggering air quality advisories across the region.

From Altadena to Santa Monica, the outbreak of three fast-spreading wildfires have scorched more than 25,000 acres within two days, releasing towering plumes of smoke and soot. The powerful winds that fanned the flames also propelled dark clouds of unhealthy pollution as far south as San Pedro, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

As the winds whipped out of the north, and embers began to rain down, almost everyone had left J.C. Matsuura’s neighborhood in Altadena.

But Matsuura had no intention of following the evacuation order issued as the Eaton fire rapidly spread Tuesday night, engulfing homes and businesses that stood in its path. Even after Matsuura’s wife left, taking the family dogs, the 65-year-old stood his ground.

For the first 24 hours of Los Angeles’ wildfire disaster, Mayor Karen Bass was a constant presence on social media, urging Angelenos to flee evacuation zones and announcing her decision to declare an emergency.

But Bass herself was far from the city. As flames tore through Pacific Palisades, she was on a diplomatic mission in Africa, communicating with key city agencies from afar.

The wind-blown fires sweeping over large swaths of Los Angeles County have destroyed more than 1,000 structures and caused thousands of people to evacuate their homes. Five people have been confirmed dead.

New satellite images help to form a clearer timeline of the chaos as three major blazes erupted: the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires.

The mandatory evacuation order in Santa Monica for the Palisades fire was significantly expanded Wednesday afternoon, with officials ordering residents north of Montana Avenue between 11th Street and Pacific Coast Highway to immediately leave their homes.

Santa Monica City Councilmember Jesse Zwick, who was raised in the coastal city, said that, prior to the Palisades fire, he could not remember there ever being a mandatory evacuation order in the flats of Santa Monica.

An evacuation warning — meaning residents should be prepared to evacuate, or should leave now if they will need extra time — now extends all the way south to Wilshire Boulevard for all areas west of 10th Street. An existing evacuation warning for residents east of 11th Street to 26th Street between San Vicente Boulevard and Montana remains in place.

A full map can be found here.

The Palisades fire has surged to more than 15,000 acres and was 0% contained as of Wednesday afternoon. It is one of several major wind-whipped fires currently burning in the Los Angeles area.

With firefighting resources spread thin across Los Angeles County, help from state, federal and out-of-state agencies is on the way, officials announced Wednesday.

The California National Guard as well as firefighters from Northern California and out of state are en route to Los Angeles, where resources and personnel are being taxed with several major fires burning.

You don’t have to live close to a wildfire to be affected by its smoke. With severe winds fanning the fires in and around Pacific Palisades, the Pasadena foothills and Simi Valley, huge swaths of the Southland are contending with dangerous air quality.

Wildfire smoke can irritate your eyes, nose, throat and lungs. The soot may contain all kinds of dangerous pollutants, including some that may cause cancer. The tiniest particles in smoke can travel deep into your lungs or even enter your bloodstream.

Despite rumors that the historic Eames House burned in the wildfire raging in Pacific Palisades, The Times has confirmed that this gem of midcentury design — one of Los Angeles’ most important architectural landmarks — remains undamaged.

Some of Los Angeles’ treasured cultural institutions and historic architecture are at risk, however, as fires spread in the Palisades, Altadena, Pasadena, Sylmar, Topanga and points beyond.

As communities across Los Angeles County burned Wednesday in a spate of wildfires, the crisis highlighted the stark difference between the incoming and outgoing presidents and their relationships with California.

President Biden stood next to Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat, at a fire station in Santa Monica and pledged to provide full federal support to the state.

Hours earlier, Republican President-elect Donald Trump, just days away from being sworn in on Jan. 20, blamed “Newscum and his Los Angeles crew” for the unfolding calamity.

Early Tuesday morning, Santa Ana winds blowing 20 to 30 mph pushed a small vegetation fire in Ventura’s Santa Clara River bottom, just south of the Olivas Links golf course from 1 acre at 7:55 a.m. to 28 acres before its forward motion was stopped by firefighters around 10 a.m., said Ventura County Fire Department public information officer Andrew Dowd.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Dowd said.

Many people live along the river bottom, where much of the vegetation is dry from lack of rain.

No injuries were reported, although one person walking out of the riverbed requested medical assistance. Dowd said the person, who was not identified, was taken to the hospital but it’s not known if they suffered any injuries from the fire.

Two professional sporting events at Crypto.com Arena have been postponed on consecutive days because of the raging wildfires in Los Angeles County.

The NHL postponed the game between the Kings and Calgary Flames that had been scheduled for Wednesday night, and a day later, the NBA postponed the Lakers’ game against the Charlotte Hornets.

The NBA had been keeping a close eye on the fires ahead of the Lakers’ scheduled 7:30 p.m. game before the league called it off Thursday morning.

Local fire officials acknowledged Wednesday that they were overwhelmed by the power and size of the three major fires burning in Los Angeles County and that crews and resources were taxed to the extreme.

Firefighters were heard on emergency radios requesting additional support and crews, L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone acknowledged Wednesday, admitting there was simply not enough manpower for an emergency of this size.

What do you pack?

I stood and stared a bit, feeling somewhat paralyzed by uncertainty. You don’t know where you’ll go, how long you’ll be there, or what you might later return to.

The California compromise is ever-present. Along with the benefits — great weather, dramatic landscapes and a million things to do — you sign up for year-round risk.

L.A. firefighters were battling a growing brush fire in an evacuated area of Brentwood.

Officials said the fire was spotted just before 8 a.m. That area had been evacuated due to the nearby Palisades fire, which burned more than 1,000 homes.

Annie Harvilicz got a call from her brother on Tuesday morning.

He was wondering if he could offload his rabbit, Oreo, and his cat, Winston, with her as he fled the Palisades fire that was burning across the canyon from his house.

She said yes, then thought about all the other animals that likely needed places to stay.

World Central Kitchen’s Relief Team is providing meals to first responders and families impacted by wildfires in the Los Angeles area.

The team is providing sandwiches and water, according to a Tuesday morning news release.

“Several WCK Chef Corps members are on standby, ready to provide comforting meals,” WCK said in the statement.

Much of the Pacific Coast Highway and its iconic homes and landmarks between Will Rogers State Beach just north of Santa Monica and Carbon Beach in Eastern Malibu lay in ruins.

Large swaths of coastal homes were reduced to smoldering rubble, crumbling onto the beach and into the sea.

The Reel Inn, which the fire overtook on Tuesday night, was only recognizable by its charred and blackened pylon sign. However, some of the area’s premier attractions remained standing.

The Villa de Leon, just below the Getty Villa, stood relatively unscathed, as did Duke’s Malibu.

Fire crews continued to battle large structure blazes on both sides of the roadway, including around Las Flores and Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 70, where a Smokey Bear “FIRE DANGER EXTREME TODAY!” sign still stood.

The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades remains safe and intact after an extremely close call with fire, according to Katherine E. Fleming, President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

The Villa “will be closed at least through early next week. While trees and vegetation on the property have burned, Getty structures have been unaffected, and thankfully, both staff and the collections are safe,” read a statement from Fleming.

“Out of caution and to help alleviate traffic in the area, the Getty Center in Brentwood will be closed at least through Sunday, January 12. We deeply appreciate the tireless work and dedication of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles County Fire Department, and other agencies, and also the small team of Getty staff who have remained on-site at the Villa supporting emergency response efforts,” the statement said.

“We again express our heartfelt concern to our neighbors in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and surrounding areas affected by the fires.”

Fleming said the the Villa is closed to the public on Tuesday’s and was swiftly closed to non-emergency staff that morning.

“Fortunately, Getty had made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year. Additional fire prevention measures in place at the Villa include water storage on-site. Irrigation was immediately deployed throughout the grounds Tuesday morning. Museum galleries and library archives were sealed off from smoke by state-of-the-art air handling systems. The double-walled construction of the galleries also provides significant protection for the collections.” Fleming said.

Orly Israel was hanging out in his home in Pacific Palisades on Tuesday morning when he got a text message from a friend asking if he was OK.

When Israel asked why, his friend told him that there was a fire in his neighborhood.

Extreme winds from the north and northeast will continue to blow into the Los Angeles region through Wednesday morning, bringing gusts of up to 80 mph as firefighters battle fires.

“We’re still in the stronger wind period,” said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist at National Weather Service, noting that wind gusts Wednesday morning reached 75 mph in the La Cañada Flintridge area and 65 mph in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains.

Gov. Gavin Newsom canceled his trip to Washington, D.C., this week for President Jimmy Carter’s funeral after deadly fires broke out across Los Angeles County.

Newsom was scheduled to leave the state no later than Wednesday to attend the funeral but the governor’s office said he will remain in California.

Bright orange flames lit up the hills above the Oakridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar early Wednesday, where residents were allowed back into their homes after being ordered to evacuate Tuesday night.

Resident Russ Keipinger zipped around the community in his golf cart, his small white dog by his side, inspecting the area. He credited both state and city firefighters with containing the blaze, which engulfed a ridge near homes early Wednesday.

Selma, California-Jan. 8, 2025-Sylmar resident Russ Keipinger holds his dog after a fire ripped through the nearby hillside. (Dakota Smith)

(Dakota Smith/Dakota Smith/Los Angeles Times)

“They saved everything,” said Keipinger. “We thought it was going to be a complete loss like before [in 2008]. The blaze came right up to the park.”

He showed The Times a video that he shot at 3 a.m. that showed the blaze cresting several hills near homes. Keipinger had evacuated his 84-year-old mother before returning to the park.

Keipinger described the previous night’s evacuation from the mobile home park as “mayhem,” as cars jammed the one roadway out of the complex. A second route was opened, he said, so residents could more easily flee.

Brush fires are common in these hillsides. The mobile home park has also been the site of devastating blazes, including the 2008 Sayre fire, which destroyed hundreds of homes.

On Wednesday morning, the smell of smoke engulfed the community and wisps of ash floated by. Several fire trucks from the Los Angeles Fire Department and one from the National Fire Service were positioned in a lot in the park.

In two trucks, firefighters could be seen with their heads resting against a window or steering wheel. One Los Angeles Fire Department firefighter told The Times that he’d been up all night battling the blaze.

A few other residents returned early Wednesday, pulling up to the front gates in the predawn darkness. The park remained eerily quiet, and the community’s history of fires was on many people’s minds.

Resident Maria Gomez slowly drove up to the gate after fleeing Tuesday night. “I’m feeling nervous,” said Gomez.

The Eaton fire, which broke out Tuesday night near Eaton Canyon, has burned 14,117 acres in Altadena and Pasadena, spurring numerous evacuations. Arcadia and Sierra Madre also ordered evacuations in some of their northern neighborhoods. It was 3% contained as of Friday evening.

Five people have been confirmed dead in the Eaton fire. The fast-moving blaze has destroyed many homes and prompted the evacuation of several senior homes. Aerial image overlay shows more than 7,000 structures may have been damaged or destroyed by the blaze, officials said Friday evening.

Homes are engulfed in flames as firefighters try to keep embers from jumping to nearby houses on Vinedo Avenue in Altadena.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Evacuations

Jeff Bryant, the boys’ basketball coach at Palisades High, was about to hold practice at 11 a.m. on Tuesday in the school gym when security informed him that the campus needed to be evacuated because of the Palisades fire that had broken out at 10:30 a.m.

“We saw fire above our parking structure,” Bryant said. “The wind was bad. I had my 2-year-old with me. I ran straight to the car and got on the road.”

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Erik Scott said the Palisades fire is approximately 3,000 acres “until we get some aerial reconnaissance on it this morning to get more accurate numbers.”

He said the fire is being fueled by strong Santa Ana winds and surrounding topography “which makes it extremely challenging for us firefighters to really get a handle on it.”

“We dealt with winds gusts up to 100 miles per hour last night,” he said.

Scott said firefighters are concentrating on structure defense.

More winds are expected today and tomorrow. Likely the biggest growth to the fire is to the west, he said.

A fire was burning in the Sepulveda basin open space in the San Fernando Valley, according to CalFire.

Officials said the Woodley fire was at 75 acres, and it is unclear if any structures were threatened.

The fire “poses a threat of crossing Burbank Boulevard. Crews are actively working to contain the fire and protect structures in the affected area,” CalFire said.

The Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires were fueled overnight by intense winds. These are the top wind gust speeds measured by the National Weather Service over the last 48 hours:

• Mt. Lukens Truck Trail: 100 mph
• Magic Mountain Truck Trail: 90 mph
• Saddle Peak: 98 mph
• Hollywood-Burbank Airport: 84 mph
• Eaton Canyon: 70 mph

Homes and businesses were engulfed by flames in Pasadena and Altadena, as the Eaton fire spread rapidly, whipped by gusts of up to 99 mph in the area.

The Two Palms Care Center on Washington Boulevard, a long term care facility in southeastern Altadena, was on fire Wednesday morning, with an alarm steadily ringing from the building’s remains. A steady wind fanned embers from the structure.

A handful of medical beds and wheelchairs line the street, where the power is out.

Farther south, just over the border into Pasadena, several homes at Del Rey Avenue and Woodlyn Road burned before dawn Wednesday, as the sounds of fire alarms ring throughout the residential neighborhood.

The wind whipped embers fly over a home on Vinedo Avenue in Altadena as the Eaton fire spreads on Tuesday.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Downed tree branches and cut fire hoses line the sidewalks and street.

KABC-TV Channel 7 reported that the AltaMed Medical Center in Altadena, on Washington Boulevard, was engulfed in flames, as were homes in the eastern Pasadena neighborhood of Hastings Ranch; and, in southeastern Altadena, the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center and the Terraces at Park Marino assisting living center.

Most of Altadena was ordered evacuated, as was unincorporated Kinneloa Mesa, as is the northern part of Pasadena’s Hastings Ranch neighborhood, which is on fire.

All of La Cañada Flintridge has been ordered evacuated.

Mandatory evacuation orders have expanded to include eastern Glendale — namely, areas east of the 2 Freeway.

The northern two-thirds of Sierra Madre are also under a mandatory evacuation order, a northern section of Arcadia.

Northern Monrovia has been ordered evacuated.

Evacuation warnings were issued for large swaths of Bradbury and parts of Duarte; as well as Pasadena, Sierra Madre and Arcadia north of Interstate 210; and some neighborhoods in Glendale west of the 2 Freeway and north of Interstate 210; as well as all of unincorporated La Crescenta and Montrose.

Updated evacuation orders and warnings can be found on the Genasys website.

Homes along Pacific Coast Highway were devastated overnight by the Palisades fire.

The houses were found fully engulfed by flames along Highway 1 as firefighters tried to battle the fire.

A firefighter battles a house fire along Pacific Coast Highway as the Palisades Fire spreads from the Pacific Palisades.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

Along Pacific Coast Highway, Rosenthal Wine Bar & Patio — in an unincorporated area between Malibu and Pacific Palisades — was on fire. A Times photographer captured an image of flames seen just behind a table with a bottle and two wine glasses. Also ablaze was the nearby Wylie’s Bait & Tackle.

Rosenthal Wine Bar & Patio, on Pacific Coast Highway near Topanga Beach, goes up in flames.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

Homes were also burning along Surfwood Road in the unincorporated neighborhood of Sunset Mesa, just west of Pacific Palisades and east of Malibu’s city limits.

A firefighter prepares to battle a house fire along Surfwood Road in the unincorporated neighborhood of Sunset Mesa, just west of Pacific Palisades.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

On nearby Shoreheights Drive overnight, a large home — and the car parked in front — was fully ablaze.

A firefighter is silhouetted in front of a burning home on Shoreheights Drive in unincorporated Sunset Mesa, just west of Pacific Palisades and east of Malibu.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

L.A. developer Rick Caruso said several homes around his Palisades Village shopping center were “fully engulfed” in flames, and his shopping center, which opened in 2018, suffered damage. His daughter’s home was destroyed in the blaze, and he said his family was waiting to hear if one of his sons had also lost his home.

All of Pacific Palisades is under a mandatory evacuation order, as was a sliver of Santa Monica northwest of San Vicente Boulevard. The northwestern section of Santa Monica northwest of Montana Avenue was under an evacuation warning.

Areas along Topanga Canyon Boulevard, from the beach to close to Mulholland Drive, were also under a mandatory evacuation order. The eastern one-third of Malibu was under a mandatory evacuation order, and the area around Malibu City Hall was under an evacuation warning.

All Malibu residents should be prepared to evacuate, city officials said.

“Evacuate now, especially if you need extra time or have pets/livestock,” city officials said. More than 2,900 acres had burned in the Palisades fire as of Tuesday night.

As the Eaton fire burns through Altadena and Pasadena, mandatory evacuation orders have expanded to include eastern Glendale, all of La Cañada Flintridge and northern Monrovia.

The area of Glendale under a mandatory evacuation order is east of the 2 Freeway.

Most of Altadena is now under a mandatory evacuation order, as is the northern part of Pasadena’s Hastings Ranch neighborhood, which is on fire.

The northern two-thirds of Sierra Madre are also under a mandatory evacuation order, a northern section of Arcadia.

Evacuation warnings were issued for large swaths of Bradbury and parts of Duarte.

Evacuation warnings were also issued for a number of neighborhoods in Glendale west of the 2 Freeway and north of Interstate 210; as well as all of unincorporated La Crescenta and Montrose.

Updated evacuation orders and warnings can be found on the Genasys website.

The following districts and schools planned to be closed Wednesday due to fires, according to this tally by the Los Angeles County Office of Education:

• Alhambra Unified School District
• Arcadia Unified School District
• Azusa Unified School District
• Baldwin Park Unified School District
• Duarte Unified School District
• El Monte City School District
• Glendale Unified School District
• La Canada Unified School District
• Los Vírgenes School District
• Monrovia Unified School District
• Mountain View School District
• Pasadena Unified School District
• Rosemead School District
• San Marino Unified School District
• Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District
• South Pasadena Unified School District
• Temple City Unified School District
• Valle Lindo School District

• Los Angeles Unified School District:

  -Topanga Elementary Charter

  -Woodland Hills Academy

  -Palisades Elementary

  -Brentwood Magnet

  -Marquez Charter Elementary

  -Diego Rivera Learning Complex

  -University High School

Numerous roads are closed in fire zones, and officials are urging people to stay away.

The 10 Freeway westbound is closed in Santa Monica as motorists approach the coast.

Pacific Coast Highway is closed through Pacific Palisades.

The 210 Freeway is westbound is closed at Roxford Street.

Interstate 5 connectors to the 210 closed.

Topanga Canyon Boulevard is closed at PCH to Mullholand.

A night of intense winds and destruction pounded Southern California overnight as fires chewed through neighborhoods.

Forecasts expected the worst of the winds to continue into this morning before leveling off.

Palisades fire

Burned more than 3,000 acres and numerous homes, businesses and landmarks in Pacific Palisades and westward along Pacific Coast Highway, toward Malibu.

Eaton fire

Burned more than 1,000 acres and many homes in Altadena and Pasadena. More than 52,000 residents have been ordered evacuated.

Hurst fire

Burned more than 500 acres in the area around Sylmar.

The Palisades fire has leveled homes and businesses along Pacific Coast Highway. The glow from the flames could be seen all the way to Hollywood.

L.A. developer Rick Caruso said several homes around his Palisades Village shopping center were “fully engulfed” in flames, and his shopping center, which opened in 2018, suffered damage. His daughter’s home was destroyed in the blaze, and he said his family was waiting to hear if one of his sons had also lost his home.

Along Pacific Coast Highway, Rosenthal Wine Bar & Patio — in an unincorporated area between Malibu and Pacific Palisades — was on fire. A Times photographer captured an image of flames seen just behind a table with a bottle and two wine glasses. Also ablaze was the nearby Wylie’s Bait & Tackle.

Wylie’s Bait & Tackle goes up in flames along Pacific Coast Highway near Topanga Beach.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Homes were also burning along Surfwood Road in the unincorporated neighborhood of Sunset Mesa, just west of Pacific Palisades.

A firefighter prepares to battle a house fire along Surfwood Road in the unincorporated neighborhood of Sunset Mesa, just west of Pacific Palisades.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

On nearby Shoreheights Drive overnight, a large home — and the car parked in front — was fully ablaze.

A firefighter is silhouetted in front of a burning home on Shoreheights Drive in Sunset Mesa.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Homes were also on fire elsewhere along Pacific Coast Highway.

A firefighter battles a house fire along Pacific Coast Highway as the Palisades fire spreads.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

The Palisades fire devastates homes along Pacific Coast Highway.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

An oceanfront home burns along Pacific Coast Highway.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

All of Pacific Palisades is under a mandatory evacuation order, as was a sliver of Santa Monica northwest of San Vicente Boulevard. The northwestern section of Santa Monica northwest of Montana Avenue was under an evacuation warning.

Areas along Topanga Canyon Boulevard, from the beach to close to Mulholland Drive, were also under a mandatory evacuation order. The eastern one-third of Malibu was under a mandatory evacuation order, and the area around Malibu City Hall was under an evacuation warning.

All Malibu residents should be prepared to evacuate, city officials said.

“Evacuate now, especially if you need extra time or have pets/livestock,” city officials said. More than 2,900 acres had burned in the Palisades fire as of Tuesday night.

As wildfires raged across Los Angeles on Tuesday, crews battling the Palisades blaze faced an additional burden: Scores of fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out.

“The hydrants are down,” said one firefighter in internal radio communications.

As homes burned in the Eaton fire, evacuation orders expanded in Pasadena, Sierra Madre and Arcadia.

Homes were burning on Vinedo Avenue in unincorporated Altadena, and firefighters were trying to battle flying embers. A wind gust of up to 99 mph was detected near Altadena, the National Weather Service said early Wednesday morning.

Multiple homes were burning on Woodlyn Road in northern Pasadena, near Altadena.

A police officer patrols the area as multiple homes burn on Woodlyn Road in northern Pasadena early Wednesday morning.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Embers could be seen flying as powerful gusts whipped through the area.

A wind gust sends burning embers into the air along Woodlyn Road.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Homes were also burning on Del Rey Avenue in northern Pasadena, near the Altadena border.

Firefighters work to save houses on Del Rey Avenue in northern Pasadena, near Altadena.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

KABC-TV Channel 7 reported that the AltaMed Medical Center in Altadena, on Washington Boulevard, was engulfed in flames, as were homes in the eastern Pasadena neighborhood of Hastings Ranch; and, in southeastern Altadena, the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center and the Terraces at Park Marino assisting living center.

Most of Altadena was ordered evacuated, as was unincorporated Kinneloa Mesa. The mandatory evacuation area was expanded in Altadena to include areas west of Lake Avenue and north of Altadena Drive, and, generally speaking, north of Woodbury Road that is east of Windsor Avenue and west of Fair Oaks Avenue.

In Pasadena, a mandatory evacuation order was in place in the northern half of the neighborhood of Hastings Ranch — north of Sierra Madre Boulevard. A mandatory evacuation order was downgraded to a warning elsewhere in Pasadena.

Evacuation orders were also issued for eastern La Cañada Flintridge, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, according to the official evacuation map on the Genasys website.

Most of Sierra Madre — all areas north of Sierra Madre Boulevard — were ordered evacuated, and the rest of the city was under a voluntary evacuation. A northern swath of Arcadia was ordered evacuated — areas north of Orange Grove Avenue (that are west of Santa Anita Avenue) and north of Foothill Boulevard (that are east of Santa Anita Avenue).

The Los Angeles Fire Department issued mandatory evacuation orders Tuesday night for areas of Sylmar threatened by a fire that broke out near where Interstate 5 meets the 14 and 210 freeways.

Dubbed the Hurst fire, it is one of at least four named fires currently raging in Los Angeles County as high winds and dry vegetation have created conditions conducive to explosive wildfires.

The fire — which was at 50 acres as of 10:10 p.m., according to an LAFD spokesperson — had grown to more than 500 acres by about 2 a.m.

Fearsome winds forced crews to ground firefighting aircraft in the battle against the Palisades fire on Tuesday night, making it even more challenging for firefighters to get a handle on the fast-growing blaze.

The use of aircraft was halted shortly before 8 p.m., and Los Angeles fire officials said they would continually reassess weather conditions to determine when they might be used again, said Margaret Stewart with the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The Eaton fire has prompted officials to close schools in Pasadena, San Marino, Glendale, Alhambra, Burbank and South Pasadena on Wednesday.

Multiple burn victims who were reported walking toward Duke’s Malibu restaurant around 9 p.m. on Tuesday were evaluated, treated and transported as needed, according to Margaret Stewart with the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The extent of their injuries remains unclear.

Duke’s posted on Instagram earlier in the day that the restaurant would be closed due to dangerous road conditions and high-wind warnings.

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy Tracy Koerner said he hadn’t been informed of any fire at the restaurant itself. He added that people are being triaged at L.A. County Fire Station 70.

In a separate incident, a 25-year-old female firefighter sustained a serious head injury around 8:30 p.m., according to LAFD spokesperson Erik Scott. She received immediate treatment at the scene and was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.

A fire broke out Tuesday night in the hills above Altadena near Eaton Canyon, prompting a response from firefighters. The Eaton fire has burned more than 400 acres and prompted evacuations in the area west of the Eaton Canyon Golf Course, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

A separate fire in Pasadena, the Bert fire, had expanded to three acres just before 10 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The fire is in east Pasadena, near San Gabriel, several miles from the Eaton fire.

The Palisades fire off Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades on Tuesday.

Extreme winds Tuesday night forced crews to temporarily halt efforts to battle the Palisades and Eaton fires by air, authorities said.

Aircraft were grounded in the fight against the Palisades fire shortly before 8 p.m., according to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department. As a result, firefighters are unable to drop water or flame retardant from the air.

LAFD is “continually assessing” weather conditions to determine when helicopter use can resume, the spokesperson said.

Strong winds also prompted officials to suspend air coverage for the Eaton fire in Altadena for the evening, said Pasadena spokesperson Lisa Derderian around 8:45 p.m. Firefighters are continuing to protect homes and save lives on the ground, she said.

L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone had warned at a 3:30 p.m. news conference that increasing wind speeds could make air attacks “unfeasible.”

Although it might be frustrating for residents to see firefighting aircraft grounded, extreme winds can make those efforts less effective, as water or retardant that is dropped is immediately dispersed by the wind, Gov. Gavin Newsom said at the news conference.

“We can be up there all day, making people feel good,” Newsom said, “but we’re not doing any good.”

The city of Santa Monica issued an evacuation order for all areas north of San Vicente Boulevard around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday due to the Palisades fire.

“Immediate threat to life,” the city said in an alert sent to residents. “This is a lawful order to LEAVE NOW.”

The city also announced an evacuation warning for all areas north of Montana Avenue to San Vicente Boulevard.

The Reel Inn, a casual Pacific Coast Highway seafood restaurant that has been a Malibu institution for more than three decades, appears to have burned in the Palisades fire.

All of the eatery’s staff members are safe, according to the owners.

“We are so grateful for the 36 years we’ve been a part of the community. Grateful to all of our customers. We are heartbroken and unsure what will be left,” owners Teddy and Andy Leonard wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday evening.

Videos posted on social media showed devastation along the stretch of Pacific Coast Highway at the eastern edge of Malibu near Topanga Canyon Boulevard, with fire lining the sides of the highway.

One video showed wind-whipped flames engulfing the fish shack’s towering sign.

A fire broke out Tuesday night in the hills above Altadena near Eaton Canyon, prompting a response from firefighters.

The Eaton fire has burned more than 400 acres and prompted evacuations in the area west of the Eaton Canyon Golf Course, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The Palisades fire spread Tuesday to the grounds of Palisades Charter High School and Palisades Charter Elementary School.

At least one television report said the high school had burned to the ground, but the office of that area’s school board member said this account had not been verified.

Amid the devastating and fast-moving fire in Pacific Palisades, the grounds of the Getty Villa have caught fire, the museum confirmed Tuesday.

Fire officials said that trees and brush were ablaze and that flames were approaching structures, but the museum said the Villa and its art had been spared so far. A video on the social media platform X showed the flames approaching the Villa de Leon, a historic home near the museum’s driveway entrance on Pacific Coast Highway.

“Fortunately, Getty had made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year,” Katherine E. Fleming, president and chief executive of the J. Paul Getty Trust, said in a statement. “Some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but staff and the collection remain safe.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom called the Palisades fire a “hell of a way to start a new year” as he watched the towering black plumes of smoke rise while speaking at a news conference at Will Rogers State Beach.

He described seeing the “impact of these swirling winds and the embers and the number of structures that are destroyed” when visiting the fire zone earlier Tuesday afternoon, and urged all residents to heed evacuation orders.

He proudly touted the fact that it took only one text for President Biden to issue a fire management assistance grant: “No politics, no hand-wringing, no kissing of the feet.”

This grant will allow the state to receive federal reimbursement for the majority of expenses related to the Palisades fire, he said.

Newsom was scheduled to be in the Coachella Valley at noon to speak at an event with Biden but rerouted to Pacific Palisades after that event was canceled because of the weather.

“We were here not too long ago [for] the Franklin fire and a few weeks prior to that, the Mountain fire,” he said. “November, December, now January — there’s no fire season. It’s fire year. It’s year round.”

The Palisades fire has scorched 1,261 acres and is continuing to grow as of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, with even stronger winds expected overnight, fire officials said.

Wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph have been recorded in Los Angeles over the course of the day, and gusts are expected to peak between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

“The fire is being fueled by a combination of strong winds and surrounding topography, which is making it extremely challenging for our personnel that are assigned to this incident,” Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said.

So far, around 30,000 residents have been evacuated from 10,000 households, with no injuries reported, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said. Several structures have been reported destroyed, but officials do not yet have a total, Crowley said.

There are more than 250 Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters and more than 100 Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighters on scene.

Darrin Hurwitz said what appeared to start as a small brush fire turned into a raging inferno within the space of about half an hour. The Pacific Palisades resident, who lives on Las Lomas Avenue, said as many as 20 homes were burning as he fled to safety Tuesday from the Palisades fire.

“Things were moving so quickly,” said Hurwitz, who was working at home when the flames erupted. “Within a few minutes, there were multiple fires.”

Hurwitz said he rushed around his home, grabbing practical items including clothing for his two elementary-school-age children, laptops and medications, as well as more sentimental belongings such as artwork and family heirlooms.

After arriving at his parents’ home in Calabasas, where he watched news of the fire unfolding, he was mourning the items his family may have lost. He wondered if his home was even still standing. His children questioned whether their school, Marquez Charter Elementary, which was evacuated Tuesday, was damaged and if they’d be able to return.

Hurwitz, who grew up in Southern California, moved from the East Coast to Pacific Palisades more than two years ago, drawn to the community for its breathtaking views and family-friendly atmosphere. But fire risk has been on his mind.

“There hasn’t been a day I’ve lived there,” Hurwitz said, “where I haven’t thought, one, this is the most beautiful place in the world, and two, it may all go up in flames at some point.”

Residents fleeing a wildfire in Pacific Palisades faced a gantlet of danger as roads became choked with traffic and fast-moving flames threatened evacuation routes.

When a spot fire erupted off Sunset Boulevard and Palisades Drive, some motorists abandoned their cars by the time the flames reached Pacific Coast Highway around 2 p.m.

Fire officials ordered those residents who were unable to flee their neighborhoods to shelter in place as crews battled flames along Sunset Boulevard.

A fire was burning out of control Tuesday in Pacific Palisades, destroying homes and forcing residents to abandon their vehicles and flee amid a potentially “life-threatening and destructive” windstorm.

Wide swaths of Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu were under an evacuation order by the afternoon, as residents fought traffic jams and heavy smoke as they tried to escape the nearby flames. The Palisades fire broke out around 10:30 a.m. near Piedra Morada Drive and was pushed by intense wind gusts that officials had warned could fuel any spark into a fast-moving and erratic wildfire.

The fire had blackened more than 2,900 acres by 6:30 p.m as it continued to charge southwest. The grounds of the Getty Villa caught fire, as did the campus of Palisades Charter High School.

Forecasters say Southern California this week could see the worst winds since 2011, when a massive storm cut a path of destruction through Pasadena and other parts of the San Gabriel Valley.

Offshore winds will be dry, unpredictable and strong — possibly up to 100 mph in some parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The worst of the windstorm is expected Tuesday through Wednesday.

A “life-threatening and destructive” windstorm is forecast to last through at least Thursday, bringing with it severe fire danger and widespread power outages across Southern California.

This is the third time in as many months that strong Santa Ana winds have prompted Southern California Edison to cut power to its customers.

The map below shows which areas are currently without electricity due to planned power shutoffs — aimed at reducing fire starts from electrical equipment — and which are under consideration for power cuts.