Firefighters continue to battle multiple major wildfires.
A “particularly dangerous situation” warning once again went into effect for swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, starting at 3 a.m. Wednesday. The National Weather Service reserves the designation for signifying an extreme red flag warning, when especially hazardous fire weather conditions are expected.
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Palisades fire
Burned 23,713 acres and numerous homes, businesses and landmarks in Pacific Palisades and westward along Pacific Coast Highway, toward Malibu. As of 7:20 a.m. Wednesday, the fire was 19% contained, up from 17% early Tuesday.
Many parts of Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Calabasas, Brentwood and Encino are under evacuation orders or warnings.
There are 1,280 structures that have been destroyed in the Palisades fire and 204 that have been damaged. However, officials are also still doing damage assessments, so those numbers are likely to increase. Authorities estimate that 5,300 structures have burned in that fire.
Officials have confirmed that nine people are dead from the Palisades fire.
Closures, evacuations, shelters
Eaton fire
Burned 14,117 acres and many structures in Altadena and Pasadena. As of 7:20 a.m. Wednesday morning, the fire was 45% contained, up from 35% early Tuesday.
Damage assessments have confirmed 2,722 structures destroyed in the Eaton fire, though inspection teams are still combing through the fire footprint, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Officials estimate that 7,000 structures were damaged or destroyed; structures can include homes, businesses, smaller outbuildings, sheds and even vehicles.
Officials confirmed 16 are dead from the Eaton fire.
Most of unincorporated Altadena was under an evacuation order or warning, as was unincorporated Kinneloa Mesa. In Pasadena, a mandatory evacuation order was in place in the northern half of the neighborhood of Hastings Ranch, and evacuation warnings were in place in some neighborhoods north of Interstate 210. In Sierra Madre, mandatory evacuations were in effect in some areas north of Grand View Avenue, and voluntary evacuations were in place in other portions of the city. Eastern sections of La Cañada Flintridge were under a voluntary evacuation warning.
Coverage of the fires ravaging Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, including stories about the devastation, issues firefighters faced and the weather.
A week after the L.A. firestorms began, the threat continues as the unprecedented losses sink in
A week after flames leveled huge swaths of Pacific Palisades and Altadena, Southern California remained under a severe fire threat as residents struggled to comprehend the scale of the loss.
An army of firefighters spent Tuesday putting out small fires before they got out of control, and continued building containment lines on the Palisades and Eaton fires in hope of preventing them from spreading. The firestorms are expected to be the most costly in U.S. history, consuming what officials estimate could be more than 12,000 structures, including many homes.
“This is the most devastating natural disaster to hit the Los Angeles area,” said L.A. Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott. “I’ve worked here for 20 years and I’ve never seen nor imagined devastation to be this extensive.”
‘Not out of the woods yet’: Extreme red flag warnings are back in effect for L.A. area
The most extreme level of a red flag fire warning, a “particularly dangerous situation,” returned to parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties Wednesday morning. The time period of highest risk will take place from just before sunrise through midday.
Mountain wind gusts were expected to rise to 45 mph to 55 mph, with local gusts up to to 60 mph, the National Weather Service office in Oxnard said. Forecasters expect Wednesday will be noticeably windier than Tuesday.
Ventura County at high risk from extreme fire weather Wednesday
Ventura County is expected to be at particular risk if a fire sparks during Wednesday’s period of extreme fire weather.
Santa Ana winds are expected to come from an eastern direction, the National Weather Service said, putting a focus on Ventura County. The northern Ventura County mountains may get stronger winds than typically seen in a Santa Ana wind event, according to Ryan Kittell, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Oxnard.
Last week’s windstorms — which rapidly spread the Palisades and Eaton fires — came out of the north, hammering Los Angeles County.
That windstorm was very rare, because the winds were extraordinarily widespread and hit hard the foothills of Altadena and other areas of the San Gabriel Valley, which are typically minimally affected by Santa Ana wind events, according to weather service meteorologist Kristan Lund.
Wednesday’s windstorms are expected to be significantly weaker than last week’s windstorms. But the danger is expected to be significant.
A big factor in the fires? Painfully dry start to winter runs into peak Santa Ana wind season
A significant factor explaining the rapid spread of wildfires this winter is how painfully dry the skies have been, which has crashed into the peak of Santa Ana wind season.
“Santa Anas are very common in December, January, and that’s usually when we see our strongest and biggest and most damaging ones. But we don’t have conditions this dry normally,” said Alex Tardy, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in San Diego.
January is the peak season for Santa Ana winds — powerful winds that develop when high pressure over Nevada and Utah sends cold air screaming toward lower pressure areas along the California coast. The air dries out and compresses and heats up as it flows downslope from the high deserts — from the northeast — over California’s mountains and through canyons, drying out vegetation as the wind gusts through.
Santa Ana season generally starts in October and lasts through March, but the magnitude of Santa Ana winds is typically strongest in January, said Tardy, citing research by the U.S. Forest Service and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. January is in the heart of a typical California rainy season.
For many areas of Southern California, “this is the driest start to any water year,” Tardy said, “and you can see extreme fire behavior with the ignitions.”
The only way Southern California will see lasting relief from this punishing fire season is rain. And unfortunately, there are still no significant chances of rain through Jan. 25, forecasters say.
Downtown Los Angeles has received barely a drop of water for months — just 0.16 of an inch since Oct. 1, or just 3% of the seasonal average. Typically, at this point in the water year, downtown Los Angeles has received an average of 5.45 inches of rain. The annual average is 14.25 inches.
“As long as we go without seeing rain, it just doesn’t take much. The vegetation is just starving for moisture, and then when you get the wind on top of it, there’s definitely potential for fire behavior” after an ignition, Tardy said.
Fire weather conditions are expected to improve starting Wednesday night through Saturday. But starting around Monday, there is a moderate risk for another round of red flag warnings.
Edison under scrutiny for Eaton fire. Who pays liability will be ‘new frontier’ for California
Six years ago, Pacific Gas & Electric filed for bankruptcy after it was found liable for sparking a succession of devastating wildfires, including the blaze that destroyed the town of Paradise and led to more than 100 deaths.
Wall Street investors lost confidence and ratings agencies threatened to downgrade California’s investor-owned utilities, prompting legislators to come up with an innovative solution: the establishment of a $21-billion wildfire fund, split equally between shareholders and utility customers.
Extreme red flag fire weather warning back in effect for L.A., Ventura counties
The “particularly dangerous situation” red flag fire weather warning went back into effect for swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties Wednesday morning.
“We are not out of the woods yet, and people need to stay on guard for a fast-moving fire,” said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Oxnard.
The windiest gusts are expected Wednesday from just before sunrise until noon or so, the National Weather Service office in Oxnard said. Gusts could reach up to 65 mph in the windiest locations, and there could be widespread gusts of 40 mph to 55 mph across the Malibu coast, Los Angeles County’s northern and western valleys, L.A. County’s mountains, and across much of Ventura County.
The “particularly dangerous situation” returned at 3 a.m. for portions of the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County, including Northridge, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Camarillo and Fillmore. A “particularly dangerous situation” signifies the most extreme level of a red flag fire warning, although officials note that Wednesday’s winds will not be as severe as the historic windstorms that fueled the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires a week ago.
The “particularly dangerous situation” is expected to last through 3 p.m.
Overnight gusts reached as high as 54 mph Wednesday morning. The winds are forecast to come out of the east, and Ventura County is expected to be at particular risk if a fire sparks. The northern Ventura County mountains may get stronger winds than typically seen in a Santa Ana wind event.
A conventional red flag warning — which warns of severe wildfire behavior if ignition occurs — remains in effect large portions of L.A., San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, as well as some mountainous areas of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
Red flag fire weather warnings will largely expire by 6 p.m. Wednesday but will extend through 3 p.m. Thursday in a few spots in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, including the Grapevine section of Interstate 5, the western San Gabriel Mountains and the Santa Susana Mountains.
How Mayor Bass hopes to speed up rebuilding in Pacific Palisades
Late Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order that aims to speed up the rebuilding of homes and businesses after wildfires tore through Pacific Palisades.
Academics, builders, consultants and other analysts who reviewed the order at The Times’ request said Bass’ move was an essential beginning to what will be an inevitably complicated process.
L.A. fire officials could have put engines in the Palisades before the fire broke out. They didn’t
As the Los Angeles Fire Department faced extraordinary warnings of life-threatening winds, top commanders decided not to assign for emergency deployment roughly 1,000 available firefighters and dozens of water-carrying engines in advance of the fire that destroyed much of the Pacific Palisades and continues to burn, interviews and internal LAFD records show.
Fire officials chose not to order the firefighters to remain on duty for a second shift last Tuesday as the winds were building — which would have doubled the personnel on hand — and staffed just five of more than 40 engines that are available to aid in battling wildfires, according to the records obtained by The Times, as well as interviews with LAFD officials and former chiefs with knowledge of city operations.
This young Altadena weather guy had a growing following. In the Eaton fire, he saved lives
The night the Eaton fire started, Edgar McGregor stood on a darkened Altadena street, held up his cellphone and started recording as the sky glowed orange behind him.
His voice calm, the 24-year-old amateur climate scientist urged people living between the Eaton Wash and Allen Avenue to immediately pack their bags and get ready to evacuate.
Mayor Karen Bass was at embassy cocktail party in Ghana as Palisades fire exploded
As the Palisades fire exploded in Los Angeles on Jan. 7, Mayor Karen Bass was posing for photos at an embassy cocktail party in Ghana, pictures posted on social media show.
By the time she departed the gathering for her flight home, massive plumes of smoke were visible across a wide swath of the city.
L.A. City Council seeks transparency on empty reservoir, dry fire hydrants
The Los Angeles City Council member representing the Westside, including much of the area decimated by the Palisades fire, called on the city’s water utility Tuesday to explain why firefighters ran out of water early in last week’s epic firefight and why a key reservoir was offline.
Councilmember Traci Park proposed that the L.A. Department of Water and Power present “its root cause analysis of the water pressure challenges that resulted in lower water pressure and dry hydrants” in some areas of Pacific Palisades, as well as recommendations for addressing the issues. In the same motion, Park urged the council to ask the utility to explain why the Santa Ynez Reservoir in Pacific Palisades has been out of commission for months.