More than 2,000 homes, businesses, and other structures have been damaged or destroyed, and at least five people have died as wildfires rage across Los Angeles County, making this one of the region’s most destructive firestorms in recent memory.
The five bodies were discovered in three structures in Altadena, where the Eaton fire erupted Tuesday night, leaving residents with little time to evacuate.
According to the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the Palisades fire destroyed over 1,000 structures, while the Eaton fire damaged or destroyed another 1,000.
The Sunset fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, putting additional strain on firefighting resources and prompting evacuations in the Runyon Canyon area.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Palisades fire had burned more than 15,800 acres in Pacific Palisades, engulfing multimillion-dollar homes along the iconic stretch of Pacific Coast Highway.
L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone stated that, while there were no fatalities in the Palisades fire, officials had seen “a high number of significant injuries to residents who did not evacuate, in addition to first responders who were on the fire line.”
The Eaton fire, which started Tuesday night, had burned 10,600 acres near Altadena and Pasadena as of Wednesday evening, fueled by wind gusts of up to 99 mph, according to Angeles National Forest staff on X.
The causes of death for the five bodies discovered in the Eaton fire have yet to be determined, Marrone stated at a Wednesday evening news conference.
According to Marrone, the agency has requested K-9s trained in human-remains detection, which will be used to ensure that no other people are missing in the blaze.
As of Wednesday evening, the Hurst fire in Sylmar had burned 700 acres after spreading rapidly overnight due to high winds.
The causes of the fires are being investigated, and all are 0% contained.
“What we saw here in the last 24 hours is unprecedented,” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell stated Wednesday afternoon. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
On Wednesday, the approximately 2,500 firefighters assigned to the Eaton and Palisades blazes faced another difficult day of fire, fueled by extreme winds, bone-dry brush, and low humidity.
As the large fires raged, crews across the region rushed to put out small fires in Fontana, Sun Valley, and Brentwood.
According to L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna, 70,000 residents are under evacuation orders or warnings in the Eaton fire area, and 60,000 in the Palisades fire region.
He said three people had been arrested on suspicion of looting in the evacuation zones.
“That is completely unacceptable,” he said. “These people have been through so much. “Don’t put them through more than they need to.”
Red flag warnings were in effect for Los Angeles County and much of Ventura County until Thursday, with officials warning of a “life-threatening, destructive, and widespread windstorm.”
Winds, which were expected to subside during the day Wednesday, will persist and become more widespread in the coming days, forecasters said.
“We are absolutely not out of danger yet,” Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said, adding that “these fires are stretching the capacity of emergency services to the maximum limits.”
Fire officials admitted that they were overwhelmed by the power and size of the three major fires, and that crews and resources were stretched to their limits.
Firefighters were heard on emergency radios requesting additional assistance and crews, Marrone said Wednesday, acknowledging that there was simply insufficient staffing for an emergency of this magnitude.
Fire engines were scarce in Altadena on Wednesday as dozens of homes burned down. Residents were informed that resources were limited and, in some cases, watched as trucks passed one house to salvage another.
Some neighbors attempted to extinguish the flames with hoses, while others watched in disbelief.
Fires engulfed homes at random, leaving plumes of smoke in the sky. A stretch of New York Drive, a major thoroughfare, remained unaffected while homes burned less than two blocks away.
“We tried to get them the help they needed,” Marrone said. “We are doing the best we can. But, no, we don’t have enough fire personnel in L.A. County across all departments to handle this.”
Firefighters also reported a lack of water in some hydrants at higher elevations in Pacific Palisades. According to the Department of Water and Power, the problem arose as a result of the system being under unprecedented strain.
Wind gusts of up to 100 mph and terrain primed to burn hampered firefighters’ efforts to control the blaze, which was spreading into the Santa Monica Mountains and west toward the ocean, according to Los Angeles Fire Capt. Erik Scott.
“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,” Scott informed the crowd. “Our priority is life and structure defense.”
After being grounded Tuesday night due to high winds, firefighting aircraft resumed work on the Palisades and Eaton fires early Wednesday. The latter is burning in the hills above Altadena near Eaton Canyon.
“Having air support is huge,” said Carlos Herrera, a county Fire Department spokesperson. “We can see the fire in real time — where it’s moving, how it’s acting — and if we see it’s moving in a direction that may affect structures, then we can get ahead of it.”
During a briefing in Santa Monica, President Biden promised that the federal government would use all available resources to combat the fires.
According to the White House, two Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System units were being deployed from the California and Nevada national guards, and ten Navy helicopters equipped with water buckets were on their way from San Diego.
California Governor Gavin Newsom also requested that the National Guard assist with the fire and evacuations, and Col. Brian Hill confirmed that 200 personnel have been deployed.
“It’s incredible what has happened,” Biden stated. “We’re prepared to do anything and everything for as long as it takes to contain these fires.”
Firefighters are traveling to Los Angeles County from all over Southern California, Northern California, Phoenix, and Oregon.
The additional resources arrive as residents wait to see if their homes are still standing.
Much of the Pacific Coast Highway remained in near-total darkness Wednesday morning, shrouded in dense smoke.
Entire structures were on fire, with tree limbs and power lines down between Will Rogers State Beach and Carbon Beach.
In many areas, the fire had crossed the highway and gone straight to the beach.
Bill Stange, a Palisades resident, spent the morning at Malibu Bluffs Park, as close to the fire as he could get after fleeing with only a few belongings the night before.
Dozens more were stationed in their vehicles, eager to get back inside and see the damage.
A friend initially texted that Stange’s house appeared to be standing, but Stange later learned that his entire hillside neighborhood had been destroyed.
For decades, his family has owned the property, which was built in 1950 and rebuilt following a fire in the area in 1993.
His parents had left the property to him after they died, and he intended to leave it to his own children. He isn’t sure what to do now.
“A lot of people can’t compete with the rising cost of rebuilding a house, and so they went on to other places,” he told me. “We have been hanging on. I don’t think the fire department is prepared for something like this. “It is too big.”
The lack of rain this winter has prolonged the fire season in Southern California.
Since October 1, the start of the water year, downtown Los Angeles has received 0.16 of an inch of rain, a mere fraction of the average 4.64 inches received by this point in the season.
The dry brush combined with high winds resulted in a disastrous situation.
The National Weather Service has issued a “particularly dangerous situation” warning for the San Gabriel Mountains, Beverly Hills and Hollywood Hills, coastal areas near Sepulveda Pass, the Santa Monica Mountains, Malibu, and eastern Ventura County.
The weather service issued the same warning about a month ago, when the Franklin fire started and spread quickly in Malibu. It went on to burn over 4,037 acres, destroying 20 structures and damaging 28 more.
This type of red flag warning is expected to occur approximately once every three to five years. However, the National Weather Service office in Oxnard has issued three such warnings this fire season.
According to Ariel Cohen, the meteorologist in charge of the NOAA/National Weather Service in Oxnard, the winds that swept through the Los Angeles region were stronger than the 2011 winds that caused significant damage in Pasadena, Altadena, and other San Gabriel Valley neighborhoods.
“The winds far surpass 2011 in magnitude, in coverage, in destruction,” Cohen pointed out. “They’ve also been accompanied by a wildfire outbreak, creating an apocalyptic scene throughout the greater Los Angeles area.
It is a catastrophic situation. This is an extremely rare windstorm that occurs only every couple of decades.”
McDonnell, the Los Angeles Police Department chief, cautioned residents to remain vigilant even if they’re not currently in an area besieged by fire.
“These are unprecedented conditions, but also unpredictable,” he said. “As the fires continue to spread and pop up in different locations, none of us know where the next one is going to be.”
