First responders increased containment on multiple fires burning in Los Angeles County on Saturday, making progress after more than a week's worth of severe red flag weather created some of the worst wildfires in the region's history.
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The Palisades Fire began Tuesday and burned 23,713 acres as of Saturday morning, with about 43% of the fire contained, according to Cal Fire, which issued evacuation orders for parts of the Palisades, Brentwood and Encino neighborhoods and for those living along a long stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway. Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said Jan. 9, "it is safe to say that the Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles."
The second blaze, called the Eaton Fire, began in the evening on January 7 in Eaton Canyon near the San Gabriel Mountains and grew rapidly, covering 14,117 acres with 73% contained as of Saturday morning. The fire triggered a round of mandatory evacuations in the nearby areas of Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre.
Preliminary data from Cal Fire indicates the Palisades and Eaton fires rank among California's most destructive wildfires in state history:
No red flag warnings are in place as of Friday. However, the NWS forecasted the return of the Santa Ana winds that played a role in worsening the Los Angeles wildfires. The wind event will likely begin "later Monday into Tuesday, and again Thursday," the agency said, though it did not forecast just how strong the winds may be.
JPMorgan analysts led by Jimmy Bhullar estimated in a note Jan. 9 there could be $50 billion in total damages, including $20 billion in insured losses, though they noted "estimates of potential economic and insured losses are likely to increase." Those estimates would place the fires as the costliest in U.S. history. Jasper Cooper, vice president-senior credit officer at Moody's Ratings, said the credit rating business expects "insured losses to run in the billions of dollars given the high value of homes and businesses in the impacted areas," adding "commercial property losses could be significant."
A mix of extremely gusty winds, drought conditions and low humidity created conditions conducive for fires to quickly spread. The appearance of weather conditions suggestive of La Niña, a climate phenomenon linked to drier conditions and drought in southern parts of the U.S., likely played a large part in priming southern California for extreme fire conditions. Los Angeles in particular has seen an underwhelming amount of rain in the last eight months alongside a dry winter. The last time the city recorded over a tenth of an inch of rainfall was last May, according to the Los Angeles Times, contributing to drought. The dry conditions paired with historically strong winds gave way to this week's fires. Wind gusts of up to 99 mph were reported near Altadena and other nearby areas early Wednesday. The National Weather service forecast wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph in parts of southern California and up to 100 mph gusts in mountains and foothills last week. The conditions are the result of a wind pattern called the Santa Ana winds or "devil winds," which are often fast-moving, dry and warm winds that originate inland, around Nevada and Utah, and blow toward the coastal regions of Southern California. Cal Fire is still investigating the specific causes for each of the fires blazing in Los Angeles County.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner confirmed 25 people had died as of Tuesday, with that number expected to climb. At least 16 others were reported missing to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office, but that number could also climb. The majority of the deaths were in Altadena and Pasadena, where the Eaton fire has burned since Tuesday. Some of the deceased have been identified -- here's a full list.
See a full list here. Paris Hilton, who wrote she had evacuated her home, reportedly lost her Malibu home to the fire. Billy Crystal and his wife Janice said they lost their Pacific Palisades home to the fire, after first moving to the location in 1979. Jamie Lee Curtis said she likely lost her home to the fire and wrote on Instagram calling for people to "reach out to anyone who lives in Los Angeles" to offer assistance. Eugene Levy, the Pacific Palisades' honorary mayor, told the Los Angeles Times he fled his home and said the "smoke looked pretty black and intense over Temescal Canyon." Meanwhile, actor Mark Hamill wrote on Instagram he evacuated his Malibu home, while Vice President Kamala Harris' home in Los Angeles was put under an evacuation order, though no one was in the home at the time the order was placed, spokesperson Ernesto Apreza said.
Curtis, who advocated in a "Tonight Show" appearance for people to donate to relief efforts, said she was donating $1 million to start a support fund for the city and people impacted by the fire. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reportedly made monetary donations to relief efforts, and donated clothing, children's items and other supplies. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, the third-wealthiest person in the world, said he and his wife Priscilla are personally donating to relief efforts, and Jared Isaacman, the billionaire businessman tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as the next administrator of NASA, has said he will match the first $1 million donated to his company's relief campaign. The NFL is donating $5 million to relief efforts.
No -- despite social media rumors and AI-generated images. Read more here.
Most Los Angeles Unified Schools were reopened Jan. 13 after being shut down on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10. Schools in areas most impacted by the fires or accompanying evacuation orders were temporarily moved to alternate sites (list here). Pepperdine University announced its Malibu campus will resume in-person classes on Jan. 21.
The voting deadline for the Academy Awards was pushed back to Jan. 19, with the announcement of this year's Oscar nominees also delayed to Jan. 23 at 5:30 a.m. PST. The award show is set to take place in early March. The Grammys are reportedly still scheduled for the first weekend of February, though organizers say this year's show will focus on fundraising for relief efforts. The Critics Choice Awards -- slated for Sunday -- were postponed due to the fires, while the Screen Actors Guild cancelled its in-person awards nomination ceremony last week. Several TV shows -- from "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to "NCIS" -- paused production last week but reportedly plan to resume this week (see here for a list).
A Monday night NFL wild card playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings will take place in Arizona instead of SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area. The Rams secured 750 spots on 15 buses to take fans from Los Angeles to Phoenix and back. Several other sporting events in the L.A. area were postponed last week, including a Wednesday NFL game between the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames, a Jan. 9 NBA matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets and a women's college basketball game featuring Pepperdine University and the University of Portland.
Los Angeles International Airport, located about 19 miles south of the Pacific Palisades, has not experienced significant flight cancellations, according to FlightAware.
Trump and one of his key advisers, Elon Musk, have been critical of the local government's response to the fire since they broke out. In a Jan. 9 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk claimed "the immense loss of homes in LA is primarily due to" bad governance leading to a shortage of water and "nonsensical overregulation that prevented creating fire breaks and doing brush clearing." Trump has also taken aim at Bass and Newsom, saying on Truth Social Jan. 9 "nobody has ever seen such failed numbers before!" (referring to the Palisades Fire's zero containment at the time) and blamed it on "gross incompetence" by Newsom and Bass.