Tag Archives: Palisades fire

Los Angeles County still under severe fire threat; Residents left in state of shock expressing frustration as inferno expected to top $250 Billion in losses

Palisades Fire

Important Takeaways:

  • A week after a devastating inferno leveled large swaths of Pacific Palisades and Altadena to ash, Los Angeles County remained under a severe fire threat on Wednesday morning. Residents have been left in a state of shock, expressing frustration over what many see as possible negligence by county and/or state officials to mitigate the spread of the fires. The fires have become the region’s worst fire disaster in history, with new damage and economic loss estimates between $250 billion and $275 billion, according to AccuWeather.
  • “These fast-moving, wind-driven infernos have created one of the costliest wildfire disasters in modern U.S. history,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said, adding, “Hurricane-force winds sent flames ripping through neighborhoods filled with multi-million-dollar homes. The devastation left behind is heartbreaking, and the economic toll is staggering.”
  • The concentration of wealth in Pacific Palisades is high. According to IRS data analyzed by JPM, the average home in the area is valued at $3.5 million, yet more than half of tax returns report an adjusted gross income under $200,000. In Altadena, where the average home value exceeds $1.2 million, over 80% of tax filings show incomes below $200,000, with more than 60% reporting less than $100,000
  • “Construction costs will be lower than home values though: in 2019, Redfin estimated that land value was 60% of the price of a home in Los Angeles, the highest share among any major metro area,” the analysts pointed out.
  • 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 7:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, the fire was 17% contained… More than 12,000 structures remain threatened.
    • Officials estimate that more than 5,300 structures, including many homes, have been damaged or destroyed.
  • Eaton Fire:
    • Burned 14,117 acres and many structures in Altadena and Pasadena. As of 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, the fire was 35% contained… Officials say 7,000 structures have been damaged in the fire
  • Headlines via L.A. Times (local paper not thrilled with mayor & other city officials who failed the taxpayers):
    • L.A. fire officials could have put engines in the Palisades before the fire broke out. They didn’t
    • Mayor Karen Bass was at embassy cocktail party in Ghana as Palisades fire exploded
    • L.A. City Council seeks transparency on empty reservoir, dry fire hydrants
    • A week after the L.A. firestorms began, the threat continues as the unprecedented losses sink in

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Five fires are now burning as thousands of firefighters battle to contain their spread; Forecasters warn Santa Ana wind to continue keeping risk of spreading fires high

Palisades Fire Pacific Coast Highway PCH

Important Takeaways:

  • Thousands of firefighters are battling at least five sprawling wildfires spread around the Los Angeles area, as well as several smaller blazes. Thousands of structures have been damaged or destroyed and more than 100,000 people evacuated as uncontrolled infernos spread.
  • The scale of the damage and disruption wrought in Los Angeles is unprecedented, with state and federal authorities mobilizing to fight the fires and support those forced to flee. President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved a federal major disaster declaration for Los Angeles County.
  • The Palisades Fire began in the Pacific Palisades area of the city on Tuesday. It has so far burned 17,234 acres and is at 0% containment. More than 1,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed.
  • The Eaton Fire, north of Pasadena, began on Tuesday. It expanded to 10,600 acres and is at 0% containment. Five people have died in the fire and up to 500 structures have been damaged or destroyed.
  • The Hurst Fire in Sylmar, northwest of San Fernando, began on Tuesday and has burned 855 acres. It is at 10% containment.
  • The Lidia Fire erupted on Wednesday on the northwest edge of the Angeles National Forest. It has grown to 348 acres and is at 40% containment.
  • The Sunset Fire broke out above West Hollywood on Wednesday. It is at 43 acres and 0% containment.

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Will Roger’s California home and State Park destroyed in Palisades Fire

Will Rogers State Park Palisades Park Fire

Important Takeaways:

  • Will Rogers was born in Claremore, Okla. His California residence is a State Park
  • The Oklahoma State Historical Society state, “We are deeply saddened to learn about the fire that destroyed Will Rogers State Historic Park in Los Angeles, which includes Will Rogers’ former home and 186 acres of land.
  • Rogers (citizen of Cherokee Nation) was born in Indian Territory in 1879, and the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore is dedicated to honoring and preserving the legacy of ‘Oklahoma’s Favorite Son.’”
  • Rogers moved to California in 1919 and became Hollywood’s most popular and highest-paid actor in the 1930s. He died at the age of 55 in 1935 in a plane crash.
  • A Rogers family spokesperson states they are deeply saddened to share that both the historic home of Will Rogers and “the Barn that Jokes Built” have both fallen victim to the Palisades Fire.
  • “While the loss to the Will Rogers Ranch is devastating, it pales in comparison to the loss of the property and businesses and, more importantly, the lives of those in the surrounding area.”

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Race against time as Nursing Home patients evacuated to safety

Palisades Fire Nursing Home evacuation

Important Takeaways:

  • Nursing Home Patients Raced Across Street to Escape Raging Los Angeles Wildfire as Winds Exceed 85 MPH
  • Nursing home patients in Pasadena were being raced across roadways as the fire quickly spread due to gusty winds.
  • Caretakers quickly wheeled elderly nursing home patients across the street as the fires raged.
  • The elderly patients from the Terraces at Park Marino were evacuated and safely relocated.
  • Mandatory evacuations were underway in Pasadena.

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Living on a Prayer: Los Angeles wildfires growing at rapid rates fueled by Santa Ana winds as firefighters are running out of water

Palisades Fire

Important Takeaways:

  • A massive wildfire whipped up by extreme winds has swept through a Los Angeles hillside dotted with celebrity homes – with a state of emergency declared.
  • [Fox reported 200,000 without power]
  • The enormous blaze in the Pacific Palisades forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, some of whom abandoned their cars and fled on foot to safety with roads blocked.
  • Firefighters battling the blaze, which is burning through about five football fields a minute, warned they were running out of water and supplies, as evacuation warnings spread to Malibu and Calabasas.
  • Tankers full of water had been dousing the inferno from the skies all afternoon, but all aircraft were later grounded amid deteriorating wind conditions and visibility.
  • Residents were warned the worst is still yet to come as the raging wildfire burns through more than 2,900 acres of Los Angeles land at an extraordinary rate.
  • At least 30,000 residents are now under mandatory evacuation orders with more still warned they should be prepared to leave, after a fire that broke out in the foothills near Eaton Canyon has grown to 1,000 acres in just six hours since it began.
  • A third brush fire has broken out in Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley which recent estimates is around 100 acres big.
  • The Hurst Fire was estimated at 300 acres with a ‘rapid rate of spread’ and mandatory evacuations this morning. Governor Gavin Newsom announced early today that the state had secured federal funding to help with the fire.
  • Firefighters, which have said there is no hope of containing the fires overnight, are now focusing their efforts on helping residents get to safety

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Wildfires already breaking out in LA area as the most destructive windstorm hits in over a decade

Violent Winds cause wildfire in LA

Important Takeaways:

  • Wildfires began breaking out in Southern California Tuesday morning as a life-threatening, widespread windstorm that could be one of the most destructive to hit the region in over a decade roars to life and creates extremely dangerous fire weather conditions.
  • At least two fires broke out in the Los Angeles area as winds increased. The largest one, the Palisades Fire, quickly grew to 200 acres near Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
  • The area is under a rare, “particularly dangerous situation” red flag warning, the most dire such warning issued by the National Weather Service, for a high risk for dangerous fire weather conditions Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday afternoon for most of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.
  • “Widespread damaging winds and low humidities will likely cause fire starts to rapidly grow in size with extreme fire behavior,” the NWS warned, something fire officials echoed on Tuesday once fires broke out.
  • “If we don’t catch these (fires) within the first 20 minutes, it can go hundreds of acres very quickly and can lead to significant evacuations,” Capt. Erik Scott, LAFD PIO told CNN affiliate KABC.

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Wildfires threaten southern California homes, prompt evacuations

Wildfires threaten southern California homes, prompt evacuations
By Gene Blevins

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – California firefighters worked through the night into early Tuesday to tackle a pair of wildfires threatening people’s homes.

Live aerial video footage broadcast by KABC-TV showed flames raging along a ridge-line at the edge of an affluent beach-front neighborhood located between Santa Monica and Malibu about 18 miles (30 km) west of downtown Los Angeles.

Initially, a mandatory evacuation was ordered for about 200 homes in the Pacific Palisades community, as ground teams and helicopters worked on putting out hot spots and carving a containment line around the fire zone’s perimeter.

However, at around 8 p.m. (0300 GMT), the Los Angeles Fire Department said all evacuation orders had been lifted from the Palisades fire, and residents could return home.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said winds were relatively light, helping to keep the blaze in check by reducing the amount of burning embers blown into the air.

Meanwhile, east of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County’s Little Mountain area, a 20-acre brush fire that broke out on Monday evening and destroyed three homes, damaged six more and threatened others, fire officials said.

The cause of the fire is not known.

Four residents were hospitalized for smoke inhalation or minor burns, the San Bernardino Sun newspaper said.

Some residents in both communities tried to protect their property with garden hoses, spraying water on roofs.

San Bernardino County Fire Battalion Chief Mike McClintock warned residents against trying to fight the fire themselves, media reported.

“The biggest thing for us is if we ask people to evacuate, we want them to evacuate,” he said. “A garden hose isn’t going to stop a rapidly spreading fire.”

The blazes came about two weeks after a major wind-driven wildfire scorched nearly 8,000 acres (3,200 hectares) along the northern edge of Los Angeles, damaging or destroying dozens of structures and prompting evacuations of some 23,000 homes.

Assistant Fire Chief Patrick Butler said forecasts were for strong, dry winds to return Southern California on Thursday.

(Reporting and pictures by Gene Blevins in Los Angeles; Additional reporting Steve Gorman in Culver City, Calif., Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Alison Williams)