20 Posts Sort By
Latest
Oldest
Tourists should not try to get a closer look at the wildfires ravaging Southern California, the president of California Professional Firefighters urged.
“If you don’t live in the area, don’t go sightseeing,” union president Brian Rice said. “The smoke is a toxic soup. It’s not just the brush that’s burning, but homes are burning. Homes contain plastics that are built from petrochemical compounds.”
Firefighters face perilous conditions battling the blazes, Rice said.
“If you do not have to be in that area and breathe that environment in, don’t. It’s dangerous.”
The shocking expansion of wildfires overnight around Los Angeles County is not likely to get better soon, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said.
“Angelenos should be advised that the windstorm is expected to worsen through the morning and to heed local warnings, stay vigilant and stay safe,” Bass posted to her X account early Wednesday morning.
Our @LAFD and @LAPDHQ teams continue to work overnight to protect Angelenos affected by fires in L.A.Angelenos should be advised that the windstorm is expected to worsen through the morning and to heed local warnings, stay vigilant and stay safe.
Red flag parking restrictions…
— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) January 8, 2025
There have been no reported firefighter deaths after more than 1,400 staff battled three separate blazes overnight, the head of the California Professional Firefighters, Brian Rice, said.
However, some firefighters were hurt as they carried out their jobs, he said: “As far as firefighter injuries, we’re seeing the very typical things: strains, sprains, eye injuries, smoke inhalation.”
As for any civilian casualties, more information would likely be provided later today by authorities, Rice added.
The fast-moving Eaton fire destroyed a Jewish house of worship in Pasadena overnight, CNN affiliate KABC reported. The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center was engulfed early Wednesday morning, with video showing flames leaping from windows and through the top of the collapsed roof.
“These embers can travel far, and in an instant, a building or a home can catch on fire,” KABC reporter Jaysha Patel said at the scene.
The congregation was founded in 1921, according to its website.
While actors Eugene Levy, James Woods, Steve Guttenberg and NBA coaches Steve Kerr and JJ Redick have spoken about being impacted by the fires, it’s not only celebrities who have been affected.
In the path of the Palisades fire, a beloved roadside seafood restaurant in Malibu was destroyed, the Reel Inn was 36 years old. And the Palisades Charter High School, a famed set for films and a nearby elementary school were engulfed by the flames. Churches, schools and other parks as well as residential homes along the Pacific Coast Highway and inland to Calabasas were evacuated as the fire spread.
Similarly, in the Hurst fire evacuation zone, there were places of religious worship, a UCLA medical center, the Granada Hills Recreation Center, elementary and middle schools, as well as hundreds of residential homes.
The Eaton fire has also prompted evacuation orders for hundreds of residents in the Sierra Madre area, and near Altadena and Cloverleaf Canyon.
Keep in mind: All three fires are at 0% containment and have burned thousands of acres overnight on Tuesday.
As winds nearing 100 mph continue to gust across Southern California, the fight against the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires is expected to intensify, David Acuna, a battalion chief and Public Information Officer at Cal Fire told CNN.
“We are having new fires pop up as we speak,” Acuna warned, adding that in order for the fires to stop, winds also need to stop.
“Once the winds have died down and we’re able to secure some lines, and we have made sure that all the people are out of the way, then we can devote all of our resources towards containing –– and then eventually, completely extinguishing the fire.”
Acuna said that recent instructions for drivers to abandon their cars on several of roadways across Los Angeles is a problem unique to the area, but not just because of traffic gridlock.
“Many of these roads leading up to the foothill homes are very narrow and windy and so it doesn’t take more than a couple of cars to really block up the area,” he said.
CNN national correspondent Natasha Chen and her team were wrapping up a long day of reporting on the devastating wildfires racing through the Los Angeles area on Tuesday, as the sun set over the scorched landscape.
But what began as a routine assignment quickly escalated into a dangerous ordeal, as flames threatened homes and prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents.
As they drove south, the situation was far worse than what they were prepared for.
“Pretty quickly, we realized there were flames on both sides of the highway. Embers were flying over the road. I spotted an emergency vehicle and decided our best bet was to follow that car as closely as possible. If he’s driving, then he probably knows the best way out,” Chen said.
What followed was a harrowing ride through flames and dancing embers all around.
“I’m hearing an explosion on my right, houses on fire right up against the road on the left,” Chen described. “I’m holding my breath, feeling the heat from inside the car as I watch the embers fly across the windshield. It was not ideal.
“We felt a concussion while driving past the homes on fire – an explosion that felt like it hit the car, but it was just the wavelengths of energy that hit us,” said CNN producer Kat Jaeger, who was with Chen. “There was no damage to our car. I’ve never felt anything like it.”
With three large wildfires burning across the Los Angeles County district, all at 0% containment, the next six hours will be critical for firefighters, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.
The weather conditions over the next few hours will continue to prove challenging for firefighters, with strong winds causing the fires to spread, according to Van Dam.
“We call that an extremely critical, particularly dangerous situation,” he said.
“But that level starts to get lowered as we go through the course of the day today, because the winds are anticipated to relax, conditions will change.”
It’s essential to keep an eye on the conditions and see how the fires respond, reiterating that it was a “dangerous situation,” Van Dam said.
“I want our viewers to understand just how quickly these fires can spread, it is at a moment’s notice that an ember can travel across a road, across the expanse of a highway, start additional spot fires, and erupt into a raging inferno,” he said.
The iconic Rose Bowl sports stadium has been designated as a critical evacuation site for large animals, offering a refuge for pet owners seeking safety for their horses and livestock as the Palisades fire continues to blaze, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
The decision comes as mandatory evacuations are enforced in several neighborhoods, including Monte Nido. Residents in affected areas are strongly advised to familiarize themselves with evacuation routes, which lead to both the Pasadena Convention Center and the Rose Bowl. For those with small animals, the Pasadena Humane Society is prepared to assist.
On New Year’s Day, the historic stadium hosted the college football quarterfinal playoff between Ohio State and Oregon, with 90,000 plus fans in attendance.
Rachel Spencer, a Pasadena resident who fled the 500-acre Eaton fire on Tuesday evening, described a chaotic day in which multiple family members had to evacuate several times.
“I opened the door, looked out the front door, and the whole freaking parking lot over there is on fire,” she told CNN in a voice message. She then ran back into the house to pack, where her mother, dog and grandmother were — all of whom had evacuated from their homes earlier in the day, too.
“We all had to get out. It was just a mess,” Spencer said. “Embers were flying all over the front yard and on top of the bungalows.”
It was dark, smoky and chaotic, with people and cars all trying to get out at the same time, she said. “You couldn’t breathe, and going to the freeway there was just like debris all in the street, from the trees and just everywhere,” Spencer said.
Videos she’d taken earlier that day, and in the evening, show just how fast everything changed. In the earlier video, blue skies and mountains can be seen. In the later video, those mountains had caught fire, with tall flames and strong winds outside her front door as she evacuated. The sky above her home was painted in dark black smoke with orange flames.
“I’ve had several family members were evacuated from their homes tonight … We don’t know if our homes are still standing,” said Spencer. “We are just all devastated and in disbelief, I had no clue that fire would come off of that mountain like that to flatland, and they’d come on my street like that … I can’t even sleep. My stomach is nuts.”
Watch her video:
Burning through five football fields a minute, the Palisades fire has expanded rapidly over the past few hours, destroying homes and prompting evacuation warnings for tens of thousands of people, from Malibu to Santa Monica.
Many were forced to abandon cars in the area that is again at the center of a large blaze following December’s Franklin fire. With traffic slowing evacuations and flames jumping the highway, some had also considered sheltering on the beach.
Two other fires have erupted in Los Angeles County: The 500-acre strong Hurst fire north of San Fernando, and the Eaton fire in Altadena, which has grown to 1,000 acres in a matter of hours.
At a Pasadena elderly care home, workers raced to get everybody out safe with Eaton fire just a block away, according to CNN affiliate KCAL. Video shows dozens of residents in wheelchairs, many wearing only thin gowns and covered in shawls on the cold night.
Some didn’t even have shoes, only their socks on, in the rush to leave.
Here’s what you should know:
• Firefighter injured: A 25-year-old firefighter has sustained a serious head injury. She received treatment at the scene and was sent to hospital, the fire department said. More than 1,400 firefighters have been deployed to fight the fires.
• No containment expected: There is no possibility of containing the Los Angeles fires tonight, and firefighters are focusing on saving lives instead, said David Acuna, the CAL Fire spokesperson. Some wind gusts are nearing 100 mph across Southern California.
• Firefighter warnings: Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Sheila Kelliher has warned that firefighters were in for a long night, with “tornado-like” winds expected to get worse. Kelliher said the terrain and wind combined created a “massive fight.”
• Bulldozers move cars: As tens of thousands of residents fled the Palisades fire on Tuesday, fire officials at one point used a bulldozer to move abandoned vehicles, which had piled up as evacuees became stuck in traffic and decided to flee on foot. If you have to abandon a vehicle, “Get it as far off the road as you can so that emergency vehicles get by,” Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said.
• Renowned buildings in flames: A beloved roadside seafood restaurant in Malibu was destroyed by the Palisades fire. The Reel Inn was 36 years old. The Palisades Charter High School, a famed set for films, and nearby elementary school were engulfed by flames.
• Power outages: More than 200,000 homes and buildings are without power in the county.
• All equipment used: California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that “hundreds and hundreds of personnel” were responding to the Palisades fire, using airplanes, helicopters, bulldozers and water tenders. The Los Angeles Fire Department is also asking off-duty members to call in to help battle the blaze. But as fire crews battle the Eaton fire north of Pasadena, their fight is limited by having grounded aircraft due to the extreme winds.
• Schools close: Five schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District will close on Wednesday, and classes are moving online.
If you are in the path of the fire, here are some tips on how to stay safe:
If you’re in a car and a wildfire is beginning to surround you, resist the urge to jump out.
“Vehicles are very good at protecting yourself from fires. If you’re completely overrun by fire, take shelter inside your vehicle – you’re going to be much better off than outside of the vehicle. … It’s not a guarantee, but it’s better than nothing,” Jon Heggie – who has been a division chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection told CNN in July.
“If you can see well enough, you should try to [drive] out of the fire area.”
If you have to abandon a vehicle, “Get it as far off the road as you can so that emergency vehicles get by,” Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said.
Other tips if you’re in your vehicle from Readyforwildfire.org:
• Close all vehicle windows and vents
• Cover yourself with a jacket or blanket
• If possible, lie on the vehicle floor
If you’re in a structure, it’s the same idea – you have a better chance inside it than outside. Let the fire sweep across the lot while you hunker down inside.
“There’s a good chance the structure will catch on fire, and after that, then you need to exit outside the structure, obviously.”
While riding out a wildfire inside a structure, Idaho Firewise offers these tips:
• Close all windows and doors and place wet towels under door and window openings.
• Have fire extinguishers out and ready to use.
• Fill sinks, tubs and buckets with water to put out any embers.
And if you’re stuck outside with a wildfire approaching, call 911 and give them your exact location, Heggie said. Rescuers might be able to get a helicopter to you or firefighters can try to put the fire out around you.
Try to get away downhill but not into a gulch or ravine, Heggie said. It’s harder to escape hoofing it uphill. Plus, high-rising flames can reach toward uphill fuel, and the rising convective heat can expand uphill.
The Hurst fire, which began burning around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night north of San Fernando, has grown to 500 acres, according to CAL Fire, forcing evacuations in nearby Santa Clarita.
Seven areas are under evacuation orders, while two are under evacuation warnings – though the number of active orders has changed rapidly through the night.
Extreme winds across Southern California have picked up overnight, with some isolated gusts in the highest elevations approaching triple digits – fueling the multiple ongoing blazes and complicating firefighting efforts, with authorities saying some aircraft had to be grounded earlier Tuesday due to the wind.
In the past few hours, we’ve seen these high wind gusts:
- Saddle Peak: 98 mph
- Henniger Flats: 85 mph
- Backbone Trail: 82 mph
- Malibu Hills: 81 mph
- Topanga: 60 mph
Winds are expected to continue peaking through the night and into Wednesday morning, with isolated winds at higher elevations in LA and Ventura counties potentially seeing gusts reach 100 mph.
“This will likely be the most destructive windstorm since the 2011 windstorm that did extensive damage to Pasadena and nearby foothills of the San Gabriel Valley,” warned the National Weather Service. “Any communities along Highway 118 and 210 corridors will be at the highest risk for comparable wind damage.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Tuesday warned against price gouging, which is illegal during a state of emergency.
“As high winds and dry conditions increase the intensity of the Palisades Fire, I urge Southern Californians to listen to communication from officials and keep safe. California’s price gouging law protects people impacted by an emergency from illegal price gouging on housing, gas, food, and other essential supplies,” Bonta said in a statement.
“If you see price gouging — or if you’ve been the victim of it — I encourage you to immediately file a complaint with my office online at oag.ca.gov/report or contact your local police department or sheriff’s office.”
Under California law, people cannot sell critical goods like food, emergency or medical supplies, and gasoline for more than 10% over its original price before the state of emergency was declared. And for people who only began selling those items after the state of emergency began, they are prohibited from charging more than 50% over what they paid for the item.
The law also applies to services provided in the aftermath such as repair services, cleanup fees, and transportation or accommodation costs. Violations are punishable by up to one year’s imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $10,000.
Earlier on Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, with a separate state of emergency declared in Los Angeles city.
More than 1,400 firefighters have been deployed to fight the multiple fires happening across Los Angeles County, said Gov. Gavin Newsom, posting on X after midnight.
His full statement:
California has deployed 1400+ firefighting personnel & hundreds of prepositioned assets to combat these unprecedented fires in LA.
Emergency officials, firefighters, and first responders are all hands on deck through the night to do everything possible to protect lives.
California has experienced a stark contrast in weather between regions, with significantly above-average rainfall across northern California, while some parts of Southern California haven’t seen over a quarter of an inch of rainfall since early July.
A series of atmospheric rivers and atmospheric river-fueled storms have barraged Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, bringing significant. This has brought rainfall amounts to as much as 200% above normal across Northern California since October 1st.
The opposite is the truth for Southern California, which has seen Santa Ana wind events and below average rainfall over the past three months. On October 1, none of Los Angeles County was under drought conditions, but according to the latest drought numbers which came out on January 1, over 83% of the County is in a moderate drought.
On October 1, only 10% of the California as a whole was under any sort of drought conditions, the majority occurring across southeastern California. Fast forward to the latest drought numbers, over 30% of the state is experiencing some sort of drought conditions, with the majority of this occurring across Southern California. Little relief is in store for Southern California, with the Climate Prediction Center calling for below-average rainfall chances for the month of January.
The role of climate change: Wildfires are fueled by a knot of factors, both natural and human-caused, but scientists say that global warming is loading the dice in favor of more intense and severe blazes.
Hotter temperatures are the clearest climate change-fueled contributor to wildfires. Heat sucks the moisture from vegetation making it much more combustible. “Drier fuels are a critical part of fire, the drier the fuel the easier it is to start a fire,” Mike Flannigan, professor of wildland fire at the University of Alberta, told CNN in March.
CNN’s Laura Paddison contributed reporting.
As she evacuated from her home, Pasadena resident Bobbie Oliver sent CNN photos and videos.
“The smoke was unbearable even with windows closed,” Oliver told CNN. “We could see the fire and our house was full of smoke. Then a cop car went around saying evacuate now in a bullhorn,” she added.
Oliver was able to grab her two dogs, laptops and passports along with some of her father’s artwork before leaving.
“It was frantic and downed trees and branches all in the streets,” she said about the evacuation. In one video she sent to CNN, police cars and strong winds can be heard.
Three fast-moving fires are forcing residents in Southern California to evacuate.
Here’s what you should know:
Power outages: More than 220,000 people are without power in Los Angeles County, according to poweroutage.us — a database that tracks and aggregates live power outages in the US.
Acreage: The Palisades fire has grown to nearly 3,000 acres, with the Eaton fire at 1,000 acres and the Hurst fire at 100 acres.
Evacuation orders: At least 30,000 people had been told to evacuate from 10,000 households, 15,000 structures, businesses and other buildings in the Pacific Palisades. The Eaton and Hurst fires also prompted evacuations in those areas.
Wind speeds: Winds reached 60-80 mph overnight, with isolated gusts across the highest elevations approaching triple digits.
Welcome to our coverage of the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires.
The three fires are rapidly tearing across Los Angeles County, fuelled by high-speed winds. Here are their current sizes:
• The Palisades is at almost at 3,000 acres.
• The Eaton fire near the Angeles national forest is at 1,000 acres.
• The Hurst fire near Sylmar is just at 100 acres.
The fires are expected to continue to grow overnight, “because the winds are not letting up. In fact, they’re not planning to let up through all night and likely into tomorrow,” David Acuna, the Public Information Officer with CAL Fire and a battalion chief, told CNN.
There are tens of thousands under evacuation orders, and, with no possibility of containing the fires tonight, firefighters are focusing on saving lives instead, Acuna said.
We’ll bring you the latest updates here.
