Raging wildfires tearing through Los Angeles County into Thursday have razed neighborhoods across the area, leaving behind a trail of destruction and deaths.
The latest: Two of the five known deaths occurred in the Palisades Fire, officials said at a Thursday briefing. Previously they attributed all five deaths to the Eaton Fire.
- Meanwhile, the Kenneth Fire, near the borders of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, prompted mandatory evacuation orders as it exploded in size — from 50 acres at 3:34pm local time Thursday to about 960 acres by 6:26pm.
State of play: President Biden said Thursday that the federal government will cover 100% of the state’s disaster assistance costs for the wildfires. The funding will support debris and hazardous materials removal, first responders’ pay and temporary shelters.
- The number of structures destroyed or damaged by the fires is believed to number “in the thousands,” Crowley said at an earlier briefing Thursday.
- “It is safe to say that the Palisades Fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” Crowley added.
- The destruction across the greater L.A. area is so vast that parts “look like a bomb was dropped” on them, L.A. Sheriff Robert Luna said at the press conference.
- Luna added that the total death toll remains unclear for the time being, and that nearly 180,000 county residents remain under evacuation orders.
- The fires have caused “significant damage” to L.A. County’s sewer, power and transportation systems, L.A. County Public Works Director Mark Pestrella said at the briefing, adding that debris from the fires could be hazardous or even toxic.
- All Los Angeles Unified Schools and offices remained closed on Friday, the school district said in a statement Thursday. Almost two dozen school districts have planned full or partial closures, per LAist.
Situation report: Two of the biggest blazes, the Palisades and Eaton fires, remained zero percent contained as of Thursday evening. The National Weather Service’s L.A. office expected the strong winds that have driven the fires to pick back up Thursday afternoon and into Friday.
- The brief drop in winds helped firefighters fight the spread of the Eaton Fire. Though it’s at 13,690 acres as of Thursday evening, “growth has been significantly stopped,” L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said.
- The Palisades Fire stood at 17,234 acres between Malibu and Santa Monica as of Thursday evening and remained 0% contained. Marrone said Wednesday that there were a “high number of significant injuries to residents who did not evacuate” from the blaze.
Meanwhile, L.A. County firefighters made progress with the Lidia Fire that’s burned 348 acres in a rural, mountainous area near Acton. It was 60% contained as of Thursday evening.
- In a glimmer of good news, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass confirmed on X Thursday that the Sunset Fire in Hollywood Hills was “fully contained.” The fire had stretched 43 acres Thursday morning.
- The Hurst Fire that’s burned 855 acres in the San Fernando Valley, some 25 miles northwest of downtown L.A., was 10% contained.
- Hazardous air quality from the wildfires impacted much of Southern California, exacerbated by low relative humidity.
Zoom in: Biden announced Thursday that he had directed the Department of Defense to provide California with “additional firefighting personnel and capabilities.”
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said Wednesday the state’s National Guard had been deployed to help respond to the fires.
- Biden canceled a trip to Italy he’d planned for Jan. 9-12 to meet with Pope Francis, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, per a Wednesday night White House statement.
Driving the news: The wildfires ignited after months of dry weather during powerful Santa Ana winds on Tuesday.
- Many areas have been hit by hurricane-force gusts of 74 mph or higher. Magic Mountain Truck Trail, east of Santa Clarita, recorded a gust at 90 mph.
- Images shared online showed flames engulfing multiple homes and residents abandoning their cars in Pacific Palisades, including the Palisades Charter High School and the Getty Villa museum.
- Millions of people in Southern California were affected by rare, late-season red flag warnings due to “widespread damaging north to northeast winds and extreme fire weather conditions,” per a forecast discussion from the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office.
By the numbers: More than 258,000 customers in Los Angeles and Ventura counties were without power on Thursday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.
Between the lines: Many parts of Southern California have not seen any meaningful rainfall for more than eight months.
- Much of the region is experiencing “moderate drought” conditions, per the U.S. Drought Monitor.
- Research shows human-caused climate change is leading to longer wildfire seasons in the western U.S. and has made severe seasons more frequent.
In photos: Palisades Fire engulfs L.A. homes
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Editor’s note: This article has been updated with new details throughout, including to clarify that two of the five deaths occurred in the Palisades Fire. The story and headline have been corrected to reflect that as of Thursday night, the death toll had not risen.
Axios’ April Rubin contributed reporting.
