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Rapidly spreading wildfires tearing through Los Angeles Wednesday have destroyed roughly 1,000 structures and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
The big picture: The blazes remained zero percent contained as of Wednesday morning, and officials warned that conditions are expected to worsen.
- Fire officials estimated the Palisades Fire had grown to 2,925 acres between Malibu and Santa Monica.
- The Eaton Fire, in northeast L.A. County, had burned 10,600 acres by Wednesday afternoon, with winds reaching, and even surpassing 80 mph, according to the Angeles National Forest.
- The Hurst Fire, in and around the San Fernando Valley, has burned at least 505 acres. The Woodley Fire in Sepulveda Basin reached 75 acres Wednesday.
The latest: L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said at a press conference Wednesday morning that the Palisades Fire had destroyed about 1,000 structures and that the cause of the fire remains unknown.
- There has been a “high number of significant injuries to residents who did not evacuate” from the Palisades fire.
- Two civilian fatalities have been reported in the Eaton Fire, though the cause of their deaths is still unknown, Marrone added.
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said Wednesday that the California National Guard had been deployed to help respond to the fires.
Driving the news: Satellite images indicated the Palisades Fire was “vastly larger” than the official acreage count, University of California, Los Angeles, climate scientist Daniel Swain said during a Tuesday night video briefing.
- 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.
- Newsom said Wednesday morning that more than 1,400 firefighters, emergency personnel, and first responders have been deployed to fight “these unprecedented fires in LA.”
- The county’s Office of Education announced Tuesday evening that 19 school districts in the county would be closed Wednesday.
Threat level: The fire ignited after months of dry weather during powerful Santa Ana winds, per Cal Fire.
- More than 50,000 people received evacuation orders overnight as a result of the Eaton Fire, Angeles National Forest officials said.
- More than 300,000 customers in Los Angeles and Ventura counties were without power on Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us.
State of play: President Biden said in a Tuesday night statement that he “offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire.”
- FEMA has approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant for affected areas, he said.
- By Tuesday evening, the City of Santa Monica issued evacuation orders for areas north of San Vicente. “Immediate threat to life,” the city said on X just after 7:30pm local time. “This is a lawful order to LEAVE NOW. The area is closed to public access.”
Zoom in: Video from the scene showed officials using a bulldozer to push stranded cars to the side of a road. “Police Academy” actor Steve Guttenberg stepped in to help move cars that fleeing residents left on Sunset Boulevard so fire trucks could come through, per KTLA 5.
- Fellow Hollywood actor James Woods shared posts to X of homes ablaze and noted he and his next-door neighbor managed to safely evacuate, but his neighbor’s house was “on fire” after being impacted by the wildfire.
Meanwhile, Getty Villa museum officials had “made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year,” per a statement from Katherine Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust.
- “Some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but staff and the collection remain safe,” added Fleming, who noted the museum would remain shut at least through Jan. 13.
Zoom out: 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.
- “Downed trees, hazardous driving conditions, increased traffic, power outages, and airport delays are to be expected across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. Any wildfires that start may spread rapidly with extreme fire behavior.”
- More wildfires ignited across L.A. County on Tuesday evening and the NWS warned the worst is likely yet to come for Southern California, which could see hurricane-force gusts of up to 100 mph in some areas.
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 threatens L.A. homes
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Editor’s note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.