What we know about the California wildfires
- At least five people have been killed as fast-moving wildfires engulf the Los Angeles area, prompting mandatory evacuations of more than 100,000 people.
- At least five fires are burning, sparked by dry conditions and powerful winds. The newest, the Sunset Fire, started shortly before 6 p.m. in the Hollywood Hills and has grown to 60 acres.
- The Palisades Fire has already burned through more than 15,800 acres, and the Eaton Fire has exploded to 10,600 acres, both with no containment. The Hurst Fire has affected 855 acres but is now 10% contained, while the Lidia Fire was at nearly 350 acres with 40% containment. The smaller Woodley Fire was under control.
- Some firefighters are hindered by low water pressure and out-of-service hydrants. Some aerial water drops are underway.
- The Palisades Fire has destroyed 1,000 structures, officials said. More than 450,000 customers were without electricity in Southern California.
- Officials told people in evacuation zones to leave immediately. People near the blazes should pack go-bags, plan on places to meet other household members and know how to flee safely.
This live blog has now ended — the follow the latest updates here.
Large Studio City house fire knocked down, LAFD says
A large house fire that erupted in the Studio City area of Los Angeles tonight, causing fears that it could spread to vegetation, has been knocked down, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
Around 50 firefighters extinguished the fire, which broke out at around 8:52 p.m. on North Sunswept Drive, the LAFD said. No injuries were reported.
The fire erupted amid dry conditions that are causing a high risk of wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
Firefighters placed a priority on not only defending the structure but also keeping the flames from spreading into the brush, the fire department said.
Two major wildfires, the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, have burned more than 26,000 acres combined and destroyed many homes. Both are still burning.
Five people died in the Eaton Fire, officials said.
More than 300 animals sheltered after Eaton Fire evacuations
The Pasadena Humane Society said it has taken in over 300 animals, some of them injured, as people fled the Eaton Fire, which has destroyed homes and killed five people.
“We are starting to see many animals coming in with burns and injuries,” the organization said on Facebook. “These animals are being treated in our ICU. We are providing them with pain medications, wound care, fluid, and oxygen as needed.”
Dia DuVernet, president and CEO of the Pasadena Humane Society, said her heart goes out to all those affected. Many of the people fled with their animals. One of the members of the shelter's board of directors lost her home and her two cats, DuVernet said.
Shelters in the area have been working with the group to save animals, and neighbors have been helping out by saving pets that got lost during the confusion, she said at a news conference earlier today.
“It really has been heartwarming to see even our staff members who have been evacuated and who are losing their homes coming to the shelter to shelter with their pets and take care of other people’s pets,” DuVernet said.
L.A. city firefighters battle large house fire in Studio City
A new blaze in the hills of the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles is drawing on firefighters already spread thin as L.A. is in the midst of multiple wildfires fanned by Santa Ana winds.
The Los Angeles Fire Department reported that the focus of the fire was a four-story home on or near Sunswept Drive. The fire has since expanded and is now called the Sunswept Fire.
"The Sunswept Fire is burning near Laurel Cyn [Canyon]/Mulholland/Coldwater Cyn/Ventura Blvd.," a city alert said tonight. "Those nearby should get set for a potential evacuation by gathering supplies and loved ones."
The fire department said in an update that the residential fire included "exposures and vegetation."
"Firefighters are in the defensive mode against the fire unit with priority of defending the exposures and preventing extension into the brush," it said.
The area is northwest of the Sunset Fire in Hollywood, north of Franklin Canyon and Beverly Hills, amid the high vistas on the San Fernando Valley side of the Santa Monica Mountains.
The range is also the focus of the Palisades Fire and the Sunset Fire.
A look at the Eaton Fire from above
Color infrared satellite images released by Maxar Technologies show the fires burning in Altadena on Wednesday, in stark comparison to the same location captured on Monday.
The Eaton Fire has burned 10,600 acres and damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and other buildings.
More than 7,500 personnel on California fires, governor says
More than 7,500 people are fighting the wildfires in Southern California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said tonight as fires continued to burn in the Los Angeles area.
Newsom this week toured the devastation wrought by the Palisades Fire and said many homes were destroyed.
The Palisades Fire is the largest of the fires burning in the Los Angeles region, with more than 15,800 acres scorched, according to fire officials.
The Eaton Fire, burning in the Altadena and Pasadena areas, has killed five people and burned more than 10,000 acres.
Outreach workers help those living on streets evacuate, find shelter
This week's windstorm-driven fires have put a spotlight on million-dollar family homes lost to flames, but the L.A. mayor's office says it's trying to make sure people without four walls are evacuated and sheltered.
"The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) has been conducting outreach to individuals living on the streets in high fire severity zones since Friday, January 3rd, and will continue to do so in the coming days," Mayor Karen Bass' office said in an evening update on the city's wildfires.
Her office said it will make vouchers for hotel stays available to homeless people, distributed through outreach workers and volunteers and the city's 211 helpline.
The update said vouchers would be limited "based on capacity."
Last year the city had nearly 30,000 people living outdoors and outside shelters, more than 10% fewer than in 2023, the homelessness authority said in a statement last year about the latest figures.
The phenomenon, which correlates to untenable housing costs in the state, has a visible footprint on the sidewalks and streets of Hollywood, where the Sunset Fire was burning in the neighborhoods and hills north of Hollywood Boulevard.
Amid flames and rubble, parts of Pacific Palisades hit with boil water notice
The Pacific Palisades community at the center of the Palisades Fire remained under a boil water notice tonight, the Los Angeles mayor's office said in an update.
The L.A. Department of Water and Power ordered the notice for the entire community and warned adjacent areas served by the utility to boil water before using it, too. It identified the Pacific Palisades ZIP code, 90272, as the focus of the notice. The ZIP code follows the community's boundaries.
The department said the firefight has depleted water and the city system's usual water pressure, the latter of which thwarts contamination by keeping bacteria and foreign substances outside a water system even as it harbors some cracks and breaches.
"Until adequate water pressure can be re-established, and water is tested and confirmed to be safe, this notice is in effect. It is possible that disease-causing organisms could be present," the department said in a statement.
"These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches," LADWP said.
When will the dangerous fire weather abate?
Although the ferocious winds that have fueled the Los Angeles-area fires should gradually diminish tonight, dangerous fire conditions are expected to persist through at least Friday.
A high wind warning remains in effect until 10 p.m. PT for parts of greater Los Angeles, including the Malibu coast and the Santa Monica Mountains, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasts suggest wind speeds up to 40 mph in the affected areas, with gusts up to 60 mph.
Red flag warnings will remain in effect across parts of Southern California through at least 6 p.m. Friday. Such warnings refer to an expected combination of warm temperatures, low humidity and strong winds that raises the risk of fire danger.
Humidity levels are expected to stay low, and they could dip into single digits in some areas into Friday.
“Prolonged elevated to critical fire weather is expected,” according to the fire weather outlook from the NWS Storm Prediction Center.
Wildfires threaten urban Southern California's sense of security
Wildfires are supposed to be wild.
But the reach of this week's windstorm-driven blazes in Southern California has served as a reminder that flames don't stop at the wildland-urban interface. And if that's the case, few in this region of 25 million are truly safe from the ravages of such blazes.
Mandatory evacuations for the Palisades Fire yesterday and the Sunset Fire tonight spread into century-old rectangular street grids and well-worn Main Streets seemingly insulated from fire by miles of concrete and steel structures.
Authorities last night put the northern part of Santa Monica's North of Montana neighborhood under mandatory evacuation orders. The area included the city from San Vicente to the border with Los Angeles and its Pacific Palisades community.
It's not in the hills, and it's not amid woods or brush. It's part of a larger Santa Monica neighborhood known for its expensive homes and Rodeo Drive-style boutiques.
"This is staggering," Los Angeles Times reporter Julia Wick said on X last night, commenting on the Santa Monica part of the Palisades Fire evacuations. "For those unfamiliar with L.A. geography, the area in the evacuation warning is not in the hills."
Likewise, evacuations tonight covered the western part of the Hollywood Hills, west of the 101 Freeway, from Mulholland Drive — which twists along the top of the mountains — to Hollywood Boulevard, a flatlands thoroughfare to the south that takes tourists to the El Capitan Entertainment Center, TCL Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Madame Tussauds Hollywood and Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Some of the city's oldest multifamily structures line the boulevard in one of its densest neighborhoods.
Just east of the boulevard's evacuation zone are Thai Town and its critically acclaimed eateries and Little Armenia, a location celebrating Armenian settlement in East Hollywood.
The overlapping ethnic communities found life and commerce in the boulevard's vintage buildings. It's generally not a place where children learn how to hunt or fish or even about preparing for wildfires.
But the lesson of wildfire crushing urban development is one told previously, when the Camp Fire in 2018 destroyed 85% of Paradise, California, 470 miles north of L.A. in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
A National Institute of Standards and Technology analysis of the Paradise Fire found that the density of the town actually made the fire worse and accelerated flames.
"Propelling the Camp Fire’s structure-destroying spree were fires that spread within and between plots of land, or parcels, rather than from the fire front," said the analysis, published in 2021. "Sources such as burning sheds, plants, vehicles and neighboring houses caused many buildings to catch fire, either through direct contact with flames or embers generated in parcels."
Gov. Gavin Newsom told NBC News today that the rapid devastation of the last two days in Southern California was something he could compare only to the Paradise Fire.
"It's stunning," he said. "Nothing comes close."
Crews make progress in fight to contain Sunset blaze
The Sunset Fire, which sparked tonight, has grown to 50 acres in the Hollywood Hills, but crews report progress in keeping it contained and are attacking it with aerial water drops.
"There are active flames within the interior of the fire, but the perimeter is holding well thanks to a fire road and ground crews in place," the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department posted on social media this evening.
"At the heel of the fire, active flames have been extinguished, though smoldering continues within the interior."
An evacuation center has been set up at the Pan Pacific Recreational Center, at 7600 Beverly Blvd.