What to know about California's wildfires
- Southern California is braced for "extremely critical fire conditions" caused by a new period of Santa Ana winds today through tomorrow across parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties as the battle to contain the raging blazes goes on.
- The fires have killed at least 25 people and swept through 40,000 acres in the Greater Los Angeles area, destroying more than 12,300 structures. Firefighters are still working to contain the blazes. See maps of the fire areas and evacuation zones.
- The causes of the fires remain unknown, but investigators are focusing on a specific scorched slope to discover the origins of the largest blaze, the Palisades Fire.
- Los Angeles County has declared a public health emergency, warning that smoke and particulate matter could pose immediate and long-term threats. The full warning and a list of recommendations can be found here.
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Donors give more than $100 million to GoFundMe efforts in wake of fires
In the wake of last week’s deadly Palisades wildfire, Melanie Bonhomme found hope and support from her neighbors and online strangers.
Bonhomme, a single mother to a 4-year-old son, lost her home and belongings in the fire that ravaged the area, leaving her family displaced and in need of immediate assistance.
Within days, a GoFundMe campaign she launched captured the attention of her community and beyond, surpassing her $50,000 goal.
Recent wildfire campaigns have gained traction on the popular fundraising site. In the days since wildfires tore through Los Angeles communities, more than $100 million has been raised on GoFundMe to support families, communities and businesses affected by the disaster, a spokesperson for the online fundraising site said today.
The funds are also going toward nonprofits providing relief efforts on the ground.
The wildfire fundraising figure thus far is close to half of what was raised for natural disaster recovery efforts all of last year. In 2024, approximately $235 million was raised for disaster efforts across all GoFundMe campaigns, the spokesperson said.
“It was overwhelming,” Bonhomme said when asked about her own GoFundMe campaign’s success. “It’s an amazing platform that allows people to ask for help when they need it.”
The wildfire, which erupted amid high winds and dry conditions, destroyed dozens of homes, leaving countless families in a similar predicament. However, in the face of adversity, people have come together to lend support, including Bonhomme who has been looking for other GoFundMe wildfire campaigns to donate to now that hers has surpassed its goal.
“My campaign got a lot of traction, and so I am just paying it forward," she said.
Last Tuesday, when the Palisades fire spread, Bonhomme raced home where her son was with his nanny. She quickly packed up his social security card, other necessary documents and her loved ones’ ashes, leaving everything else, and drove her family away from the fire in bumper-to-bumper traffic as flames and black smoke engulfed the city.
“I have lots of different things that I’ve acquired over the course of my lifetime that were in that home that I will likely not be able to recover," Bonhomme said.
Bonhomme described the Palisades as a perfect, walkable community and said that she enjoyed “every single moment living there," and “was always so grateful to be there and ... didn’t ever take it for granted.”
As she begins to look for a new place to live, unsure of where she’ll be in the weeks to come, she said she’s thankful for the opportunity to ask for help when “sometimes it’s the hardest thing to do.”
“I’m just so grateful my GoFundMe has put me in a place where I can also help other people in my community,” she said. “[There are] 23 other units in my building, people who are struggling, so grateful that I can help them."
Hilton helping make 20,000 hotel room nights available for displaced people
Hilton and American Express today announced they will make 20,000 hotel room nights available free to people who have been displaced by the wildfires.
The two companies said in a statement that they will work with the organization 211 LA to coordinate the rooms.
Hilton's website directs people to apply online.
‘We are doing everything possible’ to prepare Palisades Fire zone for return, L.A. County Fire says
Utility and other crews continued to work in the Palisades Fire zone today, but there are hazards that include not only downed power lines and hot spots but also toxic materials that include the wreckage of solar and lithium-ion batteries, officials said today.
Authorities stressed today, as they have this week, that they can’t allow residents desperate to return to their neighborhoods to do so until it is safe.
“We are currently doing everything possible to prepare your community for your return,” Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief Robert Harris said, asking for patience.
“We want to get you back home as soon as possible,” Harris said. “Currently, we do not have a date in mind, but we are preparing the infrastructure to get you back home.”
Palisades Fire now 21% contained
More progress was made today on the Palisades Fire, which is now 21% contained, fire officials said.
The fire, which has burned 23,713 acres, had been reported at 19% containment.
Red flag warnings for the region expired at 6 p.m. Cooler and more favorable winds are forecast through the weekend, but more Santa Ana winds are likely next week, forecasters said.
Investigators probing Palisades Fire’s origin have developed over 150 leads
Investigators trying to determine how the Palisades Fire started have generated more than 150 leads, an ATF official said today.
“Some of these leads have come from homeowners, witnesses and video submitted,” Jose Medina, acting special agent in charge of the ATF’s Los Angeles field division, said at a news conference.
“We have investigators scouring video from state-owned cameras that were in place in the area, from residents in the area and social media posts,” he said.
Investigators have interviewed people who called 911 that day, as well as the first responders, Medina said.
They’ve also talked to first responders who responded to a fire on Jan. 1 that was put out, he said. The Palisades Fire broke out around 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 7, and investigators are developing a timeline that includes a period well before it began, Medina said.
Anyone hiking near Skull Rock that morning is being asked to contact authorities and make a report by texting ATFLA 63975, Medina said.
“We are talking to individuals about not just what they saw, but what they smelled and they heard,” he said. “Even if you were in the area and saw or smelled nothing, that, too, could be valuable information.”
After Palisades Fire destroyed their home, a return to school is a bright spot
More than week after a raging fire destroyed their beloved community of Pacific Palisades, a trip that on any other day would be unremarkable took on a new meaning the Dale family.
Their home having been destroyed, they took their two daughters to school — though in the nearby community of Brentwood.
“It just gives us some hope that our little community can stay together,” Cameron Dale said, adding that seeing families they haven’t seen in over a week was “such a good feeling."
Their daughters Felicity, 8, and Minnie, 6, seemed the most pleased of all to be back in class and to see their friends, father John Dale said. Their youngest daughter, Tallullah, 4, will have her first day at preschool tomorrow.
The children’s school before the fire, Palisades Charter Elementary School, was destroyed. The girls had new donated backpacks for today’s return to class.
Today, they went to Brentwood Science Magnet School, which is absorbing hundreds of students from Pacific Palisades.
“It was a lot of emotions seeing everyone, but the kids were so excited to get into their classrooms and to see them, to see their friends who were also going through the same thing,” John Dale said.
“Just seeing how excited they were to get to school was a nice bit of light for the past week,” he added.
Altadena community faces the future together
They lost almost everything in the wildfires in Southern California, but thanks to the community and a spirit of giving, small businesses are starting to recover.
YouTube and Google pledge $15 million to Los Angeles wildfire relief
Tech giants YouTube and Google today announced a $15 million combined donation to relief efforts for the devastating Los Angeles-area wildfires.
The donations will be distributed to organizations that include the Emergency Network Los Angeles, the American Red Cross, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and the Institute for Nonprofit News, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said in a statement.
“Los Angeles is the heart of entertainment and storytelling and has an impact on culture all over the world. It’s also where many YouTube creators, artists, partners and our employees call home,” Mohan said.
“Like so many, we’ve been heartbroken by the devastation from the wildfires and want to do our part to support the community as it rebuilds,” he said.
Electrical tower a focus as Eaton Fire’s potential origin after video clues emerge
When the first flashes of fire and billows of smoke grabbed the attention of people living in the foothills of Eaton Canyon in Los Angeles County, residents recorded videos of the same cluster of transmission towers high on the chaparral-covered hillside, illuminated by flames.
California fire officials pinpointed the start of the Eaton Fire on the evening of Jan. 7 to that area, but more than a week later, the exact source remains under investigation, fueling speculation over whether a high-voltage transmission tower is what set off the deadly wildfire.
“I still see the fire investigators right now, crawling up there around the poles,” said Brendan Thorn, 28, who recalled witnessing flames at the tower’s base and stayed behind at his Pasadena home while his family fled.
Fire official confident Eaton Fire ‘will stay within the current footprint’
Aircraft with infrared technology have been flying over the Eaton Fire zone looking for hot spots today as firefighters continue to work toward extinguishing the blaze once and for all, a fire official said.
“We are confident that this fire will stay within the current footprint that it is in,” Jed Gaines, operations section chief on the fire, said at a community meeting. “Crews are out there all day and all night continuing to put this thing out all the way.”
Crews and water are positioned in case any new fire starts outside the footprint of the Eaton Fire, Gaines said.
The area was still under a red flag warning this afternoon, but the worst of the winds today had passed, incident meteorologist James White said.
“Thankfully, the weather that we’ve actually observed has been all good news,” White said this afternoon. “We’re all past the highest-risk periods of that red flag warning.”
A break in the weather is forecast through the weekend, but the National Weather Service office for Los Angeles has said Santa Ana winds are likely to return next week — although they are not predicted to be as extreme as the winds that spread the Eaton and Palisades fires last week.