Weather service issues its most severe fire warning for parts of L.A. area as winds pick up
The battle against devastating wildfires that have gripped Los Angeles County for nearly a week — destroying thousands of structures and killing at least 25 people — continued Monday as officials prepared for the onset of another round of dangerous winds that will significantly heighten fire risk.
Over the last 24 hours, both the Eaton and Palisades fires saw increased containment and no significant growth. But officials are still on high alert ahead of red flag conditions expected to begin early Tuesday and last through noon Wednesday.
“We are not in the clear as of yet and we must not let our guard down,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said during a news conference Monday.
The National Weather Service has issued an ominous “particularly dangerous situation” warning for swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, cautioning of wind gusts ranging from 45 mph to 70 mph, dry air and a higher risk of rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior.
Issuing this warning “is one of the loudest ways that we can shout,” said Rose Schoenfeld, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
“This is a continued extreme fire weather and wind scenario,” Schoenfeld said.
The sobering forecast comes as firefighters have worked through the weekend to boost containment of the Palisades and Eaton fires. The Palisades fire had burned more than 23,700 acres and was 14% contained as of early Monday. The Eaton fire, which has burned more than 14,100 acres, was 33% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Mexican firefighters and emergency personnel have arrived in Los Angeles to help with the fire fight. Gov. Gavin Newsom said 72 firefighters arrived Saturday, joining thousands of others battling the fires.
Newsom said Sunday he was deploying an additional 1,000 members of the California National Guard to fire-ravaged Los Angeles. The new additions will bring the total number of Guard members in the region to about 2,500 by Monday, according to the governor’s office.
Hundreds of federal personnel and aerial support have also been deployed to California to support firefighting efforts, President Biden said Monday.
Roughly 92,000 people remain under evacuation orders and 89,000 more people are in areas where evacuation warnings have been issued.
Crowley said that fire crews had made extensive preparations in advance of the latest extreme weather event.
“As we speak, the Los Angeles City Fire Department has maximized our resource capabilities and response capabilities. ... I have strategically pre-positioned engine strike teams and task forces, which are dedicated to rapid response for any new fire that breaks out in the city,” Crowley said.
These preparations include reinforcing fire control lines around the Eaton and Palisades fires, clearing dry brush away from surviving structures, and staging resources in areas where new fires could ignite. The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services has also pre-positioned additional engines, fire crews, helicopters, bulldozers and water tenders across all of Southern California.
Crews are preparing for a worst-case scenario where high winds prevent the use of firefighting aircraft from strategically dropping retardant around the fires’ perimeters.
“The National Weather Service is predicting close to hurricane force level winds and so we’re making urgent preparations,” Mayor Karen Bass said. “My top priority and the top priority of everyone else is to do everything we can to protect lives.”
The number of confirmed deaths from the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires jumped to 25, officials said Monday. Eight of the fire victims died in the Palisades fire and 17 in the Eaton fire in Altadena, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
There are also still 29 missing persons reports across both fires, all of which have been made for adults, officials said.
Officials warn that the death toll will probably keep rising. Search and recovery operations are underway in the Eaton and Palisades fire zones using cadaver dogs and grid searches, Luna said.
“Unfortunately, every day we’re doing this, we’re running across the remains of individual community members,” Luna said.
The fires are among the deadliest in California’s modern history. The state’s deadliest wildfire remains the Camp fire, which leveled the town of Paradise in Butte County in 2018 and killed at least 85 people. The second deadliest was the Griffith Park fire of 1933, with 29 fatalities; followed by the Oakland-Berkeley hills fire of 1991, where 25 died; and the Tubbs fire in Napa and Sonoma counties in 2017, with 22 killed.
Coverage of the fires ravaging Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, including stories about the devastation, issues firefighters faced and the weather.
Although there is no final tally yet of structures burned, the fires are already among the most destructive in modern California history.
Damage assessments have confirmed 1,902 structures destroyed in the Eaton fire, though inspection teams are only through about 30% of the fire footprint. Officials estimate that 7,000 structures were damaged or destroyed, though structures can include homes, businesses, smaller outbuildings and sheds and even vehicles.
Officials estimate the Palisades fire has burned more than 5,300 structures. If those numbers hold, it would make the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire the third and fourth most destructive wildfires in modern California history, according to Cal Fire.
Officials have been working to secure the fire zones from those who they say are traveling to the area to burglarize evacuated homes and commit other crimes. Authorities have arrested 34 people, including one burglary suspect who was allegedly dressed as a firefighter.
Of those arrested, 30 were apprehended in the Eaton fire zone and four in the Palisades fire zone, Luna said.
Coverage of the fires ravaging Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, including stories about the devastation, issues firefighters faced and the weather.
As officials try to determine the cause of the Eaton fire, which burned areas in and around Altadena, investigators have focused on an electrical transmission tower in Eaton Canyon. Early photos and videos taken by residents captured what appeared to be the first flames of the deadly Eaton fire burning at the base of the Southern California Edison electrical transmission tower before racing down the canyon toward homes.
Southern California Edison officials have so far said they do not believe their electrical equipment was responsible.
As for the 800-acre Hurst fire near Sylmar, fire agencies are investigating whether downed Southern California Edison utility equipment might have played a role in igniting the blaze, company officials said. The fire — which began Tuesday near Diamond Road in Sylmar — was 95% contained as of Monday and evacuation orders had been lifted, though firefighting efforts were continuing.
Coverage of the fires ravaging Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, including stories about the devastation, issues firefighters faced and the weather.
The company issued a report Friday saying that a downed conductor was discovered at a tower in the vicinity of the fire but that it “does not know whether the damage observed occurred before or after the start of the fire.”
Authorities are also still trying to determine what caused the Palisades fire, but officials speaking to The Times on condition of anonymity said it appears to have human origins. In recent days, the focus has been on a popular Temescal Ridge trail where an earlier fire had ignited.
This week’s fire weather is not expected to be as severe as last week’s historic windstorms that fueled the Palisades and Eaton fires, Schoenfeld said.
This wind event will be a more conventional Santa Ana wind, with winds coming out of the east and spreading fires to the west. Last week’s windstorms were worsened by a “mountain wave wind,” which occurs when gusts rapidly drop down mountain slopes, then gain strength upon hitting a flat landscape. The phenomenon caused short bursts of strong, dangerous winds, with gusts of up to 100 mph reported near Altadena. Winds last week came primarily from the north and affected areas that don’t typically see strong winds during Santa Ana events, Schoenfeld said.
The area covered by the particularly dangerous situation warning affects a relatively smaller area — primarily the northern San Fernando Valley, including Porter Ranch and San Fernando; the western Santa Monica Mountains and the Malibu area; wide swaths of Ventura County, including the cities of Ventura, Simi Valley and Fillmore; and the Grapevine section of Interstate 5.
Coverage of the fires ravaging Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, including stories about the devastation, issues firefighters faced and the weather.
“However, this is an extremely dangerous situation that may result in very extreme fire behavior and life-threatening conditions,” Schoenfeld said. “Fuels remain critically dry, with an extended period of very low humidities across the region.”
Southern California has not received much rain this winter, heightening concerns ahead of the impending winds. Only 0.16 inches of rain has fallen since Oct. 1 in downtown Los Angeles, essentially nothing compared to the 5.23 inches that is, on average, seen by this point in the water year.
There will be a higher risk of downed trees and power lines than with a typical red flag fire weather warning, Schoenfeld said. Public safety power shutoffs are more likely in the area of the particularly dangerous situation.
About 17,600 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers in high fire risk areas including Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Sylmar and Encino are without power, the agency said Monday.
More than 17,000 Southern California Edison customers in Los Angeles County were without power ahead of the high winds on Monday, and another 127,000 customers in the county could have their power shut off in the coming days, according to the utility.
This is the fourth warning of a particularly dangerous situation issued since autumn. Each of the three prior warnings was followed by major, destructive fires — the 19,904-acre Mountain fire in Ventura County, which razed more than 240 buildings in November; the 4,037-acre Franklin fire, which spread rapidly in Malibu and destroyed 20 buildings in December; and last week’s Palisades and Eaton fires.
A conventional red flag warning — alerting about critical fire weather conditions — has already been in effect since Saturday for large swaths of Southern California and will continue until Wednesday evening. The red flag warning areas cover regions much larger than those covered by the particularly dangerous situation.
Coverage of the fires ravaging Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, including stories about the devastation, issues firefighters faced and the weather.
Officials warned Angelenos to stay on high alert as the winds pick up through the region.
“These next few days are crucial in our fighting of the existing fires and also preventing any new fires,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “Thank you for taking it seriously.”
Coverage of the fires ravaging Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, including stories about the devastation, issues firefighters faced and the weather.
Times staff writers Rebecca Ellis, Clara Harter, Salvador Hernandez, Faith Pinho, Jenny Jarvie, Laura J. Nelson, Kevin Rector, Ruben Vives and Julia Wick contributed to this report.
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