At Least 5 Dead in Most Destructive Wildfire in LA History

Updated 3:15 p.m. Wednesday

Massive wildfires roaring through the Los Angeles area left neighborhoods in ruins Wednesday, threatening landmarks made famous by Hollywood as desperate residents escaped through flames that spread out of control with help from hurricane-force winds.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the death toll from the fires is now up to at least 5 people with 1,100 structures burned as of 3 p.m.

Three major blazes that erupted just a day earlier grew substantially while winds scattered embers far and wide. The fires blanketed the city with a thick cloud of smoke and ash and destroyed homes across the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, home of the famed Rose Parade.

One of the fires was the most destructive in the modern history of the city of LA and reduced grocery stores and banks to rubble, leveling entire blocks.

With thousands of firefighters already attacking the flames, the Los Angeles Fire Department put out a plea for off-duty and out-of-state firefighters to help. The winds temporarily stopped aircraft from dumping water from above until they were able to resume flights.

Images of the devastation showed luxurious homes that collapsed in a whirlwind of flaming embers. Swimming pools were blackened with soot, and sports cars slumped on melted tires.

“This morning, we woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles. But it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires. It has been an immensely painful 24 hours,” LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said.

Key updates

• Evacuation orders issued for some densely populated areas of Santa Monica
• Over 1.5 million people in Southern California are without power
• Already crowded hospitals now contend with medical emergencies from smoke inhalation
• For roughly 15 hours, water systems faced four times more than normal demand, lowering water pressure and causing some fire hydrants to run dry, according to officials from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
• County officials urge residents to conserve water for firefighters
• The LA Metro suspended fares on Wednesday after intermittent power outages made it difficult for riders to purchase and load fare cards.
• The NHL has postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames.
• The Critics Choice Awards have been postponed until Jan. 26
• The voting window for Academy Awards nominations has been extended
• The Altadena Golf Course,  Will Rogers’ historic home, and the iconic Reel Inn fish market off Pacific Coast Highway have been destroyed.

Wildfire locations are sourced from Cal Fire and updated multiple times per day. Perimeters are based on thermal hotspot and fire activity detected by NASA’s VIIRS satellites. Click on each fire icon for more incident-specific detail.

Map by Matthew Green/KQED

Like ‘living inside of a fireplace’

At least 70,000 people were ordered to evacuate — a number that kept changing because evacuation orders were continually being issued, officials said. The flames marched toward highly populated and affluent neighborhoods, including Calabasas and Santa Monica, home to California’s rich and famous. Hollywood stars, including Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore and James Woods, were among those forced to flee.

In Palisades Village, the public library, two major grocery stores, a pair of banks and several boutiques were destroyed.

“It’s just really weird coming back to somewhere that doesn’t really exist anymore,” said Dylan Vincent, who returned to the neighborhood to retrieve some items and saw that his elementary school had burned down and that whole blocks had been flattened.

The fires have consumed a total of about 42 square miles (108 square kilometers) — nearly the size of the entire city of San Francisco.

Jennie Girardo, a 39-year-old producer and director from Pasadena, said she was alarmed when her neighbor came to check on her.

“When I opened my door, it smelled like I was living inside of a fireplace,” she said. “Then I also started to see the ash. And I’ve never seen that in my life. Like raining ash.”

Fast-moving flames allowed little time to escape

Flames moved so quickly that many barely had time to escape. Police sought shelter inside their patrol cars, and residents at a senior living center were pushed in wheelchairs and hospital beds down a street to safety in the foothills northeast of LA.

One of the fires ripped through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity homes and memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit “Surfin’ USA.” In the race to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.

“People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags,” said Kelsey Trainor, who escaped while ash fell all around and fires burned on both sides of the road.

Higher temperatures and less rain mean a longer fire season
California’s wildfire season typically begins in June or July and runs through October, according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association, but January wildfires are not unprecedented. There was one in 2022 and 10 in 2021, according to CalFire.

The season is beginning earlier and ending later due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall tied to climate change, according to recent data. Rains that usually end fire season are often delayed, meaning fires can burn through the winter months, the association said.

Dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, which has not seen more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) of rain since early May.

The winds increased to 80 mph (129 kph) Wednesday, according to reports received by the National Weather Service, and could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills.

Landmarks get scorched and studios suspend production

President Joe Biden pledged to sign a federal emergency declaration after arriving at a Santa Monica fire station for a briefing with Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom posted on X that California had deployed more than 1,400 firefighting personnel to combat the blazes. He also dispatched National Guard troops to help.

“We are absolutely not out of danger yet,” Los Angeles city Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley said.

The fires burned through Temescal Canyon, a popular hiking area surrounded by dense neighborhoods of multimillion-dollar homes, and also jumped famous Sunset Boulevard, burning parts of the Palisades Charter High School, which has been featured in many Hollywood productions, including the 1976 horror movie “Carrie” and the TV series “Teen Wolf.”

Several Hollywood studios suspended production, and Universal Studios closed its theme park between Pasadena and Pacific Palisades. The Getty Villa, a campus devoted to art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome, said its structures and collection were safe.

As it grew, the fire burning in the Pacific Palisades became the most destructive fire in the modern history of the city of Los Angeles.

With an estimated 1,000 structures destroyed and the flames still growing Wednesday, it is far more destructive than the Sayre fire in 2008 that destroyed just over 600 structures, according to statistics kept by the Wildfire Alliance, a partnership between the city’s fire department and MySafe:LA. Structures refers to homes and other buildings.

Before that, a 1961 Bel Air fire stood for nearly half a century as the most destructive fire in the city’s history. It burned nearly 500 houses in the tony hillside enclave, including homes of actor Burt Lancaster, Zsa Zsa Gabor and other celebrities.

Residents were urged to limit water usage. Los Angeles Public Works Director Mark Pestrella said the city’s water systems that service homes and businesses were working effectively, but “they are not designed to fight wildfires.”

More than 100 schools were closed due to fire risk. Southern California Edison shut off service to thousands because of safety concerns related to high winds and fire risks. More than 1.5 million customers could face shutoffs depending on weather conditions, the utility said.

Several Southern California landmarks were heavily damaged, including the Reel Inn in Malibu, a seafood restaurant. Owner Teddy Leonard and her husband hope to rebuild.

“When you look at the grand scheme of things, as long as your family is well and everyone’s alive, you’re still winning, right?” she said.

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Janie Har in San Francisco; Hallie Golden in Seattle; Jaimie Ding and video journalist Eugene Garcia in Los Angeles; Ethan Swope in Pasadena; Brian Melley in London; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland; and Tammy Webber in Detroit contributed to this report.

KQED’s Brian Krans also contributed to this report.