LA fire department issues new immediate evacuation
The LA fire department issued a new immediate evacuation order at 7pm local time on Friday for the Palisades fire. It affects the following areas:
It covers Sunset Boulevard north to Encino Reservoir and from the 405 Freeway west to Mandeville Canyon.
The area was previously under an evacuation warning, but it is now an immediate evacuation order.
Earlier, US officials declared a public health emergency due to the the California fires.
The LA department of public health said it had declared a local health emergency and issued a public health officer order in response “to the widespread impacts of the ongoing multiple critical fire events and windstorm conditions”. The order applies to all areas of Los Angeles county.
In a statement, the department said:
The fires, coupled with strong winds, have severely degraded air quality by releasing hazardous smoke and particulate matter, posing immediate and long-term risks to public health.
It advises anyone who must go outside for long periods of time in areas with heavy smoke or where ash is present to wear an N95 or P100 mask.
Key events
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Los Angeles:
Here’s a look at the current state of the California wildfires as of Saturday morning, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection:
Palisades fire: burned 21,596 acres, contained at 11%
Eaton fire: burned 14,117 acres, contained at 15%
Kenneth fire: burned 1,052 acres, contained at 80%
Hurst fire: burned 799 acres, contained at 75%
Archer fire: burned 19 acres, contained at 0%
In a tweet on Saturday, the city of Beverly Hills announced that the evacuation alert sent out to some of its residents at 4am PST today was an error.
“At approximately 4 a.m. today, some residents in Beverly Hills may have received another evacuation alert from the LA County Fire Department. The County’s Office of Emergency Management has confirmed this was another error,” city officials said.
They went on to add that there are no evacuations currently affecting the area.
A petition calling for the mayor of LA, Karen Bass, to resign has reached more than 57,000 signatures, at the time of writing.
The petition on Change.org, calls for the immediate resignation of Bass “due to her failure to lead during this unprecedented crisis”, a “full” and “transparent” investigation in disaster preparedness, response and resource allocation, as well as “accountability for the mismanagement of taxpayer funds intended for disaster relief and recovery” and a “comprehensive plan for ensuring the safety of all Angelenos in the face of future disasters”.
The author of the petition, listed as a “frustrated Californian”, wrote:
The people of Los Angeles deserve a leader who is present, accountable, and actively working to protect and serve our community. Mayor Bass’s actions-or lack thereof-have shown she is unfit for the office she holds.”
Victoria Namkung
When writing about the hot, dry Santa Ana winds and how they affect the behavior and imaginations of southern Californians, Joan Didion once said: “The winds show us how close to the edge we are.”
I’ve lived here my entire life. I evacuated my family’s hillside home as a teenager. I’ve experienced the surrealism of watching ash rain down from the sky more times than I can count. But there is something different, supercharged, about the hurricane-force winds that fueled this week’s catastrophic wildfires in Los Angeles.
We’re not just close to the edge. It feels like we’ve already gone overboard.
Over 10 million people live in LA county – more than the populations of most US states – and 150,000 of them remain under evacuation (another 166,800 residents are under evacuation warnings). At least 11 have died, more than 10,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed and hazardous smoke is compromising our already compromised air quality. The Los Angeles wildfires are on track to be the costliest in US history with some analysts projecting economic losses of $50 to $150bn.
Writer John Vaillant, an American and Canadian dual citizen who resides in Vancouver, is intimately familiar with colossal fires like the ones devouring Los Angeles. He’s the bestselling author of Fire Weather, a gripping account of Canada’s 2016 Fort McMurray fire and the relationship between fire and humans in a heating world that was a finalist for the Pulitzer prize and the National Book Award.
Throughout his work, Vaillant is clear about why these “21st-century fires” are so different from the ones I grew up with: it’s the climate crisis.
I spoke to Vaillant about these new fires we’re seeing, not just in Los Angeles, but in Paradise, California, and Maui, the role of the fossil-fuel industry and his advice for Angelenos right now. You can read the interview at the below link:
“This is what’s left of the home that I grew up in for 31 years,” Pacific Palisades resident Greg Benton said as he remembered his recent Christmas celebration with his family in his house.
Thousands of Angelenos are returning to their homes to assess the damaged left by five fires which raged through multiple areas of the city. More than 144,000 people are under evacuation orders, local authorities have said.
Claire Wang
As California state and federal agencies lag in their response to the widespread wildfires that erupted this week in Los Angeles, a network of grassroots organizations and small businesses have launched their own disaster relief efforts – from coordinating overnight evacuation services to delivering essential supplies to victims and frontline workers.
After the fires began burning, the worker-owners at All Power Books decided on Tuesday night to convert the leftist bookstore cooperative into a warehouse for emergency resources.
Over the next 48 hours, residents all over the city packed the community space with box after box of canned food, masks, blankets, sleeping bags and toiletries. Organisers transported supplies to survivors at different churches and evacuation shelters; they delivered bottled water and snacks to firefighters, many of whom are serving out a sentence as they battle the blazes.
“We’ve already seen how crucially underprepared the city government is in dealing with social service,” said Savannah Boyd, a co-founder of All Power Books, which is based in the West Adams neighbourhood.
“We knew we were going to have to start organising for mutual aid.”
The bookstore’s central location in south LA and proximity to the I-10 freeway, Boyd said, made it an ideal fit for a centralized “donations hub” where donors and mutual aid groups can coordinate supply dropoffs and deliveries.
By Thursday afternoon, Boyd said the bookstore had to stop accepting donations, as deliveries have maxed out its storage capacity.
Maanvi Singh
As a series of wildfires in the Los Angeles area grew into raging infernos, the city’s mayor, Karen Bass, was halfway around the world – part of the US delegation attending the inauguration of the new president of Ghana.
By the time she returned home on Wednesday, the fires had seared through thousands of acres. They destroyed more than 10,000 structures and killed at least 11. And Bass was facing a barrage of questions and criticism – both from within LA, and outside.
Angelenos, living through one of the worst disasters the region has faced in decades, asked why it had taken the mayor so long to return. Political rivals questioned why she had even embarked on an international trip, given that the National Weather Service in Los Angeles had been warning of “extreme fire weather conditions”. Advocates for the unhoused were flabbergasted when the city announced it had made just 135 hotel vouchers available, given that a staggering 75,000 people in LA lived on the streets, with little protection against noxious wildfire smoke. Some critics charged the city had been ill prepared. Others, including the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times – harped on reports that the city had cut the fire department’s funding in its latest budget. Those reports were incomplete at best inaccurate at worst, but by the time news outlets began reporting on the fiscal nuances, the damage had been done.
At a press conference Thursday, Bass dismissed a question about her leadership – saying the “unprecedented” nature of the fires had stretched the city’s resources to respond. She declined to answer a reporter’s question about her initial absence – saying she was focused on saving lives and homes. When pressed again, she responded: “I just said what I believe is the most important thing for us to do right now and that is going to continue to be my focus.”
Bass became LA’s first female and second Black mayor in 2022, after serving as a US congresswoman for a decade. She took office at a tumultuous moment in the city. Trust in the city’s leadership was at an all time low after racist audio of city councilmembers became public. In the ensuing years, her approach to policing and homelessness drew skepticism both from those hoping for a more hard-handed approach and those hoping for more compassion, but she was broadly credited for her pragmatic leadership, helping stabilise city hall.
Over the past few days that goodwill has begun to fray. “LA is scared, seething and looking for a scapegoat,” wrote the longtime LA Times columnist Gustavo Arellano.
But beneath this flood of frustration is an even more dismaying reality – that much of the catastrophe befalling LA is beyond its mayor’s control and instead the result of decades of policy decisions and a climate that is creating conditions for more extreme fires.
Prince Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, have met evacuees to hand out food in Los Angeles.
The royals visited Pasadena, meeting with mayor Victor Gordo and emergency workers tackling the Eaton fire.
“This is their second visit,” Gordo told Sky News, adding that the pair helped serve food to evacuees. “They took time to meet the people who are affected. They’re just very caring people.”
The couple reside in California about 90 miles from Los Angeles.
Here are some images from the fire in Palisades:
The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) warned its students to prepare for a possible evacuation as the Palisades fire continues to burn nearby.
“This is NOT an evacuation alert,” UCLA stressed in a statement.
“We are asking Bruins on campus to remain vigilant and be ready to evacuate, should the alert be extended to our campus,” it said, referring to UCLA students by their nickname.
“We will provide additional information about evacuation instructions, if needed,” it said.
UCLA stretches for more than 419 acres in western LA and has up to 40,000 students on campus.
The west Los Angeles VA medical Centre says it relocated residents from its community living facility on the north campus “out of an abundance of caution.”
The medical centre which is potentially in the path of the Palisades fire, offers mental health care and cancer treatment to armed force veterans.
‘‘We are working closely with healthcare providers to facilitate a smooth transition for all affected residents,” a representative told NBC News.
“All necessary resources are being deployed to assure their comfort and care during this process,” they added. “We remain committed to maintaining the highest standard of healthcare and resident safety.”
Across Los Angeles, more than 144,000 people are under evacuation orders, local authorities say.
Firefighters continue to battle raging wildfires across large pockets of Los Angeles. The six fires have destroyed buildings, ruined businesses and taken lives.
Here is the current state of the fires, according to multiple reports:
Palisades fire Eaton fire Kenneth fire Hurst fire Lidia fire Archer fire
The latest fire – the Archer fire – ignited on Friday and has blazed through 19 acres so far. It is currently uncontrolled.
Current state of the California wildfires
LA mayor Karen Bass faces scrutiny as historic blazes devour city
Current state of the California wildfires
More than 21,000 acres have burned, claiming numerous homes, businesses and landmarks in Pacific Palisades, along the Pacific Coast Highway, and Malibu, as of 5am. The fire is 8% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
In Altadena and Pasadena, fires burned 14,117 acres. Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, posted on X on Friday morning that the fire was 3% contained as of 7.30am.
About 1,052 acres near the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties have been scorched. The fire is 50% contained, according to Cal Fire. Evacuation warnings have been lifted.
The Hurst fire burned through 771 acres in and around Sylmar. Evacuation orders have been lifted as of 8pm. The fire is 70% contained, according to Cal Fire.
The Lidia fire – located in the hills north of LA – is still burning across 395 acres and is 98% contained, according to Cal Fire.
