'Thousands' of homes destroyed, damaged in Palisades firestorm, LAFD estimates

Terry Castleman, Rong-Gong Lin II, Hannah Fry and Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times on Jan 9, 2025

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LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles fire officials said Thursday that “thousands” of homes appear to have been damaged or destroyed in the firestorm in Pacific Palisades, an estimate that would significantly heighten the scale of the disaster.

Officials are still trying to do a complete count of the losses but said preliminary estimates are grim. On Wednesday, they put the losses at more than 1,000 from the Palisades fire and another roughly 1,000 at the Eaton Fire in and around Altadena.

“The Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” said Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, adding that damage assessments are ongoing.

Firefighters Thursday were continuing to fight the Palisades fire, which has burned more than 17,200 acres, and the Eaton fire, that has burned through Pasadena and Altadena areas, charring about 10,600 acres.

Growth of the Eaton fire has been “significantly stopped,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said during a news conference Thursday morning. But officials say crews are still struggling with the Palisades fire with firefighters facing 60mph winds overnight. Officials say they hope a reduction in winds through the day will help crews boost containment.

At least 1,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have been damaged or destroyed in the Eaton fire and thousands of structures have been burned in the Palisades fire. Officials did not have specific numbers on damaged homes

At least five people have died in Altadena where the Eaton fire exploded Tuesday night, giving residents little time to flee. Officials did not have more information about the fatalities Thursday morning.

While winds have diminished, much of Los Angeles County remains under a red flag warning, with forecasters warning of critical fire weather to last through Friday night. Out of state resources are continuing to roll into fire zones on Thursday.

“This is absolutely an unprecedented, historic firestorm,” Mayor Karen Bass said. “But we are all hands on deck.”

Los Angeles caught a break Wednesday, with firefighters able to limit the Sunset fire, which broke out near Runyon Canyon above Hollywood on Wednesday, and keep a house fire in Studio City from spreading.

Unlike during the catastrophic conditions on Tuesday night, when wind gusts of up to 100 mph were recorded, on Wednesday night, aircraft were able to make water drops on the Sunset fire, which broke out shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday. Officials initially ordered a mandatory evacuation of a swath of Hollywood north of Hollywood Boulevard but lifted the evacuation orders Thursday morning. The Sunset fire has burned 60 acres, according to CalFire.

Officials urged people to still be vigilant. Thousands of residents across Los Angeles County remain evacuated.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said 23 people have been arrested on suspicion of looting homes in evacuation zones.

“We’re not going to tolerate that kind of activity,” Luna said.

Wind speeds weakened across the Los Angeles region Thursday morning, with isolated gusts reaching 35 mph in the Malibu area and 58 mph in the San Gabriel Mountains, said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

But, the reprieve is expected to be brief. Winds are anticipated to strengthen Thursday night.

“We’ll get a little bump up in winds as we get another little push of offshore flow,” Wofford said. “Nothing like we saw [Wednesday] with the gusts of 80 to 100 mph winds, but certainly enough to present some issues for the fires. ... It’s kind of like a day on, day off sort of thing. At least until the middle of next week we’re going to be in that pattern.”

Late Wednesday, the National Weather Service downgraded the fire weather outlook for the region from “extremely critical” to “critical.” Wofford said Los Angeles residents should be prepared for a succession of sustained high wind events that could intensify fire risk. Humidity levels remain low and no rain is in the forecast in the coming days.