Closing summary
Thanks for joining our live coverage of the Los Angeles wildfires today. The sun is setting in California and this blog is now closing. You can read our full report on the fires today here.
Here are the top headlines from this afternoon and evening:
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There are four wildfires currently raging in Los Angeles county. They include:
The Palisades fire, at 23,654 acres and 11% containment
The Eaton fire, at 14,117 acres and 15% containment
The Kenneth fire, at 1,052 acres and 90% containment
The Hurst fire, at 799 acres and 76% containment
Eleven fatalities have been officially confirmed in the Palisades and Eaton fires. As family members have been alerted to the losses of their loved ones, eight of the victims have been publicly identified. Law enforcement officials expect the death toll to rise once weather and fire conditions allow cadaver dogs and detectives into the burn zones.
In response to criticism over water supply issues, the LA department of public works released a statement “correcting misinformation” about the lack of water to fight the Palisades fire this week. The statement was released one day after the chief of the LA fire department, Kristin Crowley, told Fox LA that her firefighters had been hamstrung when hydrants ran dry in certain parts of the Palisades on Wednesday morning.
Firefighters deployed from Mexico arrived in Los Angeles Saturday afternoon. Canadian and Texan firefighters are also on their way to the Golden state.
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has doubled the deployment of the state’s national guard to Los Angeles amid the wildfires.
Newsom has also launched a website aimed at addressing misinformation about the Los Angeles area wildfires. CaliforniaFireFacts.com, a branch of Newsom’s own website, includes information about water availability, forest land management and LA’s fire department budget.
The New York Post published aerial images taken by paparazzi the same day that a drone grounded a firefighting Super Scooper aircraft. The images were captured by London Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based celebrity photography company founded by London-trained paparazzo Giles Harrison.
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Sag-Aftra donates $1m to assist members affected by LA fires
Sag-Aftra, the union representing 160,000 actors and performers, will donate $1m to “assist members experiencing hardship caused by the Los Angeles fires”.
“The very essence of a labor union is solidarity: that we all work to elevate each other during times of stability, and we’re there for each other in times of crisis. The devastation is hard to fathom, even for those of us living in it,” union president Fran Drescher said in a statement.
Many members of the film industry – which has already canceled and postponed numerous premieres, awards shows and filming as a result of the fires – call the Los Angeles area home.
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As the sun sets in Los Angeles, here are a selection of photographs from the fifth day since wildfires broke out in southern California:
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Even as firefighters battle to save Los Angeles from wildfires, city officials continue to argue over the impact of a large budget cut last year on the fire department’s ability to contain the fires.
Writing on Bluesky late Friday night, the Los Angeles city controller, Kenneth Mejia, took fire chief Kristin Crowley’s side. Mejia pointed out that although salaries for firefighters were increased late last year, a city budget cut of $17m had forced the department to eliminate 61 civilian support positions.
Speaking to CNN on Friday night, Crowley said the cut did “negatively impact our ability to carry out our mission”.
“The $17m budget cut, and elimination of our civilian positions, like our mechanics, did, and has, and will continue to severely impact our ability to repair apparatus. So with that, we have over 100 fire apparatus out of service. And having these apparatus, and the proper amount of mechanics, would have helped,” she said.
“Seeing City officials in the press ignore the severe impacts of these budget cuts, especially the ones covering for their poor budget decisions to cut a majority of departments’ budgets & even AFTER Chief Crowley told them about the impacts these cuts have had, is DISGRACEFUL,” Mejia wrote.
“BTW, what’s not being talked about is that Chief Crowley requested $914,975,620 for this current fiscal year’s budget which started last July. INSTEAD, the Fire Department got $819,637,423, a budget cut of $17,553,814 from their prior year’s adopted budget of $837,191,237.”
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The Palisades fire has grown by about 2,000 acres as firefighters struggle to halt the blaze’s encroachment on the Brentwood and Encino neighborhoods of Los Angeles, where the University of California Los Angeles and the Getty Center are on high alert.
The fire, which started the day at 21,596 acres, grew to 23,654 acres late Saturday afternoon, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection. The fire remains 11% contained.
California governor Gavin Newsom has launched a website aimed at addressing misinformation around the Los Angeles area wildfires.
“There is an astonishing amount of mis- and dis-information being spread online – much of it by so-called leaders and partisan media outlets who seek to divide this country for their own political gain,” Newsom said. “It breaks my heart that families in Los Angeles don’t just have to worry about the fires but also this malicious disinformation as well.”
CaliforniaFireFacts.com, a branch of Newsom’s own website, includes information about water availability, forest land management and LA’s fire department budget.
On Saturday, Newsom also took to denouncing various social media posts from platforms like NewsMax and Fox News, and figures like Elon Musk.
“This is false. Oregon has courageously sent CA some of their best firefighters and equipment — all have been here for days fighting these blazes. To say otherwise is not only incorrect, it’s offensive to the brave men and women who are fighting on the frontlines right now,” he wrote in one post.
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Firefighters from Mexico arrive in Los Angeles
Firefighters deployed from Mexico have arrived in Los Angeles, according to the California governor, Gavin Newsom.
In a social media post, Newsom shared footage of a military plane bearing a Mexican flag arriving at Los Angeles international airport. “California is immensely grateful to our neighbors’ support in the fight against the wildfires in Los Angeles,” the governor wrote.
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the country would deploy firefighters and first responders to California in a press conference Friday morning.
“We are going to provide support. Not only because the people and government of Mexico have always been generous, but also because there are many Mexicans in this area of the United States,” she said.
“I feel very happy,” one of the Mexican firefighters told NBC News from the tarmac while readying to deploy. “It’s a pleasure to be able to help all our countrymen and also our neighboring country.”
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A longtime Malibu resident, artist and surfer Randall Miod, who was known among friends as “Crawdaddy” or “Craw”, has been identified as a victim of the Palisades fire.
Miod, 55, had lived in a house he nicknamed the Crab Shack, which he shared with his cat The Bu, since 1993.
“He loved Malibu. That was his life,” friend Corina Cline told the Washington Post. “He wasn’t rich. He lived in that little red shack that was kind of run-down.”
“[His home] was his prized possession. That’s the one and only house he ever owned,” his mother, Carol Smith, told CNN. “He just felt so blessed to be able to live in Malibu. That was his dream come true because he’d been surfing since he was a teenager.”
His determination to protect the home led him to stay even after the fires began, Smith said. She added that detectives had found human remains in the home as they inspected the burn zone.
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At least 11 people have died in the wildfires surging across the Los Angeles area. As local law enforcement scramble to identify victims and inform their families, details are emerging about seven of the Los Angeles residents killed in some of the worst wildfires to hit the western city in its history.
The Guardian’s Marina Dunbar, Cecilia Nowell, Michael Sainato and agencies report:
On Friday, officials attributed five deaths to the Palisades fire and six to the Eaton fire, while the family of a 12th victim came forward about the loss of their loved one in the Palisades fire.
Rory Sykes, 32
Australian former child actor Rory Sykes, 32, died after his mother was unable to evacuate him. Sykes, who was born blind and had cerebral palsy, was living in a cottage on his family’s Malibu estate. His mother, Shelley Sykes, who was recovering from a broken arm, said she couldn’t move him.
Annette Rossilli, 85
Annette Rossilli, 85, died in the Palisades fire, the home health company caring for her told CNN.
Victor Shaw, 66
Victor Shaw, 66, was the first of the fatalities to be named, after he died in the Eaton fire raging to the north-east of LA while attempting to extinguish flames at his home of 55 years in Altadena.
Anthony Mitchell, 67, and Justin Mitchell, early 20s
Anthony Mitchell, 67, who was an amputee, and his son Justin, who had cerebral palsy, were identified as two of the wildfire victims in Altadena. They died as they were waiting for an ambulance, according to Mitchell’s daughter, Hajime White.
Rodney Nickerson, 82
Rodney Nickerson, 82, also of Altadena, died in his home, according to his daughter, Kimiko Nickerson, who said he thought he would be OK waiting the fire out in his house after living through several fires in his 57 years in the home.
Erliene Kelley
Erliene Kelley, a retired pharmacy technician in Altadena who lived very close to Shaw and Nickerson, also died at home in the Eaton fire, the New York Times reported, citing relatives.
For the full story, click here:
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Residents have organized a donation center including free food at a gas station on the Altadena-Pasadena border.
In an interview with CalMatters, one of the residents who identified himself as George said he had set up the center to receive donations and to donate to people:
We have all kinds of supplies, clothes, hygiene, pet food, water. We have a little bit of everything.
Describing his idea to set up the center, George said:
It was a random idea between me and a friend early this morning … At the beginning it was just water, then it became all of this. It was unplanned.”
Last night I met George who set up an impromptu donation center at a gas station at the border of Altadena / Pasadena.
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) January 11, 2025
He kept it going past curfew, even as national guard closed this area off.
People all around the neighborhood were stopping by hot meals, clothes, supplies. pic.twitter.com/n64rBTdWaE
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Newsom doubles national guard deployment to Los Angeles
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has doubled the deployment of the state’s national guard to Los Angeles amid the wildfires there.
In a statement on Saturday, Newsom announced that he had increased the state’s national guard personnel to 1,680, doubling the number of guards on the ground.
Newsom said:
We are continuing to rush in resources to rapidly respond to the firestorm in Los Angeles fueled by hurricane-force winds. The men and women of the California national guard are working day and night to help Los Angeles residents during their greatest time of need. We are grateful for their continued bravery and commitment to be of service to others.”
So far, California has mobilized more than 12,000 personnel including firefighters, guard service members, highway patrol officers and transportation teams to help fight the fires.
Moreover, the response efforts include more than 1,660 pieces of firefighting apparatus, including more than 1,150 engines, more than 60 aircraft, dozers and more than 100 water tenders to aid in putting out the fires.
Both Canada and Mexico have sent firefighters to help Los Angeles fight the blazes.
In a post on X, Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said of the volunteer group: “We are a country of generosity and solidarity.”
Meanwhile, the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, sent crews, aircraft and equipment from Canada to southern California to help battle the fires.
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With help from personnel deployed from across the United States and neighboring countries, California firefighters are starting to make progress containing the devastating blazes that have wrecked the Los Angeles area.
Here’s a selection of photographs capturing their work in recent days:
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About a fifth of fire hydrants in the Pacific Palisades ran dry on Tuesday night due to “extreme water demand”, according to LA’s department of public works. But all hydrants were fully operational ahead of the fire, the agency said in a statement “correcting misinformation” about the water system.
“Any assertion that fire hydrants in the Pacific Palisades were broken before the Palisades fire is misleading and false,” the statement reads. “LADWP’s fire hydrant repair list was current and updated, and all reported fire hydrants were fully operational in the Pacific Palisades and in LA’s Westside communities prior to the fire.”
“Water pressure in the system was lost due to unprecedented and extreme water demand to fight the wildfire without aerial support,” the statement added.
It also addressed the Santa Ynez reservoir, which was empty at the time of the fire – a fact that LA’s fire chief, Kristin Crowley, told reporters Friday she was not alerted to.
The department of public works “was required to take the Santa Ynez Reservoir out of service to meet safe drinking water regulations. To commission the support and resources to implement repairs to Santa Ynez, LADWP is subject to the city charter’s competitive bidding process which requires time,” the statement read.
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The New York Post published aerial images taken by paparazzi the same day that a drone grounded a firefighting Super Scooper aircraft.
Photographs of Tom Hanks’ Pacific Palisades home, which narrowly avoided destruction in the historic blaze, appeared in the Post on 9 January. The images were captured by London Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based celebrity photography company founded by London-trained paparazzo Giles Harrison.
The same day, an aircraft fighting the Palisades fire was hit by a drone, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The Los Angeles fire department confirmed that a Super Scooper – which can “scoop” water from nearby lakes and oceans to fight fires – was damaged, although the plane landed safely.
“It’s a federal crime, punishable by up to 12 months in prison, to interfere with firefighting efforts on public lands,” the FAA said in a statement. “Additionally, the FAA can impose a civil penalty of up to $75,000 against any drone pilot who interferes with wildfire suppression, law enforcement or emergency response operations” during a temporary flight restriction.
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Texas will deploy firefighters and first responders to aid in the California wildfires, Governor Greg Abbott announced on Saturday. The state will send more than 135 firefighters, emergency management and medical personnel, as well as more than 45 fire engines, ambulances, command vehicles and equipment.
“Our hearts grieve with the entire Los Angeles community as they continue to respond to these destructive wildfires,” said Abbott. “Texans know all too well the devastation wildfires can cause to our communities, and our country is stronger when we come together in times of crisis.”
The announcement comes at a heightened moment of tension between Democrats and Republicans, as Democratic leaders in California appeal to Republican president-elect Donald Trump to visit the state and be prepared to continue offering disaster relief once he assumes office later this month.
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Details are emerging about another victim killed in the Palisades fire.
Former Australian child actor Rory Sykes, 32, died after his mother was unable to evacuate him. Sykes, who was born blind and had cerebral palsy, was living in a cottage on his family’s Malibu estate. His mother, Shelley Sykes, who was recovering from a broken arm, said she couldn’t move him.
“He said, ‘Mom, leave me.’ And no mom could leave their kid,” she told Australian news outlet 10 News First.
She said she called 911 for help, but the phone lines were down – so she drove to the local fire station for help. But they told her “we’ve got no water.”
“When the fire department brought me back, his cottage was burnt to the ground.”
Sykes is not yet part of the official death toll – as officials have been unable to formally identify his remains. Currently, officials have confirmed 11 fatalities in the Los Angeles wildfires: five in the Palisades fire and six in the Eaton fire.
Jennifer Garner has revealed that one of her friends died in the Los Angeles wildfires.
Speaking to NBC in the Pacific Palisades, the actress said:
I’m looking at the chimney of somebody that I loved who died there … It’s too awful to talk about.
Garner, who stood alongside World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés amid a backdrop of burned homes, added:
I did lose a friend and for our church it’s really tender so I don’t feel like I should talk about it yet … But I did lose a friend who did not get out in time.
The death toll of the wildfires has risen to 11 as the flames continue to rage across southern California.
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In a new interview on Pod Save America, California governor Gavin Newsom hit back at Donald Trump over his false claims that the state’s water shortage is due to Newsom’s alleged refusal to sign a declaration that would allow water from the north to flow throughout the rest of the state.
Speaking on the podcast, Newsom said:
“What the president-elect was saying about state water project and the delta smelt [fish] somehow being culpable, somehow leading to some of the challenges that we face down here … it’s words. It’s a salad. It’s the form and substance of fog. It’s made up. It’s delusional. And it’s a consistent mantra from Trump going back years and years and years, and it’s reinforced over and over and over within the right wing. And so it’s become gospel, and it’s so profoundly ignorant, and yet he absolutely believes it.
It’s not an ignorance on his part. It’s such it’s sort of an indelible misinformation that he sort of manifested a falsehood, and he decided to bring it into this crisis in a profoundly demeaning and demand and damaging way.”
Trump has been claiming, falsely, for years that southern California’s lack of water is caused by Newsom’s refusal to sign off on a plan to divert water flowing into San Francisco Bay to irrigate crops and put out fires.
He said at a campaign event in September at his golf course outside Los Angeles:
“Vote for me, California. I’m going to give you safety. I’m going to give you a great border, and I’m going to give you more water than almost anybody has ... and the water’s going to come all the way down to Los Angeles and you’re going to have more water than you ever saw ... you’re going to have water in California at a level that you’ve never seen before ... And Gavin Newscum is going to sign those papers, because if he doesn’t sign those papers, we won’t given him money to put out all his fires. And we don’t give him the money to put out his fires, he’s got problems ... And all of that water is going to take care of California.”
The Guardian’s Robert Mackey contributed to this report
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Disney will donate $15m to relief efforts amid the Los Angeles wildfires.
In a statement released on Friday, the Burbank-based company said:
The history of The Walt Disney Company is inextricably linked to the greater Los Angeles region, and the destruction from the devastating fires affecting thousands in our area is truly heartbreaking. Today we are committing $15 million for initial and immediate response and rebuilding efforts.”
Adding to the statement, Disney CEO Bob Iger said:
“As this tragedy continues to unfold, The Walt Disney Company is committed to supporting our community and our employees as we all work together to recover and rebuild from this unbelievable devastation … We are proud to provide assistance to this resilient and vibrant community in this moment of need.”
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There are three ways residents in California are able to get help amid the wildfires, according to Ca.gov.
One way is to register for Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) assistance online at DisasterAssistance.gov. The other way is to apply via the Fema app, and the third way is to call the Fema helpline at 1-800-621-3362.
Additionally, assistance for small businesses is available through the federal Small Business Administration.
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Here are some images coming through the newswires from Los Angeles:
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Current state of the California wildfires
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%
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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.
LA mayor Karen Bass faces scrutiny as historic blazes devour city
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.
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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.
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Here are some images from the fire in Palisades:
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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.
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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.”
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Current state of the California wildfires
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
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).
Eaton 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.
Kenneth fire
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.
Hurst fire
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.
Lidia 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.
Archer fire
The latest fire – the Archer fire – ignited on Friday and has blazed through 19 acres so far. It is currently uncontrolled.
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Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) chief, Kristin Crowley, and the LA mayor met yesterday.
“Their foremost priorities continue to be fighting the current wildfires and safeguarding Angelenos,” the LAFD’s public information officer, Erik Scott, said on X Friday night.
“It is important to note that the fire chief was not dismissed and is in full command of the LAFD,” Scott added.
Crowley was asked in an interview with KTTV if city officials had failed the LAFD, and she responded: “Yes.” Crowley complained about the resources made available to the fire department, which left them unprepared for the fires that have devastated the Palisades.
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Entertainment company LiveNation announced a charity concert titled FireAid will take place at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, which will be “dedicated to rebuilding communities devastated by wildfires and supporting efforts to prevent future fire disasters throughout Southern California”.
According to the PA news agency, the event is billed as an “evening of music and solidarity” and will take place on 30 January – with performers yet to be announced.
Paris Hilton has launched an emergency fund to support families displaced by the Los Angeles wildfires, kickstarting with a personal donation of $100,000 (£82,000), reports the PA news agency.
Hilton said she will match donations of up to an additional $100,000 in a fundraising effort after she watched her Malibu home “burn to the ground on live TV”.
“While I’ve lost my Malibu home, my thoughts are with the countless families who have lost so much more – their homes, cherished keepsakes, the communities they loved, and their sense of stability,” the 43-year-old wrote.
She added:
As a mum, I can’t imagine the pain and fear of not having a safe place for your babies so I’m launching an emergency fund through my nonprofit 11:11 Media Impact to support displaced families with young children.
I’m starting with a personal contribution of $100,000, and will be matching additional dollars raised up to $100,000 more. I am looking for others to donate and match alongside me to do our part.”
Hilton lost her home in the Pacific Palisades fire which broke out on Tuesday and remains the largest fire devastating Los Angeles, having destroyed more than 21,000 acres.
She said the donations will provide short-term housing and cash assistance to families, deliver essentials to evacuation centres and support local animal shelters.
US actor Jennifer Garner was among the stars volunteering in the wake of blaze, providing food relief for evacuees as well as first responders, working alongside World Central Kitchen founder chef José Andrés at one of the charity’s many pop-up locations around California.
Standing amid the rubble of her home town of 25 years, an emotional Garner told US outlet MSNBC:
I did lose a friend, and for our church it’s really tender, so I don’t feel like I should talk about her yet. I did lose a friend who did not get out in time.
My heart bleeds for my friends. There are 5,000 homes lost, I can write out a list of 100 friends who lost their homes.
I feel almost guilty walking through my house, what can I do, how can I help, what can I offer?”
Here are some of the latest images coming in via the newswires:
Returning Pacific Palisades residents were grieving not just homes turned to ash, but memories buried amid the rubble
Wildfires had crept close to the Pacific Palisades before.
Just in 2018, the catastrophic Woolsey fire wreaked havoc in nearby Malibu. There’d been other close calls: evacuations because of a brush fire in 2019. A blaze chewing through steep remote terrain nearby the following year.
And yet, even as flames roared through the hillsides flanking the neighbourhood and trees thrashed in ferocious winds, they couldn’t fathom what was coming.
This firestorm, which would ultimately share the name of the community it consumed, would unleash unexpected horrors. It swept in, and left little in its wake. The Palisades fire is one of several major blazes that have exploded across Los Angeles since Tuesday, fanned by extreme winds fueled through parched landscapes.
Preliminary estimates based on satellite imagery indicate that across Los Angeles county, more than 12,000 structures have been lost. At least 11 people have been killed, a death count officials say is undoubtedly to rise.
Some residents have been able to return to the neighbourhoods they had to evacuate, many hiking or biking through the backroads up through the burned canyons to reach areas that are still closed.
For them, and for thousands others who will be returning in the coming days, the sheer scale of the loss is only beginning to sink in.
“It’s not just about your own house – it’s about the loss of your community,” said Ricky Gordon, who bought her Palisades home in 1987.
Gordon’s home was spared, but stands surrounded by a sea of destruction. It won’t be livable, she said, if her neighbors are gone. “It is about losing people you’ve known.”
As hundreds of Los Angeles residents return to find homes reduced to ashes due to a devastating wave of wildfires, many are fearful that their insurance policies may not cover the rebuild cost and that future premiums will be astronomical.
Reuters contacted nine of the top home insurance companies in California for comment.
State Farm, Nationwide, Allstate, Mercury, Liberty Mutual and Farmers responded with statements saying they were working with policyholders to help them make claims, without addressing specific concerns about residents not receiving sufficient payouts or rising future premiums.
After the fires this week, California insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, invoked moratorium powers to suspend all policy non-renewals and cancellations from insurance companies for one year, reports Reuters.
Lara said in a statement on Friday that next week he will host free insurance workshops in Santa Monica and Pasadena, suburbs close to the two biggest fires.
US insurance stocks slid on Friday as analysts estimated the insurance costs from the wildfire could top $20bn. Private forecaster, AccuWeather, estimated the damage and economic loss from the fires at $135bn to $150bn, portending soaring homeowners’ insurance costs.
Pope Francis prays for victims and rescuers trying to control wildfires
Pope Francis is praying for victims and rescuers trying to control the wildfires in California that have killed at least 11 people and destroyed thousands of homes, the Vatican said on Saturday.
“His Holiness Pope Francis assures you and the community affected by this tragedy of his spiritual closeness,” said a statement sent on the pope’s behalf to the archbishop of Los Angeles, José H Gómez.
Expressing “heartfelt condolences for those who mourn their loss”, Francis also offered prayers “for the relief efforts of emergency services personnel” and imparted “his blessing to all as a pledge of consolation and strength in the Lord”.
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The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian “who may have been impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires”, a spokesperson for the department said.
In a statement, the spokesperson added that owing to privacy obligations, they are unable to provide further comment.
The spokesperson said that the consulate-general in LA is continuing to monitor the wildfires in California, including news on evacuation orders and warnings. “We encourage Australians to keep informed and stay safe by following the advice of local authorities and subscribe to Smarttraveller for updates.”
Newsom says he is 'not interested in politicising a natural disaster', wants Trump to visit and 'understand the magnitude' of wildfires
Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has said he is “not interested in politicising a natural disaster” and wants the president-elect, Donald Trump, to “visit and understand the magnitude of this scope, and what happened to the American people that happen to reside here in California”.
Newsom shared a video on X of an interview he had done in which he said the following:
Do the right thing. This is an emergency.
We can do all this dance and we have differences of opinion as it relates to all kinds of issues and values, and you know, that’s fair game. That’s important. That dialectic is important.
But having this kind of friction when it comes to emergency response with emergency responders, these heroes, 12,000 that are on the frontlines right now? Taking care of people, making sure people are still alive … we’re still doing emergency maintenance and evacuation. We’re still concerned about flare ups and spotting.
You’ve got kids right now – they don’t have money for baby formula and we’re trying to get them disaster assistance. You have folks in hotel rooms that have money only for tonight and don’t know what’s going to happen – haven’t even had a chance to see their homes – here, it’s standing or here and it’s not standing.
We want to get them emergency assistance over the course of the next 18 months. That’s why I was with the Fema (Federal Emergency Management Agency) director today, and that’s what the president of the United States and I are talking about. And I’d like to have that conversation with the next president of the United States.
Let’s turn the page as it relates to the new, incoming president. We’d like him to have the spirit of the current president and have the backs of people so we can recover. I want him to visit and understand the magnitude of this scope, and what happened to the American people that happen to reside here in California.
I’m not interested in politicising an event like this. I don’t like the banality of it. I don’t like the inhumanity of that.
I would like people to focus on a collaboration between the executive in Washington DC and in the state of California to help rebuild a community that’s been completely ravaged.”
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In the coastal community of Pacific Palisades, Greg Benton surveyed where he lived for 31 years, hoping to find his great-grandmother’s wedding ring in the wreckage.
“We just had Christmas morning right over here, right in front of that chimney. And this is what’s left,” he said, pointing to the blackened rubble that was once his living room. “It’s those small family heirlooms that are the ones that really hurt the most,” he told an Associated Press (AP) reporter.
Elsewhere in the city, people at collection sites picked through cardboard boxes of donated items.
The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that regularly confronts massive wildfires.
Anna Yeager told the AP that she and her husband agonised over going back to their beloved Altadena neighbourhood near Pasadena after fleeing with their six-year-old daughter and three-year-old son, their two dogs and some clothes. A neighbour told them their house was gone.
Now she regrets not grabbing her children’s artwork, her husband’s treasured cookbooks, family photos, and jewellery from her mum, who died in 2012, and her husband’s grandmother, who survived Auschwitz.
When the couple returned, they saw blocks of only “chimney after chimney”.“Power lines everywhere. Fires still going everywhere” she said, adding that when they walked up to their home “it was just dust.”
Yeager’s neighbourhood of Tudor homes was planning to celebrate its 100th anniversary in May. “You build a world for yourself and your family, and you feel safe in that world and things like this happen that you cannot control,” she said. “It’s devastating.”
There were remnants of the front porch where Yeager had photographed her children nearly daily since 2020 and had planned to keep doing that until they reached high school. That gave her hope.
“The porch is still there and it’s to me, it’s a sign to rebuild and not leave,” she said. “You know, it’s like saying, ‘Hey, I’m still here. You can still do this.’”
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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 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.
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The government has not yet released figures on the cost of the damage, but private firms have estimated it will climb into the tens of billions. The Walt Disney Co. announced on Friday it will donate $15m to respond to the fires and help rebuild, reports the Associated Press (AP).
The flames hit schools, churches, a synagogue, libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and local landmarks like the Will Rogers’ western ranch house and a Queen Anne-style mansion in Altadena that dated back to 1887 and was commissioned for wealthy mapmaker Andrew McNally.
Firefighters on Friday afternoon had made progress for the first time on the Eaton fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures. Officials said on Friday most evacuation orders for the area were lifted.
LA mayor, Karen Bass, who faces a critical test of her leadership as her city endures its greatest crisis in decades, said several smaller fires also were stopped.
Crews earlier on Friday had been gaining ground on the Palisades fire, which burned 5,300 structures and is the most destructive in LA’s history.
California National Guard troops arrived on the streets of Altadena before dawn to help protect property in the fire evacuation zone, and evening curfews were in effect to prevent looting after several earlier arrests.
Allegations of leadership failures and political blame have begun and so have investigations, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Governor of California, Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-litre) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants ran dry, calling it “deeply troubling.”
Meanwhile, Los Angeles fire chief, Kristin Crowley, said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticised the lack of water. “When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” she said.
At least 11 people have been killed, with five from the Palisades fire and six from the Eaton fire, according to the LA County medical examiner’s office. Officials said they expected that number to rise as cadaver dogs go through leveled neighbourhoods to assess the devastation to an area larger than San Francisco.
Officials on Friday set up a centre where people could report those missing. Tens of thousands of people remained under evacuation orders, and the fires have consumed about 56 square miles (145 square kilometers).
Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex have been assisting José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK) to distribute meals in Pasedena, California.
According to reports, Harry and Meghan have made donations to the California wildfires’ relief efforts through their Archewell Foundation and have shared resources through their Sussex.com platform.
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Since the flames erupted in and around Los Angeles, scores of residents have returned to their still smoldering neighbourhoods even as the threat of new fires persisted and the nation’s second-largest city remained unsettled, reports the Associated Press (AP).
For some, it was a first look at the staggering reality of what was lost as the region of 13 million people grapples with the gargantuan challenge of overcoming the disaster and rebuilding.
Calmer winds enabled firefighters to start gaining some control of the biggest blazes in metropolitan LA on Friday before gusty weather returns over the weekend to an area that has not seen rain in more than eight months. But by Friday evening, new evacuations were ordered in an area that includes part of Interstate 405 after a flare up on the eastern side of the Palisades fire.
Bridget Berg, who was at work when she saw on TV her house in Altadena erupt in flames, came back for the first time with her family two days later “just to make it real.”
Their feet crunched across the broken bits of what had been their home for 16 years, reports the AP.
Her kids sifted through debris on the sidewalk, finding a clay pot and a few keepsakes as they searched for Japanese wood prints they hoped to recover. Her husband pulled his hand out of rubble near the still-standing fireplace, holding up a piece of petrified wood handed down by his grandmother.
“It’s OK. It’s OK,” Berg said as much to herself as others as she took stock of the destruction, remembering the deck and pool from which her family watched fireworks. “It’s not like we just lost our house – everybody lost their house.”
Since the fires first began popping up around a densely populated, 25-mile (40-kilometer) expanse north of downtown LA, they have burned more than 12,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. No cause has been identified yet for the largest fires.
Private forecaster AccuWeather has estimated the damage and economic loss at $135bn to $150bn, portending an arduous recovery and soaring homeowners’ insurance costs, Reuters reports.
California Insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara called on insurers on Friday to suspend pending non-renewals and cancellations that homeowners received before the fires began and to extend the grace period for payments.
President Joe Biden has declared the fires a major disaster and said the US government would reimburse 100% of the recovery for the next six months. In a call with Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and California governor Gavin Newsom on Friday, he reiterated his pledge to provide California with resources to fight the blazes and rebuild.
Biden told an Oval Office briefing:
This is not going to be over, even when all the fires are out, it’s just going to be beginning ... so we’re going to be around a long while to help.
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Here are some of the latest images coming in from Los Angeles via the news wires.
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Weather forecasters in Los Angeles are expecting fast, dry winds to return towards the end of the weekend, threatening to fuel the devastating wildfires.
As our latest full report details, urgent “red flag” alerts – meaning critical fire weather conditions – announced by the US National Weather Service said moderate to strong wind and low humidity would continue on Friday morning as five fires raged across the city.
Barbara Bruderlin, the head of the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce, described the impact of the fires as “total devastation and loss”.
There are areas where everything is gone. There isn’t even a stick of wood left. It’s just dirt.
The psychological toll from the wildfires on a traumatized Los Angeles county of nearly 10 million people has yet to be assessed.
Reuters reports that Pacific Palisades residents who ventured back to their devastated neighborhoods were shocked to find brick chimneys looming over charred waste and burnt-out vehicles as acrid smoke lingered in the air.
“This was a house that was loved,” Pacific Palisades resident Kelly Foster, 44, said while combing through the ashy rubble where her house once stood as smoke rose from neighboring homes and planes dropped water nearby.
Foster’s 16-year-old daughter, Ada, said she tried to get inside but “I just became sick. I just couldn’t even... Yeah, it’s hard.”
In Rick McGeagh’s Palisades neighborhood, only six of 60 homes survived, and all that remained standing at his ranch house was a statue of the Virgin Mary.
“Everything else is ash and rubble,” said McGeagh, 61, a commercial real estate broker, who, along with his wife, raised three children at their home.
On Friday morning, hundreds of people streamed into a parking lot near the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena for donated clothing, diapers and bottled water.
Denise Doss, 63, said she was anxious to return to her destroyed home in Altadena to see if anything was salvageable, but officials stopped her due to safety concerns. Doss said:
At least to say goodbye until we can rebuild. I will let God lead me.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the California wildfires that have devastated six neighborhoods of Los Angeles county, killed at least 11 people and damaged or destroyed more than 12,000 structures.
Firefighters finally started gaining control over two major wildfires on the eastern and western flanks of Los Angeles on Friday as fierce winds that supercharged the fires for days eased.
With thousands of people suddenly homeless and the thickening smoke leading US officials to declare a public health emergency, firefighters said they were making progress in arresting the Palisades fire on the western edge of the city and the Eaton fire in its foothills, Reuters reported.
After burning out of control for days, despite the efforts of hundreds of firefighters attacking the blazes from the air and on the ground, the Palisades fire was 8% contained and the Eaton 3%. Cal Fire had listed containment levels of both fires at 0% until Friday. Even so, the two big fires combined had consumed 35,000 acres (14,100 hectares) or 54 square miles.
About 153,000 people remained under evacuation orders and another 166,800 faced evacuation warnings, with a curfew in place for all evacuation zones, Los Angeles county sheriff Robert Luna said.
Seven neighboring states, the federal government and Canada have rushed aid to California, bolstering aerial teams dropping water and fire retardant on the flaming hills and crews on the ground attacking fire lines with hand tools and hoses.
Six wildfires are currently raging in Los Angeles county. They included at last count:
The Palisades fire, at 21,317 acres and 8% containment
The Eaton fire, at 13,690 acres and 3% containment
The Kenneth fire, at 1,052 acres and 50% containment
The Hurst fire, at 771 acres and 37% containment
The Lidia fire, at 395 acres and 98% containment
The Archer fire, at 19 acres and 0% containment
In other developments:
Six deaths have been confirmed in the Eaton fire and five in the Palisades. As family members have been alerted to the loss of their loved ones, six of the victims have been publicly identified. Law enforcement officials expect the death toll to rise once weather and fire conditions allow cadaver dogs and detectives into the burn zones.
Conditions in the Los Angeles area were forecast to improve through the weekend, with sustained winds slowing to about 20mph (32km/h), gusting between 35-50mph, according to the National Weather Service, a respite from recent wind gusts of 80mph. “It’s not as gusty, so that should help firefighters,” NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli said, adding that conditions were still critical with low humidity and dry vegetation.
Forecasters predicted another red flag warning would be issued for Monday.
Fire chief Kristin Crowley criticised city officials over water supply issues and budget cuts that she says hindered her department’s ability to fight the Palisades fire. The water supply has become a focal point, with California governor Gavin Newsom calling for an investigation into the shortage.
Newsom has invited Donald Trump to visit the state and tour the LA wildfires’ devastation. Trump visited the state six years ago in the wake of the Camp fire, the most destructive fire in California history, which hit the town of Paradise.
The state of California issued a one-year moratorium preventing insurance companies from canceling or refusing to renew home policies in zip codes impacted by the Palisades and Eaton fires.
Fire agencies are investigating whether Southern California Edison’s utility infrastructure sparked a brush fire that is still burning in a Los Angeles suburb, SCE said on Friday, adding no determination has been made. SCE, a unit of US utility Edison International, said in a filing to its regulators that a downed conductor was discovered at a tower associated with its Eagle Rock – Sylmar 220 kV circuit. “SCE does not know whether the damage observed occurred before or after the start of the fire,” it said.
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