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 âto the widespread impacts of the ongoing multiple critical fire events and windstorm conditionsâ. 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
Texas will deploy firefighters and first responders to aid in the California wildfires, governor Greg Abbott announced 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.
âOur hearts grieve with the entire Los Angeles community as they continue to respond to these destructive wildfires,â said Abbott. âTexans 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.â
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.
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 familyâs Malibu estate. His mother, Shelley Sykes, who was recovering from a broken arm, said she couldnât move him.
âHe said, âMom, leave me.â And no mom could leave their kid,â she told Australian news outlet 10 News First.
She said she called 911 for help, but the phone lines were down â so she drove to the local fire station for help. But they told her âweâve got no water.â
âWhen the fire department brought me back, his cottage was burnt to the ground.â
Sykes is not yet part of the official death toll â 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:
Iâm looking at the chimney of somebody that I loved who died there ⦠Itâs 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 itâs really tender so I donât 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.
In a new interview on Pod Save America, California governor Gavin Newsom hit back at Donald Trump over his false claims that the stateâs water shortage is due to Newsomâs 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:
âWhat 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 ⦠itâs words. Itâs a salad. Itâs the form and substance of fog. Itâs made up. Itâs delusional. And itâs a consistent mantra from Trump going back years and years and years, and itâs reinforced over and over and over within the right wing. And so itâs become gospel, and itâs so profoundly ignorant, and yet he absolutely believes it.
Itâs not an ignorance on his part. Itâs such itâs 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.â
Trump has been claiming, falsely, for years that southern Californiaâs lack of water is caused by Newsomâs 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:
âVote for me, California. Iâm going to give you safety. Iâm going to give you a great border, and Iâm going to give you more water than almost anybody has … and the waterâs going to come all the way down to Los Angeles and youâre going to have more water than you ever saw … youâre going to have water in California at a level that youâve never seen before … And Gavin Newscum is going to sign those papers, because if he doesnât sign those papers, we wonât given him money to put out all his fires. And we donât give him the money to put out his fires, heâs got problems … And all of that water is going to take care of California.â
The Guardianâs Robert Mackey contributed to this report
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.â
Adding to the statement, Disney CEO Bob Iger said:
âAs 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.â
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.
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Los Angeles:
Current state of the California wildfires
Hereâs 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.
âAt approximately 4 a.m. today, some residents in Beverly Hills may have received another evacuation alert from the LA County Fire Department. The Countyâs Office of Emergency Management has confirmed this was another error,â 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 âdue to her failure to lead during this unprecedented crisisâ, a âfullâ and âtransparentâ investigation in disaster preparedness, response and resource allocation, as well as âaccountability for the mismanagement of taxpayer funds intended for disaster relief and recoveryâ and a âcomprehensive plan for ensuring the safety of all Angelenos in the face of future disastersâ.
The author of the petition, listed as a âfrustrated Californianâ, wrote:
The people of Los Angeles deserve a leader who is present, accountable, and actively working to protect and serve our community. Mayor Bassâs actions-or lack thereof-have shown she is unfit for the office she holds.â
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: âThe winds show us how close to the edge we are.â
Iâve lived here my entire life. I evacuated my familyâs hillside home as a teenager. Iâve 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 weekâs catastrophic wildfires in Los Angeles.
Weâre not just close to the edge. It feels like weâve already gone overboard.
Over 10 million people live in LA county â more than the populations of most US states â 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. Heâs the bestselling author of Fire Weather, a gripping account of Canadaâs 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 â21st-century firesâ are so different from the ones I grew up with: itâs the climate crisis.
I spoke to Vaillant about these new fires weâre 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:
âThis is whatâs left of the home that I grew up in for 31 years,â 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 â 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.
âWeâve already seen how crucially underprepared the city government is in dealing with social service,â said Savannah Boyd, a co-founder of All Power Books, which is based in the West Adams neighbourhood.
âWe knew we were going to have to start organising for mutual aid.â
The bookstoreâs central location in south LA and proximity to the I-10 freeway, Boyd said, made it an ideal fit for a centralized âdonations hubâ 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
Maanvi Singh
As a series of wildfires in the Los Angeles area grew into raging infernos, the cityâs mayor, Karen Bass, was halfway around the world â 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 â 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 âextreme fire weather conditionsâ. 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 â harped on reports that the city had cut the fire departmentâs 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 â saying the âunprecedentedâ nature of the fires had stretched the cityâs resources to respond. She declined to answer a reporterâs question about her initial absence â saying she was focused on saving lives and homes. When pressed again, she responded: âI 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.â
Bass became LAâs 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 cityâs 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. âLA is scared, seething and looking for a scapegoat,â wrote the longtime LA Times columnist Gustavo Arellano.
But beneath this flood of frustration is an even more dismaying reality â that much of the catastrophe befalling LA is beyond its mayorâs 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.
âThis is their second visit,â Gordo told Sky News, adding that the pair helped serve food to evacuees. âThey took time to meet the people who are affected. Theyâre just very caring people.â
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.
âThis is NOT an evacuation alert,â UCLA stressed in a statement.
âWe are asking Bruins on campus to remain vigilant and be ready to evacuate, should the alert be extended to our campus,â it said, referring to UCLA students by their nickname.
âWe will provide additional information about evacuation instructions, if needed,â 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 âout of an abundance of caution.â
The medical centre which is potentially in the path of the Palisades fire, offers mental health care and cancer treatment to armed force veterans.
ââWe are working closely with healthcare providers to facilitate a smooth transition for all affected residents,â a representative told NBC News.
âAll necessary resources are being deployed to assure their comfort and care during this process,â they added. âWe remain committed to maintaining the highest standard of healthcare and resident safety.â
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 â located in the hills north of LA â is still burning across 395 acres and is 98% contained, according to Cal Fire.
Archer fire
The latest fire â the Archer fire â ignited on Friday and has blazed through 19 acres so far. It is currently uncontrolled.