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Firefighters are currently battling at least two wildfires in Los Angeles that may be the first of two or three days of Santa Ana winds that can reach 100 miles per hour. The wildfires, known as the Palisades Fire and the Sunset Fire, are threatening homes in the northern LA metro area, but all of Southern California is on high alert as forecasters warn that dry conditions combined with extremely high winds are potentially “historic.”
The Palisades Fire is currently listed at over 1,260 acres with no containment and mandatory evacuations have been ordered for parts of the North LA neighborhood of Pacific Palisades up the Pacific Coast Highway. The California Department of Transportation has closed the southbound lanes of the Pacific Coast Highway in the area, according to the New York Times.
The Los Angeles Fire Department issued an update at 3:30 p.m. local time that was streamed live by KCAL YouTube. Officials say 250 firefighters are on the scene, including 46 engines, three trucks, five helicopters, four brush patrols, two water tenders, six paramedic ambulances, a rapid response vehicle and several officers and fire investigators.
As officials noted at the press conference, the worst winds are expected between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday local time. Genesis has Latest map Current evacuation orders, which include all of Pacific Palisades at the time of this writing, may expand rapidly.
The LA Fire Department brought in a bulldozer to clear the vehicles as drivers abandoned cars on the road. People in the area who spoke to KTLA reported internet outages and some were worried because they were stuck in their homes with no viable means of escape.
A KTLA reporter covering the Palisades Fire can even be seen at the news outlet YouTube Fleeing the stream flames as they got dangerously close.
The Sunset Fire is listed at only 1.5 acres but is not yet contained. The area’s power company, Southern California Edison, cut power to about 8,000 homes and warned that power could be cut to thousands more during this high wind event to prevent further fires from spreading to electrical infrastructure.
Wind gusts reached 70 mph in Southern California at the time of this writing, but the worst of the winds are expected overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. Forecasters have issued a “particularly hazardous situation” warning, which The New York Times Notes are often something that appears every few years. But this is the third warning in a single season.
#PalisadesFire More homes are disappearing, terrifying pic.twitter.com/Qyw3N9Bj9a
— firevalleyphoto (@firevalleyphoto) January 7, 2025
#PalisadesFire pic.twitter.com/2z1SInQIXa
— firevalleyphoto (@firevalleyphoto) January 7, 2025
Photos and videos shared on social media are disturbing and show scenes in what KTLA has sometimes described as a “war zone”.
These are California paradise conditions in the palisades. We were in a neighborhood because it went up in flames. Widespread panic on the streets, and the worst winds will hit the Palisades Fire tonight pic.twitter.com/NY4joNow4I
— Jonathan Vigliotti 🐋 (@jonvigliotti) January 7, 2025
If you live in the area, we recommend downloading an app called Watch Duty, which allows users to monitor wildfires in their area and trigger alerts to learn about the latest developments. The app includes user-submitted photos, but it also aggregates important breaking news information from official sources, including evacuation orders. If you live in Southern California, you should have this on your phone.
