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Palisades fire: 'Worst is yet to come' as winds gain speed
Firefighters are in for a long and dangerous night battling the Palisades fire as fearsome winds are forecast to grow even stronger and could hinder efforts to fight the blaze by air.
The fire ignited at Piedra Morada Drive at 10:30 a.m. and — fueled by intense wind gusts — had scorched 2,921 acres by early evening, forcing more than 30,000 residents to flee their homes. The extreme wind event blasting Southern California is forecast to peak between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday, posing a serious challenge to overnight efforts to combat the growing blaze.
“This event is not only not over, but it is just getting started and will get significantly worse before it gets better,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a briefing just after 4 p.m. Tuesday.
The strongest and most widespread winds are “yet to come,” Swain said, as is the lowest humidity.
Winds were expected to pick up into the evening, possibly making an air attack unfeasible if sustained wind speeds break 30 to 40 mph, said L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone around 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Although it might be frustrating for residents to see firefighting aircraft grounded, extreme winds can make those efforts less effective, as water or retardant that is dropped is immediately dispersed by the wind, said Gov. Gavin Newsom, who visited the site of the Palisades fire Tuesday.
“We can be up there all day, making people feel good,” he said, “but we’re not doing any good.”
The combination of extreme winds and critically low humidity create a dangerous recipe for new fires to break out overnight.
“We are anticipating — hopefully we’re wrong — but we’re anticipating other fires happening,” said Newsom, adding that the state had strategically positioned resources in areas of high fire risk.
Swain echoed the governor, saying, “Unfortunately, I do think that is likelier than not that that does, in fact, occur.”
By around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, that prediction had come true as a fire broke out in the foothills of Pasadena and quickly grew to 20 acres, according to Pasadena spokeswoman Lisa Derderian. The Pasadena Fire Department was on scene and concerned about the potential for rapid spread amid the fierce winds.
Another fire broke out Tuesday night in the hills above Altadena near Eaton Canyon. The fire has burned around 400 acres by 8:14 p.m. and prompted evacuations in the area west of the Eaton Canyon Golf Course, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Meanwhile, the Palisades fire continued to charge forward, threatening thousands of homes and scores of businesses.
On Tuesday afternoon, crews were racing to save the Getty Villa and Palisades Charter High School from flames lapping their grounds. The Reel Inn, a seafood restaurant that has been a Malibu institution for more than three decades, appears to have burned in the fire.
The National Weather Service predicts that the ongoing windstorm will be the most destructive to have hit the Los Angeles region since 2011.
The weather service issued a “particularly dangerous situation” warning for extreme fire danger in wide swaths of Los Angeles and eastern Ventura counties, prior to the ignition of the Palisades fire. That warning is set to expire Thursday.
Although the worst of the winds are expected Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, fire danger will remain high throughout the week.
“The vegetation will become progressively drier the longer the wind event goes on,” said Swain. “So some of the strongest winds will be at the beginning of the event, but some of the driest vegetation will actually come at the end, and so the reality is that there’s going to be a very long period of high fire risk.”
Recent rainfall patterns are exacerbating the fire danger, said Alex Hall, director of the UCLA Center for Climate Science.
“Southern California has experienced a particularly hot summer, followed by almost no precipitation during what is normally our wet season,” he explained. “And all of this comes on the heels of two very rainy years, which means there is plenty of fuel for potential wildfires.”
Climate change has a part to play in this particularly dangerous event, Swain said.
There’s not much evidence that climate change has increased the likelihood of extreme wind events. There is evidence, however, that it is increasing the overlap between these wind events and periods of extremely dry vegetation conditions during what would typically be the wet season, he said.
Newsom echoed the sentiment that fire danger is no longer contained to a fire season.
“We were here not too long ago [for] the Franklin fire and, a few weeks prior to that, the Mountain fire,” he said. “November, December, now January — there’s no fire season. It’s fire year. It’s year round.”
An explosion and fire drew a large emergency response on Friday to a lumber mill in the Midcoast region of Maine, officials said.
The State Police and fire marshal’s investigators responded to Robbins Lumber in Searsmont, about 72 miles northeast of Portland, said Shannon Moss, a spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Mike Larrivee, the director of the Waldo County Regional Communications Center, said the number of victims was unknown, cautioning that “the information we’re getting from the scene is very vague.”
“We’ve sent every resource in the county to that area, plus surrounding counties,” he said.
Footage from the scene shared by WABI-TV showed flames burning through the roof of a large structure as heavy, dark smoke billowed skyward.
The Associated Press reported that at least five people were injured, and that county officials were considering the incident a “mass casualty event.”
Catherine Robbins-Halsted, an owner and vice president at Robbins Lumber, told reporters at the scene that all of the company’s employees had been accounted for.
Gov. Janet T. Mills of Maine said on social media that she had been briefed on the situation and urged people to avoid the area.
“I ask Maine people to join me in keeping all those affected in their thoughts,” she said.
Representative Jared Golden, Democrat of Maine, said on social media that he was aware of the fire and explosion.
“As my team and I seek out more information, I am praying for the safety and well-being of first responders and everyone else on-site,” he said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Crime scene tape surrounds a bicycle in front of St. Lukes Episcopal Church in Atlanta on May 14, 2026. (SKYFOX 5)
ATLANTA – The woman stabbed to death on the Beltline has been identified as 23-year-old Alyssa Paige, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner.
The backstory:
Paige was killed by a 21-year-old man Thursday afternoon while she was on the Beltline. Officials confirmed to FOX 5 that the stabbing happened near the 1700 block of Flagler Avenue NE.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said the department was alerted around 12:10 p.m. that a woman had been stabbed just north of the Montgomery Ferry Drive overpass. She was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital where she later died. Another person was also stabbed during the incident, but their condition remains unknown.
According to officers, the man responsible attacked a U.S. Postal worker prior to the stabbing before getting away on a bike. He then used that bike to flee the scene of the stabbing as well.
The suspect was arrested near St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Peachtree Street in Midtown around 5:25 p.m.
What we don’t know:
While officials haven’t released an official motive, they noted the man may have been suffering a mental health crisis.
The Source: Information in this article came from the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office and previous FOX 5 reporting.
Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a former Army serviceman they accused of distributing instructions on how to build explosives that were used by a man who conducted a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.
The former serviceman, Jordan A. Derrick, a 40-year-old from Missouri, was charged with one count of engaging in the business of manufacturing explosive materials without a license; one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device; and one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The three charges together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.
Starting in September 2023, the authorities said, Mr. Derrick was using various social media sites to share videos of himself making explosive materials, including detonators. His videos provided step-by-step instructions, and he often engaged with viewers in comments, sometimes answering their questions about the chemistry behind the explosives.
The authorities said that Mr. Derrick’s videos were downloaded by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, who was accused of ramming a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025, in a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens. Mr. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police. Before the attack, Mr. Jabbar had placed two explosives on Bourbon Street, the authorities said, but they did not detonate.
The authorities later recovered two laptops and a USB drive in a house that Mr. Jabbar had rented. The USB drive contained several videos created by Mr. Derrick that provided instructions on making explosives. The authorities said the explosives they recovered were consistent with the ones Mr. Derrick had posted about.
Mr. Derrick’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Derrick was a combat engineer in the Army, where he provided personnel and vehicle support, the authorities said. He also helped supervise safety personnel during demolitions and various operations. He was honorably discharged in February 2013.
The authorities did not say whether Mr. Derrick had any communication with Mr. Jabbar, or whether the men had known each other. In some of Mr. Derrick’s videos and comments, he indicated that he was aware that his videos could be misused.
“There are a plethora of uh, moral, you know, entanglements with topics, any topic of teaching explosives, right?” he asked in one video, according to the affidavit. “Of course, the wrong people could get it.”
The authorities also said that an explosion occurred at a private residence in Odessa, Mo., on May 4, and the occupant of the residence told investigators that he had manufactured explosives after watching online tutorials from Mr. Derrick.
Mr. Derrick’s YouTube account had more than 15,000 subscribers and 20 published videos, the affidavit said. He had also posted content on other platforms, including Odysee and Patreon. Some videos were accessible to the public for free, while others required a paid subscription to view.
“My responsibility to my countrymen is to make sure that I serve the function of the Second Amendment to strengthen it,” Mr. Derrick said in one of his videos, according to the affidavit. “This is how I serve my country for real.”
Outside of the income he received through content creation, Mr. Derrick did not have any known employment. He did receive a monthly disability check from Veterans Affairs, the affidavit stated.
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