AltaMed Health Services, one of the nation’s largest federally qualified health centers, had to evacuate their Pasadena clinic due to the Eaton Fire, which later burned to the ground.

In the wake of the destruction, the hospital has launched a relief fund to support patients and employees affected by the Southern California wildfires. 

The AltaMed 2025 Fire Relief Fund will raise money to help cover the services being offered to evacuees at the Pasadena Convention Center and provide immediate relief and support to patients, employees and community members who live in the fire-stricken area. 

Evacuation orders due to the fires have impacted other AltaMed clinics in the area, and they remain temporarily closed.  

“While we experienced the loss of one of our clinics, the health and well-being of our patients is our top priority, and we are doing everything we can to ensure that they and other community members impacted by the Eaton Fire, have access to the healthcare services they need,” said AltaMed Foundation President Dr. Zoila D. Escobar. “Our staff have been working around the clock since Wednesday, providing health services, mental health support, medication and other essential resources to evacuees at the Pasadena Convention Center.” 

“As we are directly hearing from those impacted by the fire, our Community Organizing and Research Engagement Team is mobilizing and engaging community partners to swiftly gather and bring the items and services being requested,” Dr. Escobar added. 

The fire isn’t just affecting patients, as several hundred employees have been displaced by the Eaton Fire and 15 of them lost their homes at last check, according to hospital officials.  

“Notwithstanding, providers, staff and administrators are committed to maintaining a continuity of care for our patients and assisting others in the area who need care,” AltaMed officials said. 

Click here for more information on the AltaMed Foundation, and click here to donate to the 2025 Fire Relief Fund.

Police confirmed to KTLA that officers detained two people at Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in Brentwood during curfew hours on Saturday.

The Los Angeles Police Department said a call came into the West L.A. station around 4:40 a.m., reporting a potential burglary on the Vice President’s property.

Officers responded to the residence located on Bundy Drive, north of Sunset Drive, and found two individuals on the property.

Some reports said the subjects were two men dressed all in black, but that detail has yet to be confirmed by police.

LAPD said officers detained the two people who were breaking curfew, but have since released them as they found no evidence that they were committing a crime.

Details are extremely limited, police did not immediately say what the two people were doing on the Vice President’s property or whether the incident would be further investigated.

National Guard members and local enforcement from the LAPD, Santa Monica Police and Airport Police Departments reminded residents that they will continue to patrol fire zones from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., ready to arrest anyone for trespassing, looting or any other type of violation.

Brentwood, as well as communities in the San Fernando Valley, were growing areas of concern as the Palisades Fire began climbing inland over the mountains on Friday and Saturday.

The Palisades Fire, already one of the most destructive natural disasters in Los Angeles history, erupted on Tuesday, Jan. 7. As of Saturday evening, it had claimed 5 lives, burned 23,654 acres and was 11% contained. More than 5,000 structures, many of them homes, have been destroyed in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu.

For more updates on the fire, click here.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Firefighters raced Saturday to cut off spreading wildfires before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward the world famous J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge.

A fierce battle against the flames was underway in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities not far from the Pacific coast, where swooping helicopters dumped water as the blaze charged downhill. Firefighters on the ground used hoses in an attempt to beat back leaping flames as thick smoke blanketed the chaparral-covered hillside.

At a briefing, CalFire Operations Chief Christian Litz said a main focus Saturday would be the Palisades Fire burning in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus.

“We need to be aggressive out there,” Litz said.

County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said the LA area “had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak, and even more Angelenos evacuated due to the northeast expansion of the Palisades Fire.”

Light breezes were fanning the flames, but the National Weather Service warned that strong Santa Ana winds — the nemesis of firefighters — could soon return. Those winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around to city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

The fire also was threatening to jump over Interstate 405 and into densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.

The hunt for bodies continues

The grim work of sifting through the devastation continued Saturday, with teams conducting systematic grid searches with cadaver dogs, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. He said a family assistance center was being established in Pasadena, and he urged residents to abide by curfews.

“We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away,” he said.

The fires have consumed about 56 square miles (145 square kilometers) — an area larger than San Francisco. Tens of thousands of people remained under evacuation orders and new evacuations were ordered Friday evening after a flare up on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire.

Since the fires first began Tuesday just 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 determined for the largest fires, and early estimates indicate the wildfires could be the nation’s costliest ever. A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion.

Rays of kindness amid the devastation

So many volunteers showed up to help at donation centers Saturday that some were being turned away. That was the case at a YMCA in the Koreatown neighborhood. By late morning, cars with would-be helpers were also being turned back from the Santa Anita Park horse racing track, where donations of necessities were being accepted.

At the race track Friday, people who lost their homes could be seen sifting through stacks of donated shirts, blankets and other household goods. Altadena resident Jose Luis Godinez said three homes occupied by more than a dozen of his family members were destroyed.

“Everything is gone,” he said, speaking in Spanish. “All my family lived in those three houses and now we have nothing.”

Officials warn against returning to burned homes

Some residents have been venturing back to see what can be salvaged after wildfires destroyed their homes, sifting through rubble for keepsakes. But officials on Saturday urged them to stay away, warning that the ash can contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.

“If you’re kicking that stuff up, you’re breathing it in,” said Chris Thomas, a spokesman for the unified incident command at the Palisades Fire. “All of that stuff is toxic.”

Residents will be allowed to return — with protective gear — after damage teams have evaluated their properties, Thomas said.

City leadership accused of skimping on firefighting funds

Allegations of leadership failures and political blame have begun and so have investigations. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticized 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, five in the Palisades Fire and six in the Eaton Fire, according to the LA County medical examiner’s office. Officials said they expected that number to rise as cadaver dogs search leveled neighborhoods and crews assess the devastation, and on Friday authorities established a center where people could report the missing.

Progress made on fighting the Eaton fire

Firefighters for the first time made progress Friday afternoon on the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures. Officials said most evacuation orders for the area had been 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.

The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that regularly confronts massive wildfires.

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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writers Gene Johnson in Seattle and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles, and videographer Manuel Valdes in Arcadia, Calif., contributed.