California
California Community Organizer Wins Prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize – Inside Climate News
The vast landscape east of Los Angeles known as the Inland Empire is among the fastest-growing regions in California, driven by a booming warehouse and logistics industry that keeps residents breathing some of the most polluted air in the nation.
Yet it wasn’t the constant stream of noxious fumes, idling engines and noisy trucks that first caught the attention of Andrea Vidaurre, a 29-year-old who just received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for persuading California regulators to pass landmark truck and rail emissions standards. It was watching massive warehouses being built right next to homes, schools and parks, seeing homes bulldozed, and green spaces paved over. When she heard about families being harassed and bullied out of their homes—which is still happening today—she was outraged. So she got to work.
The first thing she did was figure out how these neighborhoods, where most residents are working-class and speak only Spanish, suddenly turned from residential into industrial zones without anyone knowing what was happening. As she started digging into zoning and planning documents, it didn’t take long for Vidaurre, who grew up in the San Bernardino Valley, to see the fingerprint of environmental racism.
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“It was very clear that as cities were being divided by the freeway, you were having certain people south of the freeway that were getting all the warehouses,” Vidaurre said. “It’s also where most of the Latino communities are at and the language-isolated communities are.”
Communities north of the San Bernardino Freeway, by contrast, are whiter and more affluent.
Similarly, the growth of the warehouse and logistics industry, and all the pollution it brings, has concentrated in the areas with more low-income communities and communities of color.
Roughly 600,000 diesel-powered trucks pass through the Inland Empire a day carrying goods from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to more than 1 billion square feet of warehouses in San Bernardino and Riverside counties for distribution across the country. Thousands of trucks drive past homes, schools, daycares and parks, forcing people to keep their windows shut in one of California’s hottest regions or risk their health by venturing outside.
Diesel engines emit a complex cocktail of particle pollution and toxic gases, including nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, that impair lung and heart function, leading to increased hospitalization rates for asthma and other respiratory diseases, heart attacks, cancer and early death. Heavy trucks and railways in the Inland Empire emit more than 14,000 tons of nitrogen oxides and 379 tons of fine particulate matter—PM2.5—a year, according to the Clean Air Task Force’s Death by Diesel tool, which costs more than $1.3 million in medical expenses and more than 8,400 lost work days.
San Bernardino and Riverside counties ranked first and second in the country, respectively, with the most unsafe days for ozone, a harmful compound formed when sunlight reacts with pollution, according to the American Lung Association’s latest State of the Air Report. Both received failing grades for air quality.
Even short-term exposure to ozone levels below national safety standards increases the risk of death, research shows.
Vidaurre has heard countless stories from people suffering health problems from the constant stream of industrial traffic. A man who lives by a freight freeway with his family had to have a double lung transplant yet never smoked a day in his life. After traffic picked up at a freight airport, one family had to start using a breathing machine to sleep. Many residents who live near a rail yard now struggle with cancer, though it never ran in their families.
“I hear about these health stories all the time,” said Vidaurre, who works as policy coordinator for the nonprofit People’s Collective for Environmental Justice, which she co-founded in 2020. “And I’ve learned that there is no safe level of diesel to breathe in.”
E-Commerce Spawns a Mega-Warehouse Boom
Developers built more than 150 million square feet of industrial space, primarily for warehouses, in the Inland Empire between 2010 and 2020, figures from real estate services company CBRE show. The boom continued as the pandemic-fueled explosion of e-commerce, particularly Amazon one-click shopping, led to the rise of mega-warehouses, with tenants signing leases at 37 warehouses with at least 1 million square feet in 2022. Seven of the largest leases, totaling 7.4 million square feet, were signed in the Inland Empire.
Hundreds of warehouses operate near public schools. Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes, a Democrat who represents southwestern San Bernardino County, proposed a bill in 2022 requiring a 1,000-foot buffer between new logistics construction of 100,000 square feet or greater and neighborhoods and schools, to protect residents from harmful diesel pollution. The bill died earlier this year.
A record demand for warehouse and distribution facilities has forced thousands of people from their homes across the region at the same time California is going through a housing crisis, Vidaurre said. Many of the displaced families tended ranchos, tracts of land with goats and horses where they teach their kids to ride in the nearby hills. These Mexican customs are being erased as people are being displaced to make way for warehouses, Vidaurre said.
She’s seen hundreds of people moved from their homes in towns like Fontana and Bloomington, where most schools sit right next to warehouses, exposing children to diesel emissions linked to higher rates of asthma.
Vidaurre spent years working with communities as well as truckers and workers in the logistics industry—who typically make less than $20 an hour, well below the living wage—and learning the ins and outs of truck and rail emission regulations.
Discussions about new truck and rail emissions had to involve workers, she realized. Just as you can’t have a regulation about air quality without having the most impacted people in the room, she said, “you can’t have a regulation about trucks without having truckers in the room.”
Vidaurre worked to ensure that new rules wouldn’t hurt truckers and other logistics workers, many of whom live in the same communities impacted by the industry. So she joined forces with the Teamsters, which represents truckers and warehouse workers, along with unorganized workers and health care workers, who all helped craft the language of the regulations.
Ultimately, she helped organize a statewide coalition of environmental justice and labor organizations to push regulators with the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, to approve two landmark transportation regulations to limit truck and rail emissions.
The unartfully named In-Use Locomotive Regulation, which CARB estimates will yield more than $32 billion in health benefits by cutting nitrogen dioxide and diesel particulate matter, requires rail operators to pay into an emissions-based fund that will underwrite their transition to cleaner technologies. By 2030, trains must release zero emissions while operating in California.
The Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation directs the state to phase out diesel-burning trucks in lieu of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, requires specialized trucks used at seaports and rail yards to emit zero emissions by 2035 and requires manufacturers to sell only zero-emission trucks in California starting in 2036.
These historic regulations, which Vidaurre renamed the truck and train rule, reflect decades of work by environmental justice advocates and a Herculean effort by Vidaurre to harness her policy expertise to facilitate workshops, analyze technical documents and persuade CARB staff that it was possible to reconfigure the freight industry with public health, and justice, in mind. Vidaurre worked with community organizers to mobilize caravans from communities across the state to place ongoing pressure on state regulators to improve air quality in California. She invited CARB staff and legislators to visit the Inland Empire, listen to community members and see up close what it’s like to live in the middle of a freight-centered economy, breathing the dismal air that earns failing grades year after year. And she worked on a regulation to require warehouses in the region to install charging stations powered by solar panels over the next couple of years to head off concerns about the lack of charging infrastructure.
Vidaurre thinks it helped that California is now working toward a zero-emissions future. Plus, she added, it helped to remind CARB that they have a responsibility to protect communities from the harmful effects of air pollution and climate change. “It’s in their mission,” she said, with a smile.
As historic as the new truck and rail rules may be, Vidaurre wants policymakers to know the work has just started.
She and her colleagues are keeping an eye on how they are implemented, making sure workers in the logistics industry are taken care of.
And she’s excited about a White House announcement last Wednesday to support a zero-emissions freight network nationwide.
“That’s really important, because California proves that we can do it in a state that has so much of that industry,” she said. “But there are also key states that have big logistics networks that need to also do it.”
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Looking ahead, Vidaurre wants to work on helping people recognize the role a consumer-based economy is playing in harming public health and the climate.
‘“We don’t think about how consumption and climate change are connected, because the goods movement system is so invisible,” she said. “We don’t think about how our products got to our shores, what it means when you click yes on Amazon, and you get a new package. We haven’t really been thinking about the fact that only in the last couple of years, we’ve normalized next-day shipping,”
Reducing consumption, she said, will in turn reduce the need for so many trucks and trains to move goods around. “We need to figure out how to use smaller batteries, less minerals, we need to be consuming less, we need a more efficient system, we need to be localizing more of our communities and our goods.”
In the end, she said, improving air quality is important, but not if it comes at the expense of creating a mineral mining problem in another community. “That’s not environmental justice.”
The Goldman Environmental Prize, awarded annually to six grassroots activists around the world doing work that makes significant changes in their communities, will be presented Monday at a ceremony in San Francisco.
Other winners include a professor from Spain whose innovative legal strategy helped protect Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon from environmental collapse; two Indigenous activists from South Africa who stopped destructive seismic testing for oil and gas off the coast of South Africa; an Indigenous activist from Australia who blocked the development of a coal mine that would have added 1.58 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere and threatened Indigenous rights and culture; a reporter from Brazil who coordinated an international investigation that directly linked beef sourcing to illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest; and a grassroots leader from India who led a community resistance campaign to protect 445,000 acres of forest from coal mine development.
Liza Gross
Reporter, California
Liza Gross is a reporter for Inside Climate News based in Northern California. She is the author of The Science Writers’ Investigative Reporting Handbook and a contributor to The Science Writers’ Handbook, both funded by National Association of Science Writers’ Peggy Girshman Idea Grants. She has long covered science, conservation, agriculture, public and environmental health and justice with a focus on the misuse of science for private gain. Prior to joining ICN, she worked as a part-time magazine editor for the open-access journal PLOS Biology, a reporter for the Food & Environment Reporting Network and produced freelance stories for numerous national outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Discover and Mother Jones. Her work has won awards from the Association of Health Care Journalists, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Society of Professional Journalists NorCal and Association of Food Journalists.
California
California wildfires live updates: night-time curfew ordered for parts of Los Angeles amid looting
Curfew order issued for Palisades and Eaton Fire evacuation zones
A curfew order has been established for the Palisades and Eaton fire areas in all mandatory evacuation zones, LA county sheriff Robert Luna said.
The curfew order is in effect between 6pm and 6am. The only people allowed in those areas are disaster workers.
“You cannot be in these affected areas. If you are, you are subject to arrest,” Luna warned.
He said the curfew will be “strictly enforced” to enhance public safety, protect property and prevent burglaries or looting in the areas that residents have evacuated.
Anyone found in violation of the curfew will be subject to arrest for a misdemeanor offense and conviction may result in a fine of up to $1,000 or jail time, he said.
“We are not screwing around with this,” Luna warned. “ We don’t want anyone taking advantage of our residents that have already been victimized.”
Key events
Here are the key takeaways from the latest news conference by Los Angeles city and county officials on the wildfires.
A curfew order is in place between 6pm and 6am on all mandatory evacuation zones in the Palisades and Eaton areas. “You can’t not be in these affected areas. If you are, you are subject to arrest,” LA sheriff Robert Luna said. The curfew’s purpose is to enhance public safety, protect property, and prevent any burglaries or looting in areas evacuated by residents, Luna said.
The Palisades fire, the largest of the five fires, currently stands at 8% contained. Firefighters were able to make overnight progress on the fire due to “favorable” overnight weather conditions. Wind gusts are expected to increase in daylight hours that will test containment lines. Red flag warnings continue in Los Angeles county through 6pm PT today.
The Eaton fire, north of Pasadena, has burned 13,956 acres and is 3% contained. About 4,000 to 5,000 structures may be damaged and destroyed by the fire, and 1,527 firefighting personnel have been assigned to the fire. The blaze pushed toward Mount Wilson on Thursday, but the observatory is “OK” and no buildings have been destroyed there.
The Hurst fire, just south of Santa Clarita, has spread to 771 acres and is 37% contained.
The Kenneth fire, in the San Fernando valley, has burned 1,000 acres and is 35% contained. All evacuation orders and warnings in LA county for the Kenneth fire have been lifted.
The Lidia fire is 75% contained. The causes of the fires are still under investigation.
The number of residents under evacuation orders have dipped to 153,000. Approximately 57,830 structures are deemed to be at risk. An additional 166,800 residents are under evacuation warnings.
A super scooper aircraft that was damaged by a drone flown by a civilian should be back in the air by Monday. “Flying a drone in the fire traffic area is not only dangerous but it’s illegal,” Los Angeles county fire chief Anthony Perron said, adding that those who fly them over the wildfire area will be prosecuted.
A man arrested on suspicion of attempting to light a fire in Woodland Hills yesterday will not be charged. Officers found there was not enough probable cause to arrest the person, Los Angeles police department assistant chief Dominic Choi said.
Officials apologized after evacuation order alerts were mistakenly sent on Thursday afternoon and again on Friday. LA county office of emergency management director Kevin McGowan said he could not “express how sorry I am” but implored residents not to disable the messages on their phones, adding: “Not receiving an alert can be a consequence of life and death.”
Airbnb said it has expanded its housing support to an additional 25,000 people who have been impacted by the fires.
The company partnered with 211 LA, a hub for local community members and organizations, earlier this week to offer free, temporary housing to individuals and families who lost their homes or were forced to evacuate. It said 6,500 people have already been offered access to emergency housing with Airbnb hosts, but that thousands more are still displaced.
“The situation is devastating, and we’ll continue to do everything we can to support the Los Angeles community,” it said in a statement.
An Altadena resident has described returning to her home to find it destroyed in the fire.
In a video posted by NewsNation’s Brian Entin, Fran said she “poured everything” into the house that she has lived with her husband and family for 26 years.
“We have nowhere to go,” she said. Pointing to the other destroyed houses on the street, she said her neighbors had sent their children – now in their 40s – to kindergarten together.
LA county fire chief Anthony Perrone said one of the county’s two super scooper aircraft had been taken out of commission for emergency repairs, after being damaged in a drone incursion at the Palisades fire on Thursday.
The aircraft should be back in the air by Monday, he said.
“Flying a drone in the fire traffic area is not only dangerous but it’s illegal,” he said, adding that those who fly them over the wildfire area will be prosecuted.
The LA county fire department earlier said that a SuperScooper Quebec 1, an aircraft specifically used for aerial firefighting, was grounded on Thursday after it was struck by a drone flown by a civilian. The collision caused wing damage to the aircraft, though no injuries were reported.
California insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara said he had used his moratorium power to stop all non-renewals and cancellations by insurance companies for a year.
“My primary concern at this very moment is to ensure that wildfire survivors receive the insurance benefits to which they are entitled to as soon as possible,” he said.
“Now is the time for you to focus on your family and on your health. The last thing you should be worrying about is your insurance.”
He said legislation will be introduced to include businesses in the moratorium. LA county district attorney Nathan Hochman said anyone who is determined to be intentionally setting fires will be arrested for arson, prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law.
Anyone who violates the curfew order will be arrested and prosecuted, he said.
He described looting as a “despicable crime”. “For the people who have already been arrested, please know this is not going to end well,” he said.
He also warned anyone who is thinking of sending a drone up in the area that “you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted, and you will be punished to the full extent of the law.”
On the subject of scams, he said his team had already begun seeing people being targeted in GoFundMe scams, and warned that there will be insurance and government benefit scams targeting people who have been affected by the fires. “My message to the public is: Beware these scammers. Do not let them take advantage of you,” he said.
More than 200 officers have been deployed to maintain law and order in areas impacted by the fires, assistant Los Angeles police department chief Dominic Choi said.
He said there was a “zero tolerance” policy towards those who are taking advantage of the situation.
“Anybody caught looting or committing crimes in the affected areas will be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.
Assistant Los Angeles police department chief Dominic Choi said an arrest was made late Thursday afternoon after residents reported seeing a person trying to light a fire in Woodland Hills. That suspect was taken into custody and interviewed, he said.
Officers later determined there was not enough probably cause to arrest the person on arson or suspicion of arson, he said. The investigation is ongoing.
A curfew order has been established for the Palisades and Eaton fire areas in all mandatory evacuation zones, LA county sheriff Robert Luna said. The curfew order is in effect between 6pm and 6am. The only people allowed in those areas are disaster workers.
“You cannot be in these affected areas. If you are, you are subject to arrest,” Luna warned.
He said the curfew will be “strictly enforced” to enhance public safety, protect property and prevent burglaries or looting in the areas that residents have evacuated.
Anyone found in violation of the curfew will be subject to arrest for a misdemeanor offense and conviction may result in a fine of up to $1,000 or jail time, he said.
“We are not screwing around with this,” Luna warned. “ We don’t want anyone taking advantage of our residents that have already been victimized.” Approximately 153,000 residents are currently under evacuation orders and another 166,800 residents are under evacuation warnings, LA county sheriff Robert Luna said.
About 57,830 structures are at risk, he said.
The Hurst fire has been updated to 771 acres and is at 37% containment, LA city fire chief Kristin Crowley said. All evacuation orders and warnings for the fire have been lifted, she said.
The Kenneth fire’s forward progress has also been stopped with 35% contained, she said.
All evacuation orders and warnings within the Los Angeles city have been lifted, she said.
LA city fire chief Kristin Crowley said the Palisades fire stands at 20,438 acres with 8% containment.
More than 3,000 personnel worked overnight to strengthen containment lines and addressed multiple spot fires in and around the Topanga Canyon area, she said. Wind gusts are expected to increase in daylight hours that will test containment lines, she said.
The Kenneth fire, which erupted on Thursday at the border of the Ventura and Los Angeles counties, has been stopped, LA county fire chief Anthony Marrone said.
The fire is currently at 1,000 acres and 35% containment, he said.
The National Weather Service has predicted that the Red Flag warning will continue through Friday or through 6pm, LA county fire chief Anthony Marrone said.
He noted that his team’s priority is to prepare for the next Red Flag event that is predicted to begin on Monday.
LA county fire chief Anthony Marrone said the Eaton fire made a push on Thursday afternoon toward the historic Mount Wilson.
The observatory is OK and no buildings have been destroyed at Mount Wilson, he said.
However a firefighter did suffer a “significant fall injury” at the Eaton fire and remains hospitalized. The cause of the Eaton fire remains unknown, Marrone said.
LA county fire chief Anthony Marrone said the Eaton fire has burned 13,956 acres and is at 3% containment.
Between 4,000 and 5,000 structures are estimated to have been damaged or destroyed due to the fire, he said.
More than 1,500 firefighting personnel have been assigned to the Eaton fire, he said.
LA county supervisor Lindsey Horvath said the fires have continued to have an impact on the air quality throughout the region.
A smoke advisory has been extended through Friday to limit exposure, she said.
“Please remain indoors as much as possible. Avoid outdoor physical activity and run your air conditioner or air purifier if you have one.”
Summary of the day so far
One person arrested for suspected looting, says LAPD chief
Curfew order issued for Palisades and Eaton Fire evacuation zones
More than 150,000 LA County residents remain under evacuation orders
Palisades fire stands at more than 20,000 acres and is 8% contained
Kenneth fire has been stopped, says official
Eaton fire stands at nearly 14,000 acres and is 3% contained
California
California boy details horrifying moments leading up to loss of home: ‘A lot of stuff I love is gone’
Southern California homes and businesses are still ablaze tonight and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.
Celebrities are taking to social media to express their disappointment at the loss of their homes and flashy cars, but one family in Altadena is mourning the loss of something much more.
In an interview with FOX 11 LA, 6-year-old Henry, of Altadena, stands next to his mother and brother. In the background, you can see the mangled siding and bricks of what looks like a former home, along with the burnt wreckage of many other homes that were lost.
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES: POLICE SHOOT DOWN CELEBRITIES FLOATING ARSON THEORIES
A little boy from Altadena stands next to his mother and brother amid the aftermath of devastating wildfires. (Fox News Digital)
Henry seems to keep his composure as he recounts the frightening moments leading up to the loss of his home – all while clutching the only two things he has left in this world.
“And then – the power went out … and then we were going to get our dad, but he was coming. Then we had power, flashlights, they’re so good, and I went and they woke us up, me and my brother. And then we left our house,” said Henry.
He said items in the house were burned, including his prized 3D printer.
“It was so special to me and it’s going to make me a little sad, but, I don’t know why, but this is what happened to our house,” Henry said. “And a lot of stuff that I love is gone. And now, and everything is broken, and it’s all lost its color and stuff. And these are the only things that I have.”
A little boy from Altadena stands next to his mother and brother, recounting everything lost in the wildfire that destroyed their home. (Fox News Digital )
In the interview, Henry, who is visibly disappointed, shows the reporter the remnants of his parents’ bicycles and says that he wanted to come to the site of his former home to confirm what was broken and see what was left.
“I wanted to check on it and see if it was not broken and my dad took a video that it was broken,” he said. “We went here for today, so we know what happened and that was our chimney where Santa comes and now it’s gone. Now we can’t get presents here anymore.”
This is the case for thousands as the wildfires continue to rage throughout the area.
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES COULD COST INSURERS $20B, HIGHEST IN STATE’S HISTORY
Henry’s mother took to social media to express that she was mentally drained by the disaster as the family attempted to piece back their life. She said the brand-new 3D printer mentioned in her son’s interview was one they had waited for over a year to receive.
She pointed out how quickly the fire happened, saying it was so fast, but she didn’t think much about it until it grew, fueled by the wind.
The burnt remnants of homes in Altadena, California, following raging wildfires plaguing the area. (Fox News Digital )
“It all happened so fast. We thought there would be time to return, to save more of our belongings, but within less than just five hours, the entire neighborhood was consumed. We grabbed our kids, our two dogs, and left with what little we could carry,” her post said.
“We were blessed to find a hotel in DTLA where we’ve been since Wed morning. While we are grateful to be safe, the pain of losing everything is overwhelming. People often say, ‘What matters most is that you’re alive.’ While that is true, it doesn’t take away the heartbreak of loss.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the family for comment but, understandably, they have a lot to do as they rebuild what they worked so hard for.
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The Eaton Fire, burning in the Pasadena-Altadena area, is one of several fires ravaging Los Angeles County.
A home is engulfed in flames during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles County, California, on Jan. 8, 2025. (JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Nearly 30,000 acres have been impacted by the fires and nearly 15,000 houses and buildings are at risk as of Thursday – up from 13,000 as of Wednesday morning. Firefighters have struggled to contain the wildfires, which are being driven by strong Santa Ana winds.
California
California Wildfire Live Updates: New Fire Ignites In San Fernando Valley—As Death Toll Reaches 6
Topline
A fire erupted in western San Fernando Valley on Thursday afternoon, becoming one of five active fires in Los Angeles County as the region endures historically destructive blazes that have so far killed at least six people.
A firefighter sprays water on the Sunset fire on Vista street on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025 in Los … [+]
Timeline
California Gov. Gavin Newsom approved a request from Los Angeles County to deploy 8,000 National Guard members to the region to help combat fires and prevent looting (the sheriff’s department arrested 20 people for looting as of Thursday afternoon).
The NFL announced the Jan. 13 wild card playoff matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings will be moved from SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, citing concerns for public safety.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna and county supervisor Kathryn Barger announced the county requested support from the National Guard, which is expected to deploy as early as Thursday evening as curfews from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. are put in place to combat looting in evacuation areas linked to the Palisades and Eaton fires.
The Kenneth Fire began in the neighborhood of West Hills and spread to 50 acres, triggering evacuation orders for some residents in the Hidden Hills community.
The death toll from the fires reached six, according to multiple outlets, with the city of Malibu reporting its first death of a resident killed in the Palisades fire.
Biden said the federal government will pay the full cost of the disaster response for 180 days, covering the costs of things like “debris and hazard removal, temporary shelters, first responders’ salaries and all necessary measures to protect life and property” (the federal funding initially covered 75% of eligible firefighting costs).
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the Sunset fire in the Hollywood Hills was “fully contained” after the fire began Wednesday evening and spread to 43 acres.
Los Angeles Unified School District announced its schools and offices will remain closed through Friday, adding students will continue to have access to digital academic resources, meal distribution and mental health support services.
The NBA postponed a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Charlotte Hornets scheduled to take place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena, the NBA announced, with ESPN insider Shams Charania noting Lakers head coach JJ Redick lost his home in the fires.
Luna said he was “not satisfied” with some of the preliminary numbers he was getting regarding the death toll from the fires and he asked for patience on the subject, saying “right now, frankly, we don’t know” how many people have died, but they will eventually.
The Los Angeles Fire Department lifted the last evacuation order related to the Sunset Fire, providing some relief to residents, though it said there are still “LAFD companies working in the area” and asked people “to be careful while returning” to their homes.
Pasadena urged residents in a portion of the city to not use tap water for drinking or cooking “until further notice,” citing the Eaton Fire’s damage to reservoirs and pump stations that potentially impacted water quality in certain areas.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said 95,203 of its customers are without power and that the estimated time to respond to outages remains at 24 to 48 hours, noting within a statement its boil water notice remains in effect for residents in Pacific Palisades’ 90272 zip code and the adjacent area.
Biden said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, he was again briefed on the fires and would make remarks to the nation after the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, which began at 10 a.m. EST.
The wildfires have severely impacted the air quality in the Los Angeles area with levels of PM 2.5 pollutants—airborne particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter—hitting 165, which is labeled “unhealthy” by the EPA’s AirNow tracker and 11 times above the World Health Organization’s recommended safe limit of 15.
At least 2,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have been destroyed by the fire so far, and more than 130,000 people have been forced to evacuate—some even multiple times as the fires spread to other parts of Los Angeles county.
According to the National Weather Service, the dry Santa Ana winds moving in from the northeast will “continue over Eaton Fire through the next few days, with somewhat weaker winds Thursday morning followed by increasing winds Thursday afternoon…into early Friday.”
The NWS also noted that the red flag warnings across Los Angeles and nearby Ventura County will remain in effect until 6 p.m. on Friday.
At least 250,000 homes and businesses across Los Angeles County and neighboring Ventura County remained without power on Wednesday night, according to PowerOutage.us, as the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power said its crews had managed to restore power to “more than 152,000” since the start of the fires.
After lifting the most of the evacuation zone around the Hollywood Hills fire, the LAFD urged residents to be “cautious when returning to their homes because firefighters are continuing to work in their neighborhoods,” and said areas where the evacuation order has not been lifted will remain closed until Thursday morning.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said “the majority of the Evacuation Zone for the Sunset Fire is LIFTED” in an update shortly after midnight as Cal Fire’s tracker showed the size of the blaze in the Hollywood Hills shrinking from its previous size of 60 acres to 43 acres at 12:17 a.m. PST.
City of Pasadena officials warned that the tap water in the areas that have been evacuated due to the Eaton Fire is not safe to drink and said the residents should “not try to treat the water” themselves but use bottled water instead.
Cal Fire’s latest update at 9:40 p.m. PST showed that at least 10% of the Hurst Fire has been brought under control although the blaze still continues to cover around 855 acres.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the the “most intense fire activity” in the Hollywood hills fire is occurring on the southwestern side, while the perimeter on the eastern side is “holding well thanks to a fire road and ground crews in place.”
Cal Fire has deployed several helicopters and tankers to douse the Hollywood Hills fire, with flight tracker data showing at least six aircraft flying over the area—aerial operations had been impacted on Tuesday night and early Wednesday due to the strong winds.
The city of Santa Monica instituted a mandatory curfew from sunset to sunrise on Wednesday night “to support law enforcement efforts in these zones, and other measures to facilitate an effective response,” the Palisades Fire.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the Los Angeles Police Department’s officers are being deployed to Hollywood “to help alleviate evacuation traffic,” as the city moves to “urgently to close roads, redirect traffic and expand access for LAFD vehicles to respond to the growing fire.”
The mandatory evacuation order triggered by the Hollywood Hills fire covers areas between the 101 Freeway on the east, Laurel Canyon on the west, Mulholland Drive on the north and Hollywood Boulevard on the south—an evacuation warning is also in effect covering remaining areas of Hollywood Boulevard and parts of Sunset Boulevard.
Another fire, called the Sunset Fire, broke out around 6 p.m. PST in the Hollywood Hills which has rapidly grown in recent hours to engulf more than 50 acres or area, prompting mandatory evacuations.
Biden canceled the final overseas trip of his presidency on Wednesday—shortly before he was set to travel to Italy and the Vatican—to stay in Washington D.C. and monitor the emergency in California.
Biden approves a Major Disaster Declaration for California, making federal funding available to those impacted by the fires in Los Angeles County.
Officials told The New York Times the death toll in the Eaton Fire rose to five after saying earlier in the day two people had died, and the Los Angeles Times reported all five deaths “occurred in and around Altadena and Pasadena.”
Santa Monica expanded its evacuation order, advising residents for all areas north of Montana Avenue from the beach to 11th Street to leave immediately, and areas to the south and east remain under evacuation warnings.
Nearly 1 million customers of electricity providers in Los Angeles County were without power, PowerOutage.us reported before it said the outage management system of Southern California Edison—the main electricity provider in the county—went offline.
The Palisades Fire in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades—an affluent coastal neighborhood—exploded to 15,832 acres, according to Cal Fire, making it the largest fire of the four burning in Los Angeles County as of Wednesday afternoon.
The Eaton Fire in Altadena, a small city directly north of Pasadena, grew to 10,600 acres with 0% containment, according to the Cal Fire.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Los Angeles Fire Department air operations resumed after a lengthy suspension of air support began Tuesday due to high winds.
County of Los Angeles Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said at least two civilians died in the Eaton Fire, though the cause of their deaths were not disclosed.
Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said FEMA is “closely monitoring” the wildfires and has authorized additional assistance from the agency to support firefighting efforts.
The Woodley Fire began in the Sepulveda Basin neighborhood, expanding to 30 acres before being brought under control, according to The New York Times.
The Hurst Fire ignited in the suburban area of Sylmar.
Newsom declared a state of emergency, urging residents to heed evacuation orders and saying, “This is a highly dangerous windstorm creating extreme fire risk, and we’re not out of the woods.”
The Palisades Fire started in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and resulted in about 30,000 people receiving evacuation orders as it initially spread to about 2,000 acres.
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How Big Is The Palisades Fire?
The Palisades Fire began around 10:30 a.m. local time Tuesday and burned 17,234 acres as of Thursday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which issued evacuation orders for residents of the Palisades and for those living along a long stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway. Cal Fire continued to report 0% fire containment Thursday. Los Angeles Fire Department chief Kristin M. Crowley said Thursday “it is safe to say that the Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” noting preliminary reports estimate thousands of structures have been damaged or destroyed, The New York Times reported.
How Big Is The Eaton Fire?
The second blaze, called the Eaton Fire, began Tuesday evening in Eaton Canyon near the San Gabriel Mountains and grew rapidly Wednesday to cover 10,600 acres, with 0% contained as of Thursday afternoon. The Eaton Fire also triggered a round of mandatory evacuations in the nearby areas of Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre. City officials said Thursday more than 1,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed in the greater Pasadena area.
How Big Is The Hurst Fire?
The Hurst Fire was reported later Tuesday night after it broke out near the Los Angeles-area suburban neighborhood of Sylmar, north of the rest of the city. Shortly after it was reported, the Los Angeles Fire Department issued evacuation orders in the area, warning of a “rapid rate of spread.” As of an 8:30 a.m. PST update Thursday, the Hurst fire covered 671 acres, as authorities contained 10% of the blaze.
How Big Is The Lidia Fire?
The Lidia Fire was first reported Wednesday afternoon, burned 348 acres and was 60% contained Thursday morning, according to Cal Fire. Anthony Marrone, fire chief for Los Angeles County, said Thursday forward progress on the fire had been stopped. LAist reported the fire, which began in the Angeles National Forest, posed such an extreme threat that the forest will remain closed for at least one week.
How Big Was The Sunset Fire In The Hollywood Hills?
The Sunset Fire, which broke out Wednesday evening, grew to engulf around 43 acres. Bass said Thursday the fire was fully contained. Evacuation orders in the area were lifted at 7:30 a.m., and LAFD advised residents returning to their homes to use caution as workers were still in the area. The fire burned near a number of Hollywood landmarks, including the popular urban hiking trail Runyon Canyon, Hollywood Boulevard and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
How Big Was The Woodley Fire?
The Woodley Fire was first reported Wednesday morning, and fire crews were able to hold the fire to 30 acres, LAist reported. It was reported as 100% contained Thursday and officials said there were no current threats tied to it.
How Much Will The Wildfires Cost?
JPMorgan analysts led by Jimmy Bhullar estimated in a note Thursday there could be $50 billion in total damages, including $20 billion in insured losses, though they noted “estimates of potential economic and insured losses are likely to increase.” Those estimates would place the fires as the costliest in U.S. history. Jasper Cooper, vice president-senior credit officer at Moody’s Ratings, said the credit rating business expects “insured losses to run in the billions of dollars given the high value of homes and businesses in the impacted areas,” adding “commercial property losses could be significant.”
How Did The California Fires Start—and Why Are They Spreading?
A mix of extremely gusty winds, drought conditions and low humidity created conditions conducive for fires to quickly spread. The appearance of weather conditions suggestive of La Niña, a climate phenomenon linked to drier conditions and drought in southern parts of the U.S., likely played a large part in priming southern California for extreme fire conditions this week. Los Angeles in particular has seen an underwhelming amount of rain in the last eight months alongside a dry winter. The last time the city recorded over a tenth of an inch of rainfall was last May, according to the Los Angeles Times, contributing to drought. The dry conditions paired with historically strong winds gave way to this week’s fires. Wind gusts of up to 99 mph were reported near Altadena and other nearby areas early Wednesday. The National Weather service forecast wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph in parts of southern California and up to 100 mph gusts in mountains and foothills into Wednesday night. The conditions are the result of a wind pattern called the Santa Ana winds or “devil winds,” which are often fast-moving, dry and warm winds that originate inland, around Nevada and Utah, and blow toward the coastal regions of Southern California. Cal Fire is still investigating the specific causes for each of the fires blazing in Los Angeles County.
How Many Deaths And Injuries Have The Fires Caused?
The Eaton Fire has killed at least five people, multiple outlets reported Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Marrone confirmed two were killed and said there have also been a “high number of significant injuries to residents who did not evacuate.” A 25-year-old firefighter sustained a serious head injury while combatting the Palisades Fire on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Fire Department told NBC News. There were “multiple burn victims” who were treated by medical officials, though the number of people who were treated is not immediately known.
What Celebrities Are Affected By The Fires—like James Woods And Mark Hamill?
See a full list here. Paris Hilton, who wrote she had evacuated her home, reportedly lost her Malibu home to the fire. Billy Crystal and his wife Janice said they lost their Pacific Palisades home to the fire, after first moving to the location in 1979. Jamie Lee Curtis, who appeared on “The Tonight Show” on Wednesday, said she likely lost her home to the fire and wrote on Instagram calling for people to “reach out to anyone who lives in Los Angeles” to offer assistance. Eugene Levy, the Pacific Palisades’ honorary mayor, told the Los Angeles Times he fled his home and said the “smoke looked pretty black and intense over Temescal Canyon.” Meanwhile, actor Mark Hamill wrote on Instagram Tuesday that he evacuated his Malibu home, while Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in Los Angeles was put under an evacuation order, though no one was in the home at the time the order was placed, spokesperson Ernesto Apreza said.
Which Celebrities Have Donated To Relief Efforts?
Curtis, who advocated in a “Tonight Show” appearance Wednesday for people to donate to relief efforts, said on Instagram on Thursday she was donating $1 million to start a support fund for the city and people impacted by the fire. The Los Angeles Chargers announced Wednesday they were giving $200,000 to wildfire relief efforts. Bethenny Frankel’s charity also announced on Fox News on Thursday it was raising money for California wildfire victims.
Is The Hollywood Sign On Fire?
No—despite social media rumors and AI-generated images. Read more here.
Which Schools Are Closed Due To The Wildfires?
All Los Angeles Unified Schools will remain closed Friday after being shut down Thursday. Al schools under the Pasadena Unified School District will remain closed throughout the week. Several other school districts in the region also canceled classes Wednesday through Friday, including the Glendale Unified School District and Burbank Unified School District, and two other area districts—Alhambra Unified School District and South Pasadena Unified School District—closed through Thursday. Pepperdine University announced Thursday morning its undergraduate classes and the “vast majority” of its graduate classes on the Malibu campus will take place online through Jan. 19. The university’s Calabasas campus closed Wednesday, with administrators noting students with classes scheduled for Calabasas, West Los Angeles or the Irvine campuses “will receive further guidance from their deans and/or supervisors.”
Which Events And Tv Shows Are Cancelled Due To The Wildfires?
The Critics Choice Awards—slated for Sunday—were postponed due to the fires, the organization told Variety. Several other TV shows—from “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to “NCIS”—paused production (see here for a list). The Screen Actors Guild canceled it in-person awards nomination ceremony on Wednesday because of the wildfires “in an abundance of caution.” The nominations will be announced on the SAG Awards website on Thursday, the guild said. Universal Studios said its park in Hollywood would close Wednesday because of “extreme winds and fire conditions,” adding they expect to reopen on Thursday. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences extended its voting deadline for the 97th Academy Awards by two days, according to multiple outlets. The voting period, which is now open, is set to conclude Tuesday due to the delay. The announcement of this year’s Oscar nominees will also be pushed back two days, and is now scheduled for Jan. 19.
What Other Sports Events Were Impacted By Wildfires?
The Thursday matchup between the Lakers and Hornets was postponed with no indication of a make-up date. A Wednesday night NHL game between the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames at Crypto.com Arena was also postponed and has yet to be rescheduled. A women’s college basketball game featuring Pepperdine University and the University of Portland scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday was postponed, according to the West Coast Conference. The city’s SoFi Stadium was the initial venue for the Jan. 13 NFL wild-card playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings, but was switched to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, in the interest of public safety. The NFL did not provide any information on ticket refunds at the time of the announced change of venues.
Has The Fire Impacted Flights From Lax And Other Airports?
Los Angeles International Airport, located about 19 miles south of the Pacific Palisades, has not experienced significant flight cancellations as of Thursday morning, according to FlightAware. Just 1% of departures were canceled and 5% were delayed as of 8:55 a.m. PST. Some flights were disrupted at the much smaller Hollywood Burbank Airport: About 8% of departures were delayed and another 1% were canceled Thursday.
What Other Areas Face Fire Risks In Southern California?
The NWS issued an extreme fire weather alert—its highest designation for fire potential—from Wednesday to Thursday for a 2,356-square mile stretch of land that includes areas such as Glendale, Oxnard, Santa Clarita, Thousand Oaks and Pasadena.
Chief Critic
President-elect Donald Trump and one of his key advisers, Elon Musk, have been critical of the local government’s response to the fire since they broke out. In a Thursday post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk claimed “the immense loss of homes in LA is primarily due to” bad governance leading to a shortage of water and “nonsensical overregulation that prevented creating fire breaks and doing brush clearing.” Trump has also taken aim at Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, saying on Truth Social Thursday “nobody has ever seen such failed numbers before!” (referring to the Palisades Fire’s zero containment) and blamed it on “gross incompetence” by Newsom and Bass.
Further Reading
With negligible rain in 8 months, Southern California swings toward drought (LA Times)
Residents flee on foot as Palisades Fire torches hillside homes (LAist)
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Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton heard the haters, and now he and Indiana are clapping back
The Books We’re Excited About in Early 2025
Mauro Morandi, Italy’s Robinson Crusoe, Dies at 85
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23935560/acastro_STK103__03.jpg "Amazon is ‘winding down’ some of its DEI programs")
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