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.”
Only light breezes were fanning the flames, but the National Weather Service warned that locally strong Santa Ana winds — the nemesis of firefighters — could soon return. Those winds have been blamed for turning wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods in the LA area, where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.
The fire also was threatening to jump over Interstate 405, a main traffic artery through the area, which could become a gateway to densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.
Even as the fires spread, 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. A family assistance center also was being set up in Pasadena, said Luna, who urged residents to abide by curfews.
“We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away,” he said. “We understand that this is extremely stressful and absolutely challenging, but we appreciate the public’s cooperation as we work together to get through this crisis.”
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 in an area that includes part of Interstate 405 after a flare up on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire.
Since the fires first began popping up around a densely populated, 25-mile (40-kilometer) expanse 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 identified yet for the largest fires.
The fires are still burning but early estimates indicate the losses so far could make the wildfires the nation's costliest ever. A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion.
On Friday, many residents returned in a state of shock. For some, it was a first look at the stark reality of what was lost as the region of 13 million people grapples with the ominous challenge of overcoming the disaster and rebuilding.
Bridget Berg, who was at work when she watched television coverage of her house in Altadena erupt in flames, came back for the first time with her family two days later “just to make it real.”
Their feet crunched across the broken bits of what had been their home for 16 years.
Her kids sifted through debris on the sidewalk, finding a clay pot and a few keepsakes as they searched for Japanese wood prints they hoped to recover. Her husband pulled his hand out of rubble near the still-standing fireplace, holding up a piece of petrified wood handed down by his grandmother.
“It’s OK. It’s OK,” Berg said as much to herself as others as she took stock of the destruction, remembering the deck and pool from which her family watched fireworks. “It’s not like we just lost our house — everybody lost their house.”
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.
The disaster took homes from everyone — from waiters to movie stars. The government has not yet released figures on the cost of the damage, but private firms have estimated it will climb into the tens of billions. The Walt Disney Co. announced Friday it will donate $15 million to respond to the fires and help rebuild.
The flames hit schools, churches, a synagogue, libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and local landmarks including the Will Rogers’ Western Ranch House and a Queen Anne-style mansion in Altadena that was commissioned by wealthy mapmaker Andrew McNally and had stood since 1887.
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.
Crews earlier Friday had been gaining ground on the Palisades Fire, which burned 5,300 structures and is the most destructive in LA's history.
California National Guard troops arrived on the streets of Altadena before dawn to help protect property in the fire evacuation zone, and evening curfews were in effect to prevent looting after several earlier arrests.
The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that regularly confronts massive wildfires.
On Friday, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan visited the Pasadena Convention Center to help hand out food to evacuees.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who live about 90 miles (145 km) north of the Los Angeles area, also listed organizations supporting fire victims on their website.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
33 Comments
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Newgirlintown
It all leads back to fossil fuels.
sakurasuki
Just can't fight to the nature, people just need to accept it.
bass4funk
No, it’s California’s out of control radical bureaucracy and politicians are suffocating the state.
Firefighters and fire trucks from neighboring states heading to California to assist with fires must first stop in Sacramento for an inspection before providing any aid.
Are you kidding me??
Mr Kipling
I'm sending all my thoughts and prayers!
RichardPearce
Canadian wildfire agencies refer to a 'crossover point' where relative humidity is lower than the air temperature. While it doesn't translate well to Americans, because of their refusal to adopt metric measurements, what it means is significant because just low humidity leads to 'explosive fire behavior' including things that seem harmless (like parking a gasoline powered vehicle on grass) starting fires that, if not being fought within MINUTES are so big and growing that it doesn't matter how many firefighters are on their way, it's going to take more than that to contain it by the time they arrive.
That's what the problem was in the beginning, it wouldn't have mattered if they'd had twice as many firefighters and trucks and air support and water supplies and everything 'prestaged' in the danger zone, the fires would still have had the upper hand.
K3PO
I hope the wind blows from the west - some say if it's a prolonged easterly, the fire with sweep through LA through to the sea.
Peter Neil
millions and millions of acres burned down, hundreds of lives lost and tens of thousands of buildings destroyed by fire in just the last 10 years before this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_wildfires
hopefully it'll get rebuilt before the next one.
wallace
It will take 10 years and more than $300 billion to rebuild the burnt-down communities.
bass4funk
It will take decades
wallace
It will take hundreds of thousands of building and construction workers to rebuild and will have to be brought in from other states.
bass4funk
Longer, knowing the California bureaucracy and red tape and department hurdles gridlock the city will go through.
WoodyLee
May on social media are bringing up the fact that the U.S. is sending billions of $$$ in support of Pointless wars while ignoring the tax payers infrastructures and well being.
A point well made when thousands are still living in tents in S. Carolina since the Sept. 2024 flooding.
Fire fighting resources were cut in California due to lack of $$$ while billions are being thrown are Pointless, Useless, Meaningless wars.
Jan. 20th can't come soon enough.
wallace
What will Trump do to help those burn-out communities where not everyone lives in a mansion?
bass4funk
No one knows, he’s not in office yet.
I couldn’t agree more, Californians now need to decide in the next upcoming election if they want to change and get rid of these incompetent leaders or if they want to stick with the same. They need to think long and hard.
Blacklabel
Berkeley.edu? lol
TokyoLiving
Just Trumpism...
TokyoLiving
Ok, miniTrump..
lincolnman
Hmmmm.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZu-P1F1Hs8&t=8s
plasticmonkey
I'll take lil' Charlie Kirk's expertise on anything any day of the week.
plasticmonkey
Are you an expert in firefighting now?
Blacklabel
you should. He told you who would win the election when you were wrong.
so what has Charlie done to you now?
plasticmonkey
His prediction in a tight election turned out to be true. Ergo, I should take his advice on everything.
Zero sum. My team lost.
He's a fascist twerp.
Blacklabel
give them $750 and tents to live in and then send another billion to Ukraine?
that’s what Joe did in NC and Hawaii and you didn’t complain.
Blacklabel
coprey cope cope cope!
why did he specifically come to mind though? do you hold him accountable for these fires or not bring prepared for a response? whereas not mentioning at all the LA mayor or any fire chiefs?
What’s his role here?
Jimizo
Where did you get your multiple further degrees in the sciences?
Desert Tortoise
No that is not true. Stop making stuff up.
Yrral
Lots of these people have to make mortgage payments on property that has no value to them
bass4funk
Which have nothing to do with calling out Newsom
Berkeley??? Oh, dear lord…lol
He loves California, has done a lot of Real Estate business there, like NYC, he hates the politicians that ruined the state.
Most definitely, that’s the cancer right there.
Yawn, yeah, sure….lol
bass4funk
No, but I am an expert at analyzing liberal incompetency
Not made up, it’s on the news, relax.
Yrral
Trump is a moral failure,equal in the light of the devil,at least the devil offer you something for your soul, Trump offer nothing
Blacklabel
Georgia Institute of Technology and then graduate at Villanova.
you?
Desert Tortoise
Lol, both Pacific Palisades and Alta Dena are stinking rich. CBS was interviewing one guy waiting in line to see if his house was still there in Pacific Palisades and mentions that he already knew he lost another house in Pacific Palisades. Two houses in Pacific Palisades! Dude has money. Don't come crying to me. They should have been spending their abundant wealth on brush clearance and some well known ways to harden one's home against fire; sealed eaves, baffled attic and soffit vents, fiberglass window frames with tempered glass, inside window coverings that are not highly flammable, fire resistant roof materials, clean gutters, replace wooden fences and gates with steel or use concrete block walls. All of these are well known fire resistance techniques that are proven to save homes. And all of these people had the money to do it. Instead they will poke their hands out and expect the taxpayer to pick up part of the tab while whining the state "didn't do enough". When I bought my home I did my homework to ensure I was not in any kind of fire danger area, not in a flood zone or near any earthquake faults. Even still I applied the best fire hardening to my home because we have high winds and a crummy fire department. No sympathy from me. Be smarter where you live.
Yrral
Blacklabel,where did not get common sense,which you is lacking on a daily basis
Jimizo
For all the multiple higher degrees? How many of them did you do again?