On Thursday, Los Angeles city and county officials provided updates on the fires that have been causing mass destruction across Southern California, including the Palisades and Eaton Fires.
Mayor Karen Bass, who returned to the city from Africa, said the main priority continues to be keeping Angelenos and their homes safe.
“The winds continued to be of a historic nature and a key factor of this firestorm for much of Tuesday,” she said. “The unprecedented winds prevented air operations to continue; however, as of yesterday, the winds have allowed for air operations, and that has enabled significant progress against the fires in Hollywood and Studio City last night
and as of 7:30 this morning, evacuation orders in Hollywood have been lifted.”
RESOURCES
For information on resources to help you or your loved ones impacted by the wildfires, CLICK HERE.
PALISADES FIRE
L.A. City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley called the Palisades Fire “one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles.”
“Damage assessments are ongoing at the Palisades fire; however, preliminary reports estimate the damage or destroyed structures to be in the thousands,” she said.
Crowley added the fire size remains at 17,234 acres and extreme fire behavior continues to challenge firefighting efforts.
“Wind gusts are up to 60 mph and are expected to resume throughout the entire day,” she said. “Firefighters and air resources will continue to work to protect the community and infrastructures and gain control so that we can contain this fire.”
L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said gas shutoffs continue to affect more than 15,000 people in Malibu from Brentwood Country Club to Pepperdine University.
“A boil water advisory remains in effect for the Sunset Mesa community from Topanga Beach and Coastline Drive to the south on Shore Heights Drive on the north and Topanga Canyon to Carbon Canyon Road in Malibu, including communities of Big Rock and Carbon Mesa,” she said.
She added that Metro fares are still suspended and urged anyone who is doing any essential travel to do it away form areas that are evacuation orders.
“If you do not have essential travel, please remain indoors,” she said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
EATON FIRE
L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said the Eaton Fire is still at 10,600 acres but that growth “has been significantly stopped.” The fire is still 0% contained.
“We have several reported injuries and over 1,000 structures damaged and destroyed,” he said.
He added that more than 879 firefighting personnel have been assigned to the fire and that mutual air resources are continuing to arrive.
“From this point forward, incident fatality information and reporting will be the responsibility of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department,” he said.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she drove through Altadena where “the devastation could not be missed.”
“Altadena is a resilient community,” she said. “They have seen some significant battles before, but the scale of the impact today is larger than anything that I have seen in my career. The loss of historic resources at Eaton Canyon Nature Center, Farnsworth Park, and the Altadena Golf Course cannot be measured.”
HURST FIRE
The Hurst Fire is at 855 acres with 0%containment; however, Crowley said a perimeter was established after firefighters held the fire in a planned containment area.
“Crews were able to get a handle on a few of the flareups over the night,” she said. “We will continue to strengthen our containment lines and create a number of doser lines to minimize the fire growth.”
The fire first broke out Tuesday near Diamond Rd. in Sylmar just before 10:30 p.m.
LIDIA FIRE
The Lidia Fire is 40% contained and limited to 348 acres, according to Crowley. She added that forward progress on the fire has stopped.
“The number of resources assigned to this fire siege event has increased significantly and we have a much better posture than we did on Tuesday and Wednesday,” she said. “Out-of-state resources continue to arrive in Los Angeles County and city, and we are appreciative to our fire partners from throughout the Western United States for providing assistance to Los Angeles County in our time of need.”
The fire is located at 5700 Block of Soledad Canyon Rd in Acton. It broke out Wednesday after 2 p.m
WOODLEY FIRE
Fire Chief Marrone said the Woodley Fire was fully contained and fire patrols are monitoring for any potential flare-ups.
“The fire has been declared as a knockdown and there are no current threats,” he said.
The fire started Wednesday at 6:15 a.m. at North Woodley Ave. on the Sepulveda Basin. It burned 30 acres.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
