The Palisades Fire is now spotted across Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, with officials worried that the flames could extend into the Encino and Brentwood areas, leap the 405 Freeway, and reach Bel Air. This is a concerning situation.
A flare-up triggered the Palisades Fire, which has now reached 21,596 acres, to progress northward and eastward on Friday, blazing through the Santa Monica Mountains.
Helicopter teams operated overnight to extinguish the fire by releasing water onto the flames. They were aided by relatively calm breezes. A red flag fire weather alert for Los Angeles County concluded early Friday.
Saturday morning’s blaze erupted near Mandeville Canyon Road in Brentwood, an area with extensive multi-million dollar residences. Evacuation notices were issued for vast regions of Brentwood and Encino, including Mountain Gate Country Club and the Getty Center.
The Getty Center in Brentwood, which hosts one of Los Angeles’ most significant art collections, is presently closed following an evacuation order issued Friday night, with only emergency personnel remaining on site, a spokesperson for the J. Paul Getty Trust, Ali Shivak, stated.
The last occurrence of the Getty Center confronting a wildfire threat was in 2019 when the Getty Fire encroached upon the museum’s grounds but did not affect its art pieces. The Getty Villa in the Pacific Palisades was threatened by the Palisades Fire earlier this week but emerged largely unscathed.
Evacuation directives were issued for other sections of Encino and parts of Bel Air.
Josh Sutter, president of the Encino Neighborhood Council, noted that the new evacuation order sent waves of anxiety through the community. “People were utterly panicked,” he remarked.
The evacuation zones encompass areas of Encino south of Ventura Boulevard, which includes the Gelson’s supermarket. Encino Hospital Medical Center is situated just across the street from the evacuation area.
“The winds are quite light right now,” stated National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Hall. Wind gusts could reach up to 30 mph by dawn on Saturday.
Caltrans has closed sidewalks along Highway 405 close to the fire site, including Getty Center Drive and Skirball Center Drive.
Weather conditions have drastically improved since earlier this week when strong winds with gusts reaching up to 160 mph exacerbated the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires that ravaged Altadena, Pacific Palisades, and Pasadena.
At least 11 fatalities have been reported, with over 12,000 properties affected or destroyed. Sheriff Robert Luna stated that the death count could increase further.
Footage from a KCAL-TV news helicopter depicted a fire vortex forming in the Palisades Fire early Friday morning.
Nevertheless, the favorable weather is anticipated to decline shortly. Santa Ana’s gusty winds are predicted to return by Saturday evening, with a high wind advisory expected to commence at 6 p.m., and forecasters projecting wind gusts to impact several valleys in Los Angeles and Ventura counties by Sunday morning. A wind advisory is also set to be issued. Similarly, along the coastline.
“Santa Ana’s wind gusts on Saturday will result in a brief period of significant destruction due to elevated fire weather conditions,” warned the National Weather Service.
Stronger Santa Ana winds may occur from Tuesday to Wednesday, with wind speeds of 40 to 60 mph expected in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, along with isolated gusts of 80 mph in mountainous regions.
However, this is projected to be a more regular Santa Ana wind event, akin to the extreme wind conditions that caused the Palisades and Eaton fires to turn into some of the most destructive incidents in Los Angeles County history. Not yet.
The winds earlier this week were quite unusual for Los Angeles County. Typically, when 100 mph winds reach Los Angeles County, they remain isolated to the mountainous areas.
The storm from Tuesday to Wednesday was “extremely rare as the winds were very widespread and powerful. Not just in the foothills, but also in the valleys and regions that are usually unaffected during typical Santa Ana wind events. “It was expanding,” mentioned Kristan Lund, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
For instance, Altadena and the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley generally experience “minimal effects” during Santa Ana winds, Lund commented.
Some long-term forecasts indicate the possibility of rain late next week, but it is likely to be on the “lighter side,” according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Los Angeles is notably dry. Only 0.16 inches of precipitation have fallen in downtown Los Angeles since the start of the water year on October 1st. This amounts to merely 3% of the average rainfall (4.99 inches) that downtown Los Angeles is expected to receive by this time of the season.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health declared a local health emergency due to the fire.
“The fires, along with strong winds, have severely impaired air quality by releasing harmful smoke and particulate matter, presenting both immediate and long-term dangers to public health,” the department stated in a release on Friday night.
The declaration prohibits the use of electric leaf blowers and similar devices that can stir up ash and particulate matter into the atmosphere until further notice.
Public health officials advised if you observe or inhale smoke, you should close windows and doors to maintain cleaner indoor air. If you must be outside for an extended duration, wear an N95 or P100 mask. Should you experience severe difficulty breathing, coughing, wheezing, chest discomfort, palpitations, nausea, or unusual fatigue, contact your doctor or seek emergency medical help. If your symptoms are life-threatening, call 911.
Multiple unauthorized drones hovered over the fire location in the Palisades on Friday afternoon, forcing firefighting planes to withdraw from the area to ensure safety, infuriating frontline firefighters, authorities stated.
These sightings followed a report from a day earlier when a drone struck and damaged a fixed-wing Super Scooper aircraft, rendering it inoperable for several days for repairs and decreasing the aircraft available to combat the fire.
Concerns are rising regarding the response of Los Angeles city officials to the fire emergency and the reasons behind water issues that led to drained hydrants and hindered firefighting efforts.
The Times has discovered that a significant reservoir in the Pacific Palisades, part of Los Angeles’ water system, was not operational when the raging wildfires ignited. The Santa Ynez Reservoir has been shut since February for repairs to the cap, and the 117 million-gallon storage facility in the core of the Palisades has remained empty for nearly a year, officials reported.
This revelation comes amidst increasing inquiries about why firefighters experienced a shortage of water in combating the blaze that began this week. The Times noted that numerous fire hydrants on high-altitude streets in the Palisades neighborhood had run dry, leaving crews battling the fire struggling with low water pressure.
Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday mandated an independent inquiry by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, deeming the depletion of water pressure and the empty Santa Ynez Reservoir “very concerning.”
Local fire officials acknowledged on Wednesday that they were overwhelmed by the intensity and scale of the largest fire in Los Angeles County this week, placing an extreme burden on their teams and resources.
In other locations, firefighters had gained control over smaller wildfires. It demonstrates how the ability to utilize aircraft to release water on flames can significantly aid in curtailing the spread of fires when winds are mild.
Officials on Friday commended firefighters for their swift actions at the Kenneth Fire, which ignited Thursday around 2:30 p.m. near the western end of Woodland Hills. The fire started from Victory Boulevard to the rolling hills of the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve.
A helicopter dedicated to firefighting was promptly dispatched and sprayed water. As of Friday, the fire had scorched 1,052 acres of brush and was 50% contained, authorities reported.
A man “attempted to ignite a fire” Thursday in the West Hills neighborhood that was affected by the Kenneth Fire and is under investigation concerning the blaze, according to law enforcement representatives and documents reviewed by the Times.
Times staff journalists Rebecca Ellis, Hannah Fry, Matt Hamilton, Ian James, Sandra McDonald, Luke Money, James Querley, Nathan Solis, Grace Twohey, and Richard Winton contributed to this report. I did.