The entire LA basin is on high alert as three major fires are burning uncontrolled. At least two people have died and several more injured, including firefighters. The Palisades Fire, which was the first major blaze to erupt on Tuesday, has reached nearly 12,000 acres as of Wednesday noon. Altadena’s Eaton Fire has exceeded 10,000 acres. And Sylmar’s Hurst Fire: 700 acres.
LA Mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency on Tuesday night to speed up disaster response. President Joe Biden and Governor Gavin Newsom are both in town, offering state and federal assistance.
LA County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath, who represents the West Side, Malibu, and Topanga, said this morning, “We woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles, but it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires. It is difficult to process the immensity of the destruction and loss, and we extend our hearts and every resource we have to all of our impacted residents.”
KCRW hears from a few people who evacuated the Palisades Fire:
Palisades - Terry Salazar
The Palisades Fire razed large parts of the Pacific Palisades. Photo Credit: Ross Lujan.
Salazar, the mother-in-law of KCRW DJ Tyler Boudreaux, recalls being on the phone with her brother, talking about the strong wind and feeling apprehensive. Then she got an alert saying a fire was in the area. It was three miles away, in fact.
She then got a text from a Beachwood Canyon resident telling her to pack her belongings. She got the cats out first, grabbed artwork, and drove her car out of the (approximately) 140-unit mobile home park on a corner of Pacific Coast Highway.
“It took me about three hours to get into Hollywood. Once I was on PCH, I saw four trucks, with a guy driving the truck, and in the back, a woman … holding mini horses. In the back of literally a pickup. There were people with goats. Every entrance to PCH was closed off. It was unbelievable.”
Some of her neighbors, who didn’t have insurance, tried to save the street. She recalls one of them telling her on the phone, “He goes, ‘I'm sorry. I hate to tell you this … but your house did not look good.’ And then he proceeded to send me a picture. And I've received video since, also of the devastating flames throughout the whole place. The palm trees were dripping with fire. There were embers flying through the air. At about 4 p.m. or so he left, he said the fire was coming from all three sides. It was just decimated.”
She says she’s sure her home is now 100% gone.
“I just thought, okay, it was a great house. We had Tyler and Michael's wedding dinner there, and it was so beautiful. And I thought, okay, we went out in a blaze. … I was internally shaking by the evening. … It's grief that'll be processed in various stages. But it's also ridiculously freeing, all of a sudden, all your burdens … like, I got nothing but a couple of dresses, and some artwork, and my cats, and a lot of love from a lot of friends. But, yeah, I'm shook in a way that I've never been in my life.”
Malibu - Annabelle Williams
Annabelle Williams lost her house in Las Flores Canyon. Photo credit: Annabelle Williams.
Williams, originally from Texas, says this is a whole new realm for her. She evacuated Malibu’s Las Flores neighborhood to shelter in the Point Dume area, grabbing her cat and whatever she could see and find in the dark. She tells KCRW that her house is gone.
She points out that her boyfriend’s older brother is part of the Malibu Brigade, which formed after the Woolsey Fire, taking matters into their own hands to save houses. This team was out all of last night, pumping water from the ocean with hoses to salvage structures along PCH.
She describes what PCH looks like now: “It's almost apocalyptic, it's crazy. And from Point Dume, it's so strange, because it looks moderately sunny outside. It's a little dark from the smoke, but once you head past Pepperdine, it's just black smoke everywhere.”
Most of the “sand castles” along PCH in Malibu burned down. Photo credit: Jake Giles Netter.
She confirms that most homes lining PCH are gone.
“The speed of this fire is what's just so concerning, and how windy it is. It's just out of control. Malibu, every palm tree [is] slapping the sides of the house. There's trash cans everywhere. … It's really, really scary,” she emphasizes.
Topanga - Derek Mabra
The fire continues to make it up Topanga Canyon. Photo Credit: Derek Mabra.
Mabra says he drove back into his Topanga Canyon neighborhood this morning, around the barricades, and saw flames approaching Topanga Lumber & Hardware Co. Inc., plus spot fires starting from embers.
“I wanted to check on my elderly neighbors and make sure everybody left and the horse gates are open. So that part is, I don't know. It's honestly debatable. Because with all this wind and smoke, you really can't tell what's going on. It's very easy to get disoriented. … I highly recommend not going back in to check things out. I think the time for that is over,” he says.
On his drive, Mabra didn’t see fire trucks, he points out.
“I know they're stressed and they're everywhere, but … in almost 15 years of living here, I've seen many big fires, and there's always perimeter defensive lines. And Topanga was just a complete ghost town. So I wanted to go get footage of things actually burning in Topanga, and I shared it with my friend who's a firefighter … he actually sent some units out to Topanga. … So I just want my friends and my family and my community to have eyes and ears on the ground.”