Wildfires plague Los Angeles area

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What to know about the California wildfires and windstorm
Four fires burning in Los Angeles County Wednesday prompted multiple evacuation orders and warnings amid a windstorm that officials said was expected to worsen through the morning. More than 1,000 structures have been destroyed, and two people are dead, Los Angeles County Fire Department chief Anthony Marrone said.

The Palisades Fire exploded in size as powerful winds hit northwest Los Angeles, forcing the evacuation of at least 30,000 residents in the affluent community of Pacific Palisades. The Eaton, Hurst and Woodley fires are also burning.

The Palisades Fire was first reported at 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time Tuesday and has grown to at least 2,921 acres with zero containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire.

More than 10,300 homes were threatened by the blaze, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The number of structures damaged or destroyed was unclear. L.A. fire officials said they had reports of multiple burn victims.

Several major L.A. roadways were jammed as residents attempted to flee the area, with many being forced to abandon their vehicles in the road and walk.

A second wildfire, the Eaton Fire, broke out Tuesday night in the hills above Altadena, a community in northern Los Angeles County, also prompting evacuation orders. It's burned at least 1,000 acres, CalFire says.

A third fire, the Hurst Fire, erupted in the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles late Tuesday night and quickly consumed hundreds of acres, CalFire said, forcing some evacuations.
The Woodley Fire started early Wednesday morning.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency amid the fires.

70,000 residents ordered to evacuate, 28,000 structures threatened
At least 70,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate as wildfires threaten several areas across Los Angeles County, officials said Wednesday. That figure includes 30,000 residents ordered to evacuate near the Palisades Fire.

The fires threaten at least 28,000 structures.

2 arrested for looting amid wildfires, sheriff says
Two arrests have been made for looting amid the raging wildfires in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna said at a news briefing Wednesday.

Luna did not give any more information on the arrests, such as when they were made and if the two people were arrested together or in separate locations.

Winds blow fire embers more than a mile
CBS News' Jonathan Vigliotti reports that embers from the fire flames were being blown more than a mile. Those embers could spark new spotfires, Vigliotti reports.

"Simply put, this is a hellscape," Vigliotti said. "There are so many homes on fire it's unusual to see a home that is not." Watch his report:

While the fires blazing in Los Angeles are not unusually large for the region, their specific locations, as well as strong winds, make them a threat.

CBS News live updates


Personal Note:
The synagogue where my Uncle was a Rabbi burned to the ground. He may have to be evacuated from his assisted living facility.

I'm sorry to know about your Uncle's synagogue burning down even though it's good to know that your Uncle may have been evacuated from where he lived.

What we know about the California wildfires
At least five people have been killed as fast-moving wildfires engulf the Los Angeles area, prompting mandatory evacuations of more than 100,000 people.

There are at least six fires, sparked by dry conditions and powerful winds. The newest, the Sunset Fire, started shortly before 6 p.m. in the Hollywood Hills. It quickly grew to 20 acres.

The Palisades Fire has already burned through more than 15,800 acres, the Eaton Fire has exploded to 10,600 acres, and the Hurst Fire has affected more than 700 acres. The smaller Woodley Fire was under control, and the Lidia Fire was around 80 acres, at 30% containment.

Some firefighters are hindered by low water pressure and out-of-service hydrants. Some aerial water drops are underway.

The Palisades Fire has destroyed 1,000 structures, officials said. More than 450,000 customers were without electricity in Southern California.

Officials told people in evacuation zones to leave immediately. People near the blazes should pack go-bags, plan on places to meet other household members and know how to flee safely.

L.A. city firefighters battle large house fire in Studio City
A new blaze in the hills of the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles is drawing on firefighters already spread thin as L.A. is in the midst of multiple wildfires fanned by Santa Ana winds.

The Los Angeles Fire Department reported that the focus of the fire was a four-story home on or near Sunswept Drive, but the fire has since expanded and is now called the Sunswept Fire.

"The Sunswept Fire is burning near Laurel Cyn/Mulholland/Coldwater Cyn/Ventura Blvd.," a city alert said tonight. "Those nearby should get set for a potential evacuation by gathering supplies and loved ones."

The fire department said in an update that the residential fire included "exposures and vegetation."

"Firefighters are in the defensive mode against the fire unit with priority of defending the exposures and preventing extension into the brush," the LAFD said.

The area is northwest of the Sunset Fire in Hollywood, north of Franklin Canyon and Beverly Hills, amid the high vistas on the San Fernando Valley side of the Santa Monica Mountains.

The range is also the focus of the Palisades Fire and the Sunset

Wildfires threaten urban Southern California's sense of security
Wildfires are supposed to be wild.

But the reach of this week's windstorm-driven blazes in Southern California has served as a reminder that flames don't stop at the wildland-urban interface. And if that's the case, few in this region of 25 million are truly safe from the ravages of such blazes.

Mandatory evacuations for the Palisades Fire yesterday and the Sunset Fire tonight spread into century-old rectangular street grids and well-worn Main Streets seemingly insulated from fire by miles of concrete and steel structures.

Authorities last night put the northern part of Santa Monica's North of Montana neighborhood under mandatory evacuation orders. The area included the city from San Vicente to the border with Los Angeles and its Pacific Palisades community.

It's not in the hills, and it's not amid woods or brush. It's part of a larger Santa Monica neighborhood known for its expensive homes and Rodeo Drive-style boutiques.

"This is staggering," Los Angeles Times reporter Julia Wick said on X last night, commenting on the Santa Monica part of the Palisades Fire evacuations. "For those unfamiliar with L.A. geography, the area in the evacuation warning is not in the hills."

Likewise, evacuations tonight covered the western part of the Hollywood Hills, west of the 101 Freeway, from Mulholland Drive — which twists along the top of the mountains — to Hollywood Boulevard, a flatlands thoroughfare to the south that takes tourists to the El Capitan Entertainment Center, TCL Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Madame Tussauds Hollywood and Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

Some of the city's oldest multifamily structures line the boulevard in one of its densest neighborhoods.

Just east of the boulevard's evacuation zone are Thai Town and its critically acclaimed eateries and Little Armenia, a location celebrating Armenian settlement in East Hollywood.

The overlapping ethnic communities found life and commerce in the boulevard's vintage buildings. It's generally not a place where children learn how to hunt or fish or even about preparing for wildfires.

But the lesson of wildfire crushing urban development is one told previously, when the Camp Fire in 2018 destroyed 85% of Paradise, California, 470 miles north of L.A. in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

A National Institute of Standards and Technology analysis of the Paradise Fire found that the density of the town actually made the fire worse and accelerated flames.

"Propelling the Camp Fire’s structure-destroying spree were fires that spread within and between plots of land, or parcels, rather than from the fire front," said the analysis, published in 2021. "Sources such as burning sheds, plants, vehicles and neighboring houses caused many buildings to catch fire, either through direct contact with flames or embers generated in parcels."

Gov. Gavin Newsom told NBC News today that the rapid devastation of the last two days in Southern California was something he could compare only to the Paradise Fire.

"It's stunning," he said. "Nothing comes close

When will the dangerous fire weather abate?
Although the ferocious winds that have fueled the Los Angeles-area fires should gradually diminish tonight, dangerous fire conditions are expected to persist through at least Friday.

A high wind warning remains in effect until 10 p.m. PT for parts of greater Los Angeles, including the Malibu coast and the Santa Monica Mountains, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasts suggest wind speeds up to 40 mph in the affected areas, with gusts up to 60 mph.

Red flag warnings will remain in effect across parts of Southern California through at least 6 p.m. Friday. Such warnings refer to an expected combination of warm temperatures, low humidity and strong winds that raises the risk of fire danger.

Humidity levels are expected to stay low, and they could dip into single digits in some areas into Friday.

“Prolonged elevated to critical fire weather is expected,” according to the fire weather outlook from the NWS Storm Prediction Center.

What we know about the California wildfires
Five devastating wind-fed fires have killed at least 13 people and swept through 39,000 acres in the greater Los Angeles area, destroying entire communities and more than 12,000 structures.

Another 13 people are missing, L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said today. It's unclear if the missing persons reports are related to the fires, he said.

Evacuation orders for the largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, have expanded as it sweeps east and threatens Brentwood and Encino. It is 11% contained.

At least 153,000 L.A. residents were under evacuation orders overnight.

Gov. Gavin Newsom called for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.

Los Angeles County declared a public health emergency, warning that smoke and particulate matter could pose immediate and long-term threats. The full warning and list of recommendations can be found here.

Mexican firefighters arrive to battle California’s blazes
Firefighters from Mexico have arrived in Los Angeles to help battle the deadly blazes scorching Southern California.

The Mexican crews will join more than 14,000 personnel deployed to fight the fires, California Gov. Gavin Newsom — who met with a delegation from Mexico today at Los Angeles International Airport — said in a post on X.

In a statement, the governor said more than 70 firefighters and disaster relief workers from Mexico's defense ministry and National Forestry Commission will form handcrews to help with the firefight.

“Emergencies have no borders — we are deeply grateful to our neighbors in Mexico for their unwavering support during one of our greatest times of need," Newsom said. "Thank you to President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo for lending the best of the best."

It’s not the first time California has received help from its southern neighbor during fires, with Mexico regularly sending crews to help fight raging infernos in the Golden State.

“I feel very happy,” one of the Mexican firefighters said as he stood alongside his colleagues on a tarmac while readying to deploy. “It’s a pleasure to be able to help all our countrymen and also our neighboring country.”

The Palisades Fire 'is a monster with a lot of different heads'
The Palisades Fire exploded into the Mandeville Canyon today, David Ortiz, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department, told NBC Los Angeles, noting that the area has seen a lot of activity due to strong Santa Ana winds fueling the blaze.

Ortiz said the winds have calmed enough to allow helicopters to fly over the canyon, which will allow fire crews to douse the fires from helicopters into the evening.

"As long as we can fly, we're going to look for every window of opportunity to take advantage of cooperating winds to be able to put in some work," Ortiz told NBC LA.

The Palisades Fire "is a monster with a lot of different heads, with a lot of potential for growth in a different directions," Ortiz said.

Contributing to that is the area's thick and dense vegetation, in addition to areas that haven't seen a fire in 50 years, making it easier to burn. Ortiz also noted that he has seen the Palisades up in flames without the threat of winds.

Ortiz said fire crews have been working "diligently day and night" to improve containment and that the numbers don't always demonstrate the work being done. As of Saturday, the Palisades Fire is 11% contained.

The fire department has had enough resources to hit the fires hard and prevent too much growth into additional canyons, which run all the way to the ocean from Mandeville, Ortiz said.

The next biggest concern is an area beyond the I-405 Freeway, according to Ortiz. The LAFD has a contingency plan for if that does happen, but Ortiz said they are feeling optimistic that it won't. He said crews are confident that they don't think the fire will jump, but that they are prepared if the fires expand.

"Pacific Palisades was a 1 in 100 fire that you go to in your career," Ortiz. said. "Everything that could go wrong did. I'm just thankful that more people did not die."

Drone incidents over Los Angeles County fire zones 'well into the double digits'
The number of unauthorized drone incidents over the Los Angeles County fire zones are now “well into the double digits” Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, told NBC News Saturday.

The most serious of those incidents was a civilian drone that ripped a hole in a Super Scooper plane Thursday morning as the water-dropping aircraft was flying over the Palisades Fire zone. The incident temporarily ground other firefighting aircraft and put the specialized plane, provided by Canada, out of commission until Monday, at the earliest.

Investigators have recovered pieces of the drone, which are being examined by the FBI and partner agencies. Thus far, there have been no arrests or charges in any of the cases as the investigations continue.

Davis would not detail the location and number of counter drone personnel or the mitigation equipment they employ.

Law enforcement officials have said that drone operators who run afoul of the rules typically fall into one of three categories the “clueless, criminal and careless.”

The key to identifying the cause of the still-raging Palisades Fire lies on a brush-covered hilltop where the blaze broke out just after 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

Fire investigators are still working to determine what sparked the inferno, but experts say it’s easy to rule out one common cause of wildfires: lightning. The region was free of stormy weather this week. The area near the Temescal Ridge Trail also appears to be free of power lines or transformers, which rules out another potential cause.

That leaves the source of most wildfires: people. But was it a result of arson? Four experts interviewed by NBC News said it was a possibility, but they thought the fires were more likely not set on purpose.

“This is what we call inaccessible, rugged terrain,” said Rick Crawford, former battalion chief for the Los Angeles Fire Department. “Arsonists usually aren’t going to go 500 feet off a trailhead through trees and brush, set a fire and then run away.”

Fires break out in the wooded areas on the edges of Los Angeles all the time — many of them caused unintentionally by homeless people. The fires almost never grow into a destructive blaze due to the lack of high winds. The combination of ferocious winds and a parched landscape created ideal conditions for the fast-moving fires that have consumed large swaths of Los Angeles this week.

“You don’t need a gang of arsonists to go out there and be starting fires because nature is taking care of that for you,” said Scott Fischer, a retired federal law enforcement arson investigator.

“There are arsonists out there,” he added, “but are there a band of arsonists running around Los Angeles right now? Not likely.”

Copycat arson is a known phenomenon, however. The experts said they wouldn’t be surprised if one of the smaller fires that broke out after the Palisades blaze was intentionally set.

“When you get a large fire event like this being experienced in Los Angeles, you sometimes trigger people to go out and light a fire,” said Terry Taylor, a retired wildland fire investigator who now works as an instructor. “It’s a copycat thing. ... It happens from time to time.”

Taylor and the other experts said it’s unlikely those answers will come anytime soon, as determining arson tends to require a lengthy investigation.

Eaton Fire
The Eaton Fire, the second largest to wreak havoc in Los Angeles, is not one of those likely to have been started by an arsonist, the experts say. It erupted Tuesday evening in an area east of Altadena where an array of high-voltage transmission lines hovers overhead.

Given the area and weather conditions, the fire experts said their first thought was power lines. Whipping winds can cause the lines to slap together, shedding small balls of superhot molten metal.

“If the ground is really dry and the wind is blowing and poof — you have a fire,” said Ed Nordskog, a retired detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who spent his career investigating arsonists.

But that’s just one potential scenario. It’s also possible that it was started by a person operating a camping stove or a car or lawn mower that ejected a hot spark onto dry grass, Nordskog said.

As for the possibility it was intentionally set, Nordskog said it was unlikely.

“Most of the time, these fires are not arson,” he said. “There is no data supporting winds bringing out arsonists.”

‘Inch by inch’
Identifying the cause of a fire is a highly specialized and painstaking endeavor, experts say.

The first step is pinpointing where it began. Things like burn patterns and charred debris can provide crucial clues.

Then comes the most detailed and labor-intensive part of the process. The investigators will lay out a grid at the scene, typically with string, and literally crawl around on their hands and knees in search of footprints or other clues.

The investigators often use metal detectors and magnifying glasses or even binoculars to help with their search.

“They’ll go inch by inch by inch, and it will take hours,” said Nordskog. “It’s not fun.”

In the case of the Eaton Fire, the investigators are likely to use magnets to help them hunt for the tiny, melted pieces of metal that could have been shed by power lines if they slapped together. But the existence of the metal doesn’t necessarily indicate that’s how the fire started, Nordskog said.

“You still have to figure out if the power lines’ spark was because things were already on fire or what started the fire,” he said. “There’s so much stuff going on with an investigation, so many factors. Anybody tells you right away what caused the fire, they had to have seen it.”

If the investigators find evidence the fire was caused by a person, they must then work to determine whether it was the result of an accident, negligence or an intentional act.

John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at the University of California, Merced, examined 30 years’ worth of government fire occurrence data from Los Angeles County. It showed that the most common causes of wildfires from 1992 to 2020 were mishaps related to vehicles and other equipment.

“More than 95% of these are human-ignited fires,” he wrote in an email. “Arson is among the causes, but most human-caused fires are not intentional.”

‘The best players out there’
Identifying the cause of a fire is a highly specialized and painstaking endeavor, experts say.

The first step is pinpointing where it began. Things like burn patterns and charred debris can provide crucial clues.

Then comes the most detailed and labor-intensive part of the process. The investigators will lay out a grid at the scene, typically with string, and literally crawl around on their hands and knees in search of footprints or other clues.

The investigators often use metal detectors and magnifying glasses or even binoculars to help with their search.

“They’ll go inch by inch by inch, and it will take hours,” said Nordskog. “It’s not fun.”

In the case of the Eaton Fire, the investigators are likely to use magnets to help them hunt for the tiny, melted pieces of metal that could have been shed by power lines if they slapped together. But the existence of the metal doesn’t necessarily indicate that’s how the fire started, Nordskog said.

“You still have to figure out if the power lines’ spark was because things were already on fire or what started the fire,” he said. “There’s so much stuff going on with an investigation, so many factors. Anybody tells you right away what caused the fire, they had to have seen it.”

If the investigators find evidence the fire was caused by a person, they must then work to determine whether it was the result of an accident, negligence or an intentional act.

John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at the University of California, Merced, examined 30 years’ worth of government fire occurrence data from Los Angeles County. It showed that the most common causes of wildfires from 1992 to 2020 were mishaps related to vehicles and other equipment.

“More than 95% of these are human-ignited fires,” he wrote in an email. “Arson is among the causes, but most human-caused fires are not intentional.”

‘The best players out there’
The prospect of arsonists torching Los Angeles gained traction on social media Thursday when a group of people in Woodland Hills detained a man they suspected of setting a trash fire. The man was arrested, but there was not enough probable cause to charge him with arson, police officials said Friday. He was arrested on a felony probation violation instead.

In addition to the Palisades and Eaton fires, four others have burned across Los Angeles. The causes remain under investigation.

A law enforcement task force has been set up to uncover what caused the fires. The local agencies involved — the Los Angeles Fire Department, Police Department and county Sheriff’s Department, as well as Cal Fire — are considered to be among the most skilled in the country. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is leading the probe.

"Everything is absolutely on the table," Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a Saturday press conference.

It could take several days for investigators to determine the causes of the fires. Determining whether a fire found to have been started by a person is a criminal act could take several months or even years, the experts said.

With the number of fire fatalities reaching 11, the effort to uncover the causes is expected to go on for as long as it takes.

Former Australian child star Rory Sykes, who was born blind and had cerebral palsy, died Wednesday in the California wildfires after his mother said she was unable to save him from their home which was engulfed by flames.

“It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of my beautiful son @Rorysykes to the Malibu fires yesterday. I’m totally heart broken,” Shelley Sykes wrote Thursday in a post on X, calling him “a wonderful son.”

Rory Sykes, 32, had difficulty walking because of the cerebral palsy, his mother said. The actor, who starred in the late-’90s British TV show “Kiddy Kapers,” was living in a cottage on his family’s 17-acre Malibu estate.

Shelley Sykes said it burned down Wednesday in the Palisades Fire when she “couldn’t put out the cinders on his roof with a hose because the water was switched off by @LVMWD Las Virgenes Municipal Water."

"Even the 50 brave fire fighters had no water all day! He will be incredibly missed," she posted.

A spokesperson for Las Virgenes Municipal Water denied her claims, saying the "water service did remain available and uninterrupted to her property and the entire surrounding community."

"Our water system remained operational and we did provide water to the firefighters throughout the emergency and without interruption," the spokesperson said.

Santa Ana winds are expected to persist over the next three days across parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Red flag warnings are in effect for some areas through Wednesday because of the gusty winds and low humidity.

The wind-fed wildfires have killed at least 24 people and swept through 40,000 acres in the greater Los Angeles area, destroying entire communities and more than 12,300 structures.

Evacuation orders for the largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, expanded. It is 13% contained and threatens Brentwood, Encino and Westwood.

Evacuation orders are in effect for 105,000 L.A. residents, and 87,000 are in evacuation warning zones, which means they may need to leave at a moment’s notice. See a map of the evacuation zones here.

Personal Note:
The synagogue where my Uncle was a Rabbi burned to the ground. He may have to be evacuated from his assisted living facility.

So someone on utube is playing connect the dots too. About the coincidences of the fires happening in high value ,land areas....it has not aired yet but will in the next few days, she also associates the big fire in Hawaii as part of the same process .... These high dollar areas along coastlines ( maybe Gaza too) are being incinerated , To make way for newer much more valuable buildings , structures and development . She termed it a Land grab.. This IS really not a hard conclusion to cone to, based on the outward appearing facts. I had already made this suggestion to a friend and said the same about Israel grabbing the Gaza coastline.
vid named " Countering the Scorched Earth Landgrab". might have to think this one through. These areas are mainly inhabited by Old Money Families...And although there maybe money, Most likely there earning power of the older people there cannot afford to rebuild....So Corpororate billionaires Pirates will scarf up those properties as the owners more into homes elsewhere. ., Then skyscraper sized apartmennt buildings on the old burned diwn properties, And Each one of those apartment Units,for a rent of a what ? 1 million dollars a month..? ...too high ? maybe ? on the California Coastal veiw ... Your choice of zoning ? , Whats alittle money to buy lawyers to get that changed . These are the numbers of Dollars involved here. .. Its mind boggling , All from a few well placed fires at the just right time of year ...
Is it all just a coincidence..?

Profit-motivated arson seems an unlikely motive. The most likely result will be to drastically reduce property values. These fires will likely be seen as a harbinger of even worse to come in the future.

If the fire reaches Beverly Hills and/or Hollywood, the big mass media companies might decide to just move elsewhere permanently.

As for hypothetical new skyscraper-sized apartment buildings, it is much more expensive to build them on the West Coast than elsewhere in continental U.S., due to earthquake codes.

If it's arson, a more likely motive, IMO, would be a desire to stick it to the fat cats who live in Palisades.

I just hope these fat cats won't all decide to move to NYC.

Be that as it may, while arson is a possibility, there is no evidence for it so far, as far as I am aware.

Santa Ana winds are set to cause critical fire conditions over the next three days across parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, as the region continues to battle historic and deadly blazes.

The wind-fed wildfires have killed at least 24 people and swept through 40,000 acres in the Greater Los Angeles area, destroying entire communities and more than 12,300 structures.

The largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, has burned over 23,000 acres and was only 14% contained as it threatened Brentwood, Encino and Westwood.

Evacuation orders are in effect for 92,000 L.A. residents, and 89,000 are in evacuation warning zones, which means they may need to leave at a moment’s notice.

Joe Thompson’s desperate post-wildfire scramble to find a new place for his family to live led him Saturday to a five-bedroom home in Santa Monica, California, that had been put on the market the day before for $28,000 a month — more than double the rent posted a year ago. The agent was asking for three months’ rent up front and already had applications from multiple people.

Thompson and his partner turned away, appalled.

“We’re not going to do that,” Thompson, 44, a trader and investor, said later. “We’ll just keep looking.”

The couple and their two young children were displaced by a wildfire that leveled much of their Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades last week. Although their house was left standing, they don’t know the extent of the damage or when they will be allowed back. So they have joined thousands searching for housing in a city that had a dire shortage before the disaster.

The stampede has resulted in some homeowners and property managers jacking up prices on short-term rentals, including dozens that appear to violate a California law against increasing prices by more than 10% during a state of emergency, according to a review of Zillow listings and interviews with real estate agents, housing advocates and home-seekers.

Authorities have asked residents to report gouging to the state Attorney General’s Office.

“This is absolutely unacceptable and illegal to do in the face of this horrible tragedy,” state Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, who represents parts of western Los Angeles, said at a news conference Sunday.

An attorney general’s spokesperson declined to answer questions about any complaints, saying such investigations aren’t public.

It’s a story that is repeated often in America: When a natural disaster hits, rents spike as demand surges beyond a city’s capacity. Some have the means to pay the higher prices. Many others don’t. The burden typically falls hardest on people who were renting before the disaster, researchers say. The crunch also drives up homebuying prices.

In some cases, prospective short-term renters in Los Angeles County are finding themselves on waiting lists, in bidding wars or being asked to provide a year’s worth of rent up front.

“A bunch of these homeowners who may have been in their home for 10, 20 or 30 years and haven’t experienced the rental market for decades — they’re going to get a crash course in the housing shortage, and it’s not pretty,” said Brock Harris, who runs a real estate brokerage with his wife, Lori.

The couple is trying to help wildfire victims secure rental properties, including many whose mortgage payments will now cover only small apartments. “The availability for these people to find a similar price or similar housing to what they’ve lost is a near-impossible task,” Harris said.

The wildfire victims span an array of housing situations, including working-class renters struggling with bills, retirees who have owned their homes for decades, young couples who have recently purchased houses and wealthy families with second homes elsewhere.

Many escaped with just a few possessions and now have no permanent homes. Many are staying with family or friends or in hotels, coping with unimaginable loss while they also search for long-term housing. The state has set up temporary shelters for those without anywhere to turn. Airbnb.org, a nonprofit organization independent of Airbnb, is working with a local nonprofit group, 211 LA, to provide free temporary housing to victims.

Magdaleno Rosales, an organizer with the Los Angeles Tenants Union, which advocates on behalf of renters and for affordable housing, said the group has launched an effort to track reports of rental price gouging. He said he has gotten more than 450 tips, some describing spikes of a little more than 10% and a dozen reporting 100% increases or more.

“Landlords are moving really quickly to try to take advantage of people’s desperation,” he said.

Rosales added that he is worried about evictions of working-class tenants by landlords seeing opportunities to cash in.

“L.A. was already home to one of the worst housing and homelessness crises,” he said. “And so then, in the wake of this tragedy, these horrible fires, it looks like it’s just going to get worse.”

An NBC News review of rental increases uncovered numerous examples. One listing agent, Ofir Malul, was named on a dozen rentals whose prices increased as the fires spread last week. For seven of the properties, the price hikes exceeded the 10% allowed under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency declaration. A four-bedroom home in Topanga jumped 24%, up to $14,300. A three-bedroom within view of the iconic Hollywood sign shot up 45%, to $14,500.

Malul answered a call and initially agreed to speak with a reporter after he wrapped up a meeting, but he didn’t answer subsequent calls or respond to messages. On Sunday night, all 12 listings appeared to have been taken down, and his name had been removed. He later texted a reporter saying the listings weren’t his.

Zillow released a statement saying it had activated "internal systems to flag potential violations so we can assess and take action," adding, "We believe it is essential for housing providers to follow local housing rules, including consumer protections against price gouging during and following a natural disaster, and we are providing resources to help them understand their responsibilities.”

The picture isn’t entirely bleak. Alongside allegations of price gouging are stories of generosity and empathy.

Tannis Mann, who lost the Pacific Palisades house she and her partner bought in 2023, is living with her sister while they try to find short-term housing. Mann, 37, a brand manager for a food company, said she has seen examples of landlords’ maintaining or lowering prices.

“When I am looking through Zillow, if I see someone raised the price, I crossed them off the list,” Mann said, “because I don’t want that person to be my landlord.”

For Ashley and Tim Polmateer, whose home in the Marquez Knolls neighborhood in Pacific Palisades was destroyed, looking at dozens of listings online and six in person hasn’t yielded a new place to live. They said they’ve seen listings with rent increases of $1,000 in the days after the fire.

For now, they plan to stay in an Airbnb property until the end of the month with their three young children and 10-week-old golden retriever puppy, and they hope to find something by Feb. 1.

“At least we’re all together,” Ashley Polmateer said.

Thompson’s search continues, too. His family is staying in a hotel while they look for a place near the children’s schools. On Monday, he checked out a rental that just went on the market for a price that was unchanged since before the fires, he said. But the agent told him he was one of 70 people on the list.

”People have lost everything,” Thompson said. “They’re in a state of uncertainty, where they don’t know even how long they need a place, and they’re being forced to outbid each other and give the best possible terms to a landlord. It’s insane.

Los Angeles-area residents who already face warnings about their tap water could be without it for some time, experts told NBC News, owing to concerns about the damage done to local infrastructure and the chemicals released by wildfires.

At least two water departments have told residents not to drink their tap water because of concerns about potential contamination from the ongoing wildfires. And the possibility of chemicals’ and pathogens’ entering the water system has raised concerns about potential risks to human health, though it may take a while for tests to determine the scope of the problem, particularly since the fires are still active.

On Friday, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power instructed people in the Pacific Palisades and adjacent communities to use bottled water for cooking, drinking, brushing teeth and washing dishes. The advisory warns that fire-related contaminants such as benzene — a chemical with the potential to cause cancer — may have entered the water system.

The Pasadena Water and Power Department also told many residents last week to switch to bottled water until further notice, citing concerns that debris may have entered the system. The Eaton Fire in the area damaged several reservoirs and pump stations, the department said, which could affect water quality.

“There’s definitely some level of contamination in these damaged systems. How much nobody knows,” said Jackson Webster, an assistant professor of civil engineering at California State University in Chico.

Until it’s known what level of contamination is occurring in the system, it should just be assumed that they’re highly contaminated based on previous observations,” he added. “That’s why they’re issuing these ‘no drink’ notices.”

Webster said it’s common to see drinking water contamination after wildfires in urban areas — he pointed to the 2023 fires in Maui, Hawaii, the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, and the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, California.

One telltale sign that drinking water has been contaminated, he said, is if a water system loses pressure. Excessive demand on the system — usually from residents running hoses and sprinklers while firefighters pull water from hydrants — causes water pressure to drop and contaminants to get sucked in like a vacuum.

Dennis “Buzz” Chatman said that, when he bought his house in Altadena in 2020, the original property title in 1950 indicated that the only nonwhite people allowed in the neighborhood were servants.

“So being able to plant my flag there meant a lot,” said Chatman, a film and TV producer.

Now, Chatman and his partner, Todd Smoyer, are grappling with having lost not only their house, but also what he says was a haven for Black families to the devastating fires in the Los Angeles area last week.

In Altadena, a diverse enclave with a flourishing art community 14 miles northeast of Los Angeles, residents affected by the Eaton Fire are mourning a sweeping loss of history, community and culture.

The Eaton Fire has killed at least 11 residents and reduced more than 1,900 structures to ash and rubble. By Monday morning, authorities said the blaze was 33% contained. The wildfires that erupted in Los Angeles County last week are among the most destructive in California history, having killed at least 24 people and forced 180,000 others to evacuate.

Altadena, an unincorporated town in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, was a soulful middle-class suburb drawing diverse groups and creatives unlike anywhere else in Los Angeles County. Here, life seemed to progress more slowly, and people looked out for one another.

People of color are more than half of Altadena’s population, with Latinos making up 27% and Black Americans 18%. Though it has diversified over the decades, the town’s population has remained steady at around 42,000.

“Altadena is a minority-majority town,” said Rafael Agustin, former CEO of the Latino Film Institute. “To me, it represents California and the future of America.”

Agustin, whose home burned down, described Altadena as economically and culturally diverse, helmed by family-run businesses like Café de Leche, a Nicaraguan restaurant he frequented.

During the Civil Rights era, Altadena was one of the few areas in Los Angeles County to be exempt from redlining, which gave Black people a rare opportunity to own homes and provided them with a refuge from discrimination elsewhere.

People bought homes and kept them for generations. Today, the Black homeownership rate in Altadena exceeds 80%, almost double the national rate. Many of those homes burned down.

Adonis Jones, 66, who lived on Canon Boulevard for nearly 20 years, evacuated his home with almost nothing.

“It’s like I lost a piece of my soul,” he said. “It was such a beautiful community. Everyone pretty much knew everyone through going to school together or living in the neighborhood. A beautiful group of people. It’s a tragedy the way this fire took us away from each other. Now the main thing is to see if we’ll be able to come back together.”

Jones’ daughter Rochele, 42, who was raised in Altadena, said she doesn’t want to lose what her parents and grandparents built. “I just don’t feel like I’m ready to see Black Altadena disappear like this,” she said.

Her father, a retired football and basketball coach in Altadena for 42 years, said that on Tuesday he got two reports from people he knew that his home remained untouched, giving him hope. But a couple of hours after the last update, grave news arrived: His house was gone.

“It was like being in a raffle,” Jones said. “Are they getting ready to pull the ticket out of the hat with your number? Once I got the call, my heart just dropped down to my socks. It happened so fast.”

Keni Davis, who also pulled a bad ticket from the Eaton lottery, said he plans to stay in Altadena, where he has lived for more than 40 years. Known as “Keni Arts” around town, Davis has captured the beauty of the city through his paintings of buildings and businesses. The devastation he has seen in his city pains him, he said.

To get to his residence on Marigold Street, Davis took a little-known passage, away from barriers put up by emergency crews, and walked more than 2 miles. He then walked another mile to the home of his daughter, the internationally renowned artist Kenturah Davis. Her home had burned down, as well, together with art pieces that, according to Davis, were worth “at least half the value of the home.”

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Davis added. “I saw maybe 10 houses standing out of the maybe 100 I walked past.”

The Eaton Fire also destroyed beloved religious institutions, including the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Altadena Community Church, both more than 80 years old, and Masjid Al Taqwa, a mosque that has served Altadena’s Muslim community for three decades.

Muhammad Akhtar, the owner of a new halal grocery and butcher shop in the neighborhood, said that he used to pray at Masjid Al Taqwa on Fridays and that its existence reflected the diversity and inclusiveness of Altadena residents.

The support and compassion people have for one another is what makes Altadena most special, Akhtar said. The day after the fire ripped through the town, he said, many local customers called to check in on his business, EZ Halal Meat and Market, which was outside the burn zone.

“Prayers to all,” Akhtar said. “All we can do is rebuild.”

Loss of arts, nature and community
Those living in Altadena are as proud of their quirky arts scene and cultural landmarks as they are of its diverse and welcoming nature. The Zorthian Ranch, an art junkyard established in 1946, was a commune and gathering place for artists and musicians, including celebrities like Andy Warhol and Bob Dylan. Most of the ranch and the artworks inside are destroyed.

Nearly a dozen cultural institutions were lost in the fire, including the Bunny Museum, which housed a collection of more than 46,000 rabbit-themed objects, from stuffed toys to antiques and cookie jars. Opened in 1998, the museum held the Guinness World Record for largest bunny collection.

“A lot of people care about land. A lot of people have backyard animals,” said Christina Conte, who spent the past five years creating an urban homestead in Altadena. She recalled sightings of pigs and an alpaca.

In the sprawling oasis of her backyard, she cultivated native plants, grew produce and raised a flock of chickens. She held workshops on how to make medicinal herbs and brew kombucha; she home-schooled children in the neighborhood. She felt a kindred connection with other Altadenans.

Now, only a charred chimney remains of the only home Conte has ever owned. She managed to drive away with her three young children and her dog just moments before the blaze reached her block.

“It was my safe space,” she said. “I saved up my whole life for it, and now we literally have nothing.”

Jane Parrott, a psychotherapist who has lived in Altadena for five years, described the mountain town as a “country city” replete with canyons, swimming holes and quaint local businesses.

“Once you go there,” she said, “you just want to stay.”

In the sprawling oasis of her backyard, she cultivated native plants, grew produce and raised a flock of chickens. She held workshops on how to make medicinal herbs and brew kombucha; she home-schooled children in the neighborhood. She felt a kindred connection with other Altadenans.

Now, only a charred chimney remains of the only home Conte has ever owned. She managed to drive away with her three young children and her dog just moments before the blaze reached her block.

“It was my safe space,” she said. “I saved up my whole life for it, and now we literally have nothing.”

Jane Parrott, a psychotherapist who has lived in Altadena for five years, described the mountain town as a “country city” replete with canyons, swimming holes and quaint local businesses.

“Once you go there,” she said, “you just want to stay.”

Salomón Huerta, 59, also an artist, was at his studio when his wife noticed the fires hit his block and was forced to evacuate. He later found out via video that his house was gone. He said he lost his old archives. “The art that I was collecting from other artists — that cannot be replaced,” he said. Huerta, who is from Tijuana, Mexico, and has been in the United States since he was a small child, had been raising money to conduct a ceremony in Oaxaca after he and his wife got married last year.

Altadena residents worried about the cost to start over
Joelle Fortune-Simmons’ family lives in the home her husband’s family has owned for 47 years. The dwelling was so important to her mother-in-law that Fortune-Simmons had to plead with her to leave it as the fire grew closer.

“She kept saying, ‘I’m gonna save my house,’” Fortune-Simmons said. The family tried to stave off the flames with garden hoses, but they had to flee. Soon enough, their home was gone. She is resolved, however, to rebuild in Altadena when the time comes.


“Right now the fear that we all have as residents and homeowners is that private equity is going to come in and re-create this town into a for-profit rental property disaster that no one wants,” said Rafael Agustin, who has been advocating for a mortgage moratorium.

Lotfipour-Tindall said a broker informed her that in nearby Pasadena, where she works and where her son attends school, only around 30 homes in her budget are available for rent. She said she would love to rebuild her life in Altadena, but a competitive real estate market can put a tight squeeze on low-income families like hers. Even before the fire, she said, it took her a long time to find an affordable home in the neighborhood.

“We’re not sure where our place is,” she said.

A community meeting was held over the weekend, and one of the primary topics was the future of the city and how important it is that current residents not abandon the town they worked hard to nurture.

“One of the big concerns among all of us who have been in Altadena forever is that developers don’t come in and start throwing up condos all over the place,” Keni Davis said. “It is primarily a residential neighborhood area, and people are neighbors who get to know each other, walk down the street and say hello to each other. And that’s what we want to preserve — that beautiful Black community.”

California’s century-old prisoner firefighter program is drawing fresh criticism as hundreds of incarcerated people have been deployed to fight the deadly wildfires in the Greater Los Angeles area.

As of Thursday, 783 incarcerated firefighters were working around the clock to help slow the spread of the massive blazes as part of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Fire Camp Program.

The state is one of at least a dozen that operate these fire camps and deploy incarcerated people to fight fires. Last year, California voters rejected Proposition 6, a ballot initiative to ban involuntary labor in prisons and jails, which includes bringing incarcerated people in to help fight wildfires when there are not enough professionals to help. The proposition failed despite having the support of Democratic leaders, advocacy groups and labor unions.

The deadly conditions of L.A.’s fires have prompted California residents to criticize the CDCR’s fire program for undercompensating prisoners entering harm’s way.

A significant number of “fire fighting crews are incarcerated individuals,” some of whom “don’t even have access to fire fighting jobs after release,” one person wrote on X.

Another added that incarcerated firefighters “are trained & given the choice, but are paid a pittance” and are likely to be injured while serving.

The program pays prisoners up to $10.24 per day with the opportunity to earn more during active emergencies, according to the CDCR.

In order to be eligible for the fire program, prisoners have to be deemed physically and mentally fit, they must have eight years or less on their sentence, and they cannot have convictions like arson or sexual violence, according to the CDCR. Working in the program can earn time off their sentence for each day they serve on a fire crew, and some prison workers can have their records expunged. Some critics have said the program is exploitative because incarcerated firefighters must choose between lowered sentences or risking their lives.

A CDCR spokesperson confirmed in a statement that the number of incarcerated firefighters and said the workers “are proud to be embedded with CAL FIRE personnel to protect lives, property, and natural resources in Southern California.”

The program began in 1915 with the state routinely calling on incarcerated people to fill personnel gaps.

Lori Wilson, the California Assembly member who spearheaded Proposition 6, said she’s spoken with incarcerated people who say many love the work they do as firefighters, but they wish they were paid more.

“They find it truly rewarding and enriching,” Wilson told NBC News. “It’s something they are extremely proud of. We’re fighting to have additional wages, and to be fairly compensated. Not only in adequate wages, but once they leave incarceration, being able to use that service for further employment.”

“There’s an imbalance there that needs to be resolved,” she said.

A 2022 report from the American Civil Liberties Union and the University of Chicago’s Global Human Rights Clinic found that prisoners, who received little to no pay, produced more than $2 billion of goods and commodities a year.

“When you’re placed into a position of extreme oppression and exploitation, it’s like the opportunity to be outdoors versus being in a concrete cage with iron bars. People will take that,” said George Galvis, co-founder and executive director of Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, an organization working to curb youth incarceration and criminalization.

“So you can say that it’s a voluntary program, but there really isn’t a lot of choice when you’re not provided very many choices. It’s exploitative,” Galvis said.

Matthew Hahn, who spent nine years in prison, wrote in an essay for The Washington Post in 2021 that criticisms of the fire camps are valid, but doing the dangerous work “was better than being in prison.” He said some prisoners often dream of joining a fire program.

“The conditions in California prisons are so terrible that fighting wildfires is a rational choice. It is probably the safest choice as well,” he wrote.

Hasan Piker, a popular leftist streamer who amassed a large following on social media as a political creator, uploaded a video Sunday speaking with incarcerated firefighters in California. His video only bolstered the online conversation about the fire programs.

“We’re the backbone of the operation,” one man told Piker. “We get out there and we do the hard work. … We get the rough and tough end of the stick.”

Another man, who identified himself as “Kimbo,” said he is part of the Growlersburg Conservation Camp of Georgetown, California. He said he makes about $5 a day, averages about $180 a month and often works 24-hour shifts.

He said he and his team work with hand tools, “we’re the foot soldiers. We’re scraping brush, we’re using chainsaws,” he said.

“It takes hours and hours. We go where the bulldozers can’t get to. We go into tight spaces, real steep, where a bulldozer would fall if it would try to go up there,” he said, adding that the workers endure strenuous manual labor for very little pay. “It’s dangerous. I have to dodge rocks sometimes.”

Like Hahn, Kimbo said the work may be dangerous, but it’s better than the alternative. “It’s way better than” being in prison, he said. “I was in the prison yard, I’m seeing guys get stabbed, get jumped, get beat up. Cops treat us like s---. But here we get better treatment. They talk to us like humans. We got a job. We’re underpaid, but we got a job.”

They can apply to work for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire, after their release, according to the CDCR. “But then they struggle with background checks and things of that nature,” Wilson said. “There are still a lot of barriers that keep them from being able to fully utilize that.”