The fast-moving LA fires that killed at least two people and decimated more than 20,000 acres in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu and other areas continue to burn Friday with no end in sight.
Extreme dry weather conditions due to a prolonged drought, dry vegetation and powerful Santa Ana winds that reached up to 80 mph in some areas this week proved to be the ‘perfect storm’ for the worst fire the area has seen in more than two decades.
Here’s what we know:
How did the fires start?
The Palisades Fire – which has destroyed over 21,000 acres as of Friday afternoon – started Tuesday morning in the wealthy Pacific Palisades enclave just east of Malibu.
LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said she believes the fire was started accidentally in a back garden but quickly ‘spread at a speed beyond anything we’ve seen.’
Residents who live at North Piedra Morada Drive quickly made the call around 10 am as the hillside fire progresses closer to the multi-million dollar homes that dot the Pacific Palisades hillsides, according to the LA Times.
Videographer Kevin Ray, who was recording planes landing at LAX about 25 miles away from Pacific Palisades, captured one of the earliest footage shot just as the fire erupted about 10:25 a.m. local time.
Ray could be heard in the video saying this was ‘not something we want to see here in Southern California’ as he panned to the black plume of smoke billowing from the Palisades hillside.
LA and LA County residents who live in high fire hazard zones such as the Palisades are required to clear brush and trim trees around their property.
Nevertheless, many of the homes surrounded by the wildland hillsides quickly went up in flames Tuesday morning as the the strong Santa Ana winds pushed the fire into the more populated area of the seaside enclave.
Palisades residents exclusively told DailyMail.com two men were caught on camera dumping gasoline and setting it on fire just before the deadly Palisades fire broke out.
As the fast-moving fire progressed into neighborhoods and consumed one block after another, fire crews were faced with another problem: fire hydrants had little to no water.
Why did the hydrants run out?
By Tuesday afternoon, one of the LA Department of Water and Power water tanks that service the Palisades area ran out of water, according to Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer.
Three tanks that each hold a capacity of 117 million gallons should maintain enough water pressure that allows water to travel uphill through pipes and to fire hydrants in the neighborhoods.
But water pressure began to decrease because of the heavy water use, LA Department of Water and Power officials said.
The second ran out at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday and the last tank ran out and ‘went dry’ at about 3 a.m. Wednesday, according to Janisse Quiñones, LADWP chief executive and chief engineer.
‘We had tremendous demand on our system in the Palisades. We pushed the system to the extreme,’ Quiñones said during a news conference Wednesday. ‘Four time the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure.’
However, that the Santa Ynez Reservoir that serves the Palisades area was actually offline and had been closed for repairs at the time when the fire exploded on Tuesday, DailyMail.com has learned.
A source in the LA Fire Department told DailyMail.com that DWP officials told them ‘had it not been closed they probably would have been ok and had enough water for the fire.’
Former DWP general manager Martin Adams told the LA Times if the reservoir was operating, it could have extended water pressure that first night.
‘Would it have helped? Yes, to some extent,’ Adams told the publication. ‘Would it have saved the day? I don’t think so.’
LA County and LA City officials are facing even further scrutiny after residents pointed to a decision to suspend the annual fire hydrant testing for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
A notice from Dec. 24 showed the fire department was temporarily suspended because of ‘fiscal challenges’.
LA Fire sources told DailyMail.com that city-wide fire hydrant testing was supposed to take place last January and usually took three days.
‘You have to make sure these hydrants work, and yes, it absolutely would’ve made a difference in fighting all of these fires,’ the source said. ‘We’ve had some issues with hydrants and that ‘s why it’s important to test them annually so we can tell LADWP to fix it. The can’t fix it unless they know it’s broken, and it was our job to do that but that [testing] was suspended.’
Sources also told DailyMail.com that morale in the LA City and County fire departments are ‘at an all-time low’ as they faced severe budget cuts.
Why was the budget slashed?
Records show the city’s fire department budget was cut more than $17.5 million just seven months before the Palisades fire.
Mayor Laren Bass signed the budget allotting $819.64 million for the fire department. In the previous fiscal year, the fire department’s budget was $837.2 million.
In nthe meantime, the city’s police budget increased by $126 million.
In a statement in June, Bass said the cuts was a necessary ‘reset’.
‘This budget serves as a reset, in part by continuing to hire for critical positions including police officers and firefighters while eliminating some of the departments vacant positions, thereby prioritizing our City family over empty desks,’ the mayor said.
Why was Mayor Karen Bass gone during the start of the fires?
Bass faced criticism for being away on an overseas trip to Ghana as the most destructive fire in LA’s history ravaged the oceanside enclave.
Bass was in Ghana attending the inauguration of President John Dramani as part of a US presidential delegation, which was announced last month.
During a press conference Thursday, the mayor addressed the backlash and said she was on the phone with various emergency personnel as she made her way back to LA.
‘We have to save lives and we have to save homes,’ Bass said when asked why the city was ill-prepared for the wildfire. ‘Rest assured that when that is done, when we are safe, when lives have been saved and homes have been saved, we will absolutely do an evaluation to look at what worked, what didn’t work, and to correct or to hold accountable anybody, department, individual, etc.. But my focus right now is on the lives and on the homes.’
Why were there not more firefighters?
The National Weather Service in LA issued numerous warnings about the dangerous weather conditions days leading up to the deadly Palisades fire.
‘This is an event that had exceptionally long lead tomes, not only of the powerful windstorm that we anticipated but also the potential for a particularly dangerous situation, red flag warning, fire weather conditions,’ meteorologist Ariel Cohen told CNN.
However, sources with the LA Fire Department told DailyMail.com they did not receive a call to ‘pre-deploy’ until Tuesday morning.
‘Usually, when there is a high wind warning, we staff extra fire engines to be ready to go,’ the source said. ‘There should’ve been a pre-deploy at least a day before. They didn’t do that so we went home.’
Sources added that once many of the firefighters came back, some were once again called off by Wednesday because there was not enough operable rigs.
‘It would’ve made a huge difference, having 30 to 40 more engines they could’ve have fully staffed. We could’ve done water shuttles into the fire, but when you don’t have the apparatus, you can’t do that.’
LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley wrote in a December 4 memo to the Board of Fire Commissioners that the budget cuts ‘have adversely affected the Department’s ability to maintain core operations.’
She added that the $7 million reduction in overtime hours limited the Department’s capacity ‘to prepare for, train for and respond to large-scale emergencies’. It also affected the Department’s other duties, including inspecting homes for brush clearance inspections on residential homes.
In a memo obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, Bass demanded an additional $49 million budget cut just a week before the wildfires broke out.
‘The LAFD is still going through a FY [financial year] 2024/2025 $48.8million budget reduction exercise with the CAO [City Attorney’s Office],’ the document said.
‘The only way to provide a cost savings would be to close as many as 16 fire stations (not resources, fire stations); this equates to at least one fire station per City Council District.
‘The details of this plan have not yet been developed. This is a worst-case scenario and is NOT happening yet.’
Sources said firefighters across the county are fed up.
‘We are running a skeleton crew every single day,’ a veteran firefighter said. ‘They didn’t pre-deploy anybody and they didn’t hire because they don’t want to spend the money. We can’t sustain 2,000 calls a day and successfully fight a wildfire. And no one does a damn thing because they don’t give a s–t.’
Why didn’t residents get better warnings?
At 10:56 a.m. Tuesday, Bass’ office sent out a release announcing all city departments to prepare for the ‘anticipated dangerous windstorm’.
Residents received a mandatory evacuation alert on their mobile phones around 12:50 p.m. Tuesday for ‘forest fire burning’.
By that time, the brush fire was already surrounding the multimillion dollar homes nestled in the overgrown hillsides.
People rushed to their cars and made their way down Palisades Drive and Sunset Boulevard, causing gridlock and panic as flames began to surround the narrow two-lane road.
Police hastily told the motorists to abandon their cars and the residents – many who are elderly – struggled to walk down the road.
Workers, caregivers, gardeners and others who provide service to wealthy Palisades residents also were trapped in the gridlock.
Actor Steve Guttenberg was interviewed by local TV station KTLA at 1 p.m. Tuesday and asked those fleeing to leave their keys in the ignition if they abandon their vehicles.
‘If anybody has a car, leave the keys in the car so we can move your car so that these firetrucks can get up Palisades Drive,’ the Police Academy star said.
Others stayed and tried their best to fight the blaze and save their homes with garden hoses.
By 3 p.m., bulldozers were brought in to push dozens of abandoned cars on Palisades Drive so firetrucks could drive up the hillside where the fire was raging.
By the end of the night, the fire had already consumed hundreds of homes, businesses and other structures. Entire communities once known for posh shops and restaurants and multimillion dollar home were left unrecognizable.
LA city and county officials received further ire after an wireless emergency evacuation alert went out to residents on Thursday despite not being near any of the hot zones.
On Friday morning, LA County officials confirmed the message was sent erroneously.
During a press conference, Kevin McGowan, director of the LA County Office of Emergency Management, addressed the frustration residents felt after receiving the alert.
‘First of all I want to clarify this is not human-driven,’ McGowan said. ‘There is no one sitting at a desk right now initiating emergency alerts. I want to restate that, right now as these alerts are being issued they are not being activated or initiated by a person.’
Which celebrities lost their homes?
Several A-List celebrities who lost their multimillion-dollar homes to the Palisades Fire continue to grow as some have returned to their Pacific Palisades and Malibu Homes.
Hollywood elite such as Anthony Hopkins, Julia -Louis Dreyfus, Jeff Bridges, Eugene Levy, Mel Gibson, Miles Teller, Milo Ventimiglia, Cary Elwes, Paris Hilton, Adam Brody, Candy Spelling and Tina Knowles have revealed they have lost their properties.
Actor and comedian Billy Crystal wrote a heartbreaking statement on their loss.
‘Janice and I lived in our home since 1979,’ Crystal wrote.
‘We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that can’t be taken away.
‘We are heartbroken of course but with the love of our children and friends we will get through this.’
The deadly Palisades Fire scorched 21,317 acres in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains as of Friday night. The fire has destroyed more than 5,000 structures with containment at 8%, according to fire officials.
The Palisades Fire has killed at least two people, according to the LA County Department of Medical Examiner.
The Medical Examiner confirmed a total of 11 people have died in fires burning throughout Southern California, including in Altadena and the West Hills area.