2 min ago
Fires are "out of control" in Altadena, CNN's Anderson Cooper reports
From CNN's Anderson Cooper and Jillian Sykes
CNN’s Anderson Cooper is on the ground in Altadena as raging wildfires continue to scorch southern California Wednesday.
“In Altadena, fires are still just out of control,” Cooper said, while positioned in front of a burning home.
“Look at all these embers. All these embers in the trees. They’re now going through the air; they’re now flying down the block to a number of houses which have not yet burned.”
In addition to flames and embers, Cooper said there had been multiple explosions in the area.
One explosion can be seen from a home behind Cooper, followed by a cloud of thick, dark smoke.
A fire crew was in the area earlier in the day, but there is “no water in these hydrants,” Cooper said.
“They had to just leave. They did what they could. They tried to remove whatever underbrush they could,” he continued.
2 min ago
Nearly everything in Altadena is on fire, satellite images show
From CNN's Paul Murphy
A satellite image shows the Eaton wildfire has set nearly every building in western Altadena on fire.
New satellite images from Maxar Technologies are giving the best view yet of just how many buildings are on fire in the Palisades and Eaton wildfires in Los Angeles.
The images were taken at 10:45 a.m. PT, during a time of significant cloud cover across the Los Angeles area.
Because of that, they are a mix of shortwave infrared and visible satellite images. Shortwave infrared sensors on Maxar’s satellites allow them to detect more things on the ground than are in the visible light spectrum – which is visible to the naked eye – such as heat signatures.
Everything illuminated in orange or white indicates locations where fire has been detected.
The imagery shows the Eaton wildfire has set nearly every building in western Altadena on fire. From the Altadena trailhead to the Mountain View Cemetery, the shortwave infrared sensor shows nearly every block is on fire. Those fires continue nearly all the way to Altadena’s east.
In additional images, fires were also detected on Fair Oaks Avenue and the homes surrounding it. The infrared sensor also detected a fire at the building that houses the Bunny Museum, located along Altadena Drive.
Significant cloud cover obscured much of the area scorched by the Palisades Fire, but the infrared was able to detect exactly where much of the fire is centralized – the Parker Mesa area, the Summit neighborhood and Pacific Palisades.
A majority of the homes along the Pacific Coast Highway, near Tuna Canyon Road, have been destroyed. At least one of them is seen on fire in the satellite image.
and barely got out with their lives. Other friends have evacuated, no idea if their homes are still standing.
