CA - Pacific Palisades - 30,000 People Ordered to Evacuate From L.A. Wildfires

[Izzylizzy]

WAPO Updates:

9 min ago

'Vegetation clearing warnings were ignored'​

"Before a home is threatened, experts say one of the few steps homeowners can take to make their property more fire resistant is clearing it of grass and shrubs, removing fuel. In California, people living in risky areas are required to maintain a buffer around their homes — a five-foot perimeter free of vegetation known as “defensible space.”
But in practice, the rules haven’t been followed uniformly.
Many homeowners are reluctant to remove wooden fences, replant their gardens and trim the lower limbs on pine trees. Aerial images of the Palisades neighborhood taken before the fire show homes surrounded by greenery, a common sight in wealthy areas where residents put a premium on privacy."

Read more about why Los Angeles was unprepared for fire here.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025/01/11/los-angeles-fires-california-updates-palisades-eaton-kenneth/

 

[Izzylizzy]

'Some California residents get extra protection from wildfires – for a price'​

snip

"According to materials on its website, insurance company Chubb offers “Wildfire Defense Services” to eligible clients. During a wildfire event, those services include “sending certified professional firefighters to your home,” “removing combustible materials from around your home” and “spraying your home with a heat-absorbing fire-blocking gel.”

Tim Bauer, a senior vice president at fire damage restoration service Allied Disaster Defense, said after the first three days of fire in Pacific Palisades, he had a waiting list of at least 200 people, all desperate for the company’s services. Bauer said the company is spraying properties with the same fire retardant dropped by firefighting air tankers.

Allied sprays down bushes, shrubs and other vegetation to prevent ashes and sparks from igniting a home.

During non-emergency times, the cost is about $1,000, but amid dangerous wildfire conditions, Bauer charges $5,000.

For many in the affluent neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, it’s a small price to pay to help protect multimillion-dollar homes. Bauer said one woman offered $100,000 to be moved to the top of his waiting list, but Bauer said he planned to stick to the original order on his list.

On Friday, Michael Owens, a real estate developer in the Los Angeles area, showed one of his newly built homes to a family whose own home was just destroyed in the Palisades fire.

The listed price of the home in Westlake Village, which sits on the Los Angeles-Ventura county line, is nearly $15 million. One of the home’s main selling points is it’s built with fire-proof materials and comes equipped with a personal fire hydrant.'

cont

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/11/business/california-wildfire-protection-cost/index.html

 

[Izzylizzy]

'Ultra-rich Californians in fire-prone areas have a new, expensive safety tool​

There's yet another way that wealthy residents are able to combat fires with their wallet'​

https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/private-fire-hydrants-luxury-homes-socal-19962079.php

 

[Herat]

'Ultra-rich Californians in fire-prone areas have a new, expensive safety tool​

There's yet another way that wealthy residents are able to combat fires with their wallet'​

https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/private-fire-hydrants-luxury-homes-socal-19962079.php

You would hope that ultra-wealthy Californians would also have the ability to have supremely good fire hygiene around their properties and would sensibly reduce the overgrown trees, landscaping, and surrounding bone-dry scrub vegetation.

I'm sympathetic to having shady trees in the California sunshine but the severe lack of attention to established vegetation clearing is astonishing.

 

[sds71]

Who Is Gloria Lynn Mandich, Accused Arsonist Behind California's Freddy Fire?

Gloria Lynn Mandich, 60, has been arrested for allegedly starting the Freddy Fire near Pacific Coast Highway, adding to California's devastating wildfire crisis.

www.ibtimes.sg

 

[Sundog]

California Bans Insurance Policy Cancellations in L.A. Until 2026 as Wildfire Disaster Costs Pile Up

California’s insurance authority rushed to impose a yearlong ban on policy cancellations in parts of Los Angeles hardest hit by the apocalyptic wildfires that continued to sow destruction as of Friday.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Thursday issued a mandatory moratorium that prohibits insurance companies from pulling the plug on coverage in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and the area outside Pasadena affected by the Eaton fire through Jan. 7, 2026.

...

The announcement comes just weeks after the commission unveiled a new rule requiring private insurance firms to start writing new policies in high-risk areas if they wanted to keep doing business in California, but with the concession that they would be allowed to pass the costs on to their customers.

...

J.P. Morgan analysts have projected that fire-related insured losses could climb as high as $20 billion, up from their initial estimate of $13 billion. In the Palisades community alone, where the median list price was $4.72 million as of December 2024, according to data from Realtor.com®, there were $6 billion in potential claims.
...

"This would make this event significantly more severe than the 2018 Butte County Camp Fire, the highest insured-loss wildfires in California's history previously," with insured losses of about $10 billion, the analysts said.

California Bans Insurance Policy Cancellations in L.A. Until 2026 as Wildfire Disaster Costs Pile Up

The California Insurance Commission has barred insurance carriers from canceling or failing to renew policies in areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires until January 2026.

www.realtor.com

 

[Herat]

As with water bomber Elvis that got its own fan club in '90s Australia, LA has fallen in love with the Super Scoopers defending their city.

Los Angeles braced for return of high winds as crews battle multiple fires — as it happened

Six wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area have killed at least 11 people and continue to burn as dry desert winds fan the flames.

www.abc.net.au

I love that the major air tankers with the 8,000 gallon volume are designated as VLAT ( Very Large Air Tankers ) It says it all, very simply. They are generally converted DC-10 commercial aircraft.

The very attractive Quebecois plane has been grounded, as it was hit by a drone and damaged the wing. ( They are classified as LAT (Large Air Tankers) because of their 1,500 gallon capacity.

 

[Herat]

Last night, one of the KTLA traffic helicopters broadcasting excellent photos of the fire said there was a fairly menacing, large apparently-unauthorized drone that was operating in the restricted airspace and could be a huge problem for the multitudes of planes trying to attack that Mandeville area fire outbreak. They said it was a real danger to any aircraft up there, offical or media in origin.

I hope LE can find the people running these damm things. Those aerial firefighters are astonishing in their bravery and we cannot have any additional risks to them.

 

[DS2021]

Who Is Gloria Lynn Mandich, Accused Arsonist Behind California's Freddy Fire?

Gloria Lynn Mandich, 60, has been arrested for allegedly starting the Freddy Fire near Pacific Coast Highway, adding to California's devastating wildfire crisis.

www.ibtimes.sg

Arson charges filed over brush fire off Pacific Coast Highway near Ventura County line

A woman has been charged with arson in Wednesday's Freddy Fire, which broke out along PCH near the Ventura County line amid gusting Santa Ana winds.

www.vcstar.com

 

[DS2021]

Incidents | CAL FIRE

www.fire.ca.gov

 

[DS2021]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fire-agencies-investigate-potential-edison-link-la-hurst-fire-2025-01-11/

Fire agencies to investigate potential Edison link to LA Hurst fire

Jan 10 (Reuters) - Fire agencies are investigating whether Southern California Edison's utility infrastructure sparked a brush fire that is still burning in a Los Angeles suburb, SCE said Friday, adding no determination has been made.
SCE, a unit of U.S. utility Edison International (EIX.N), opens new tab, said in a filing to its regulators that a downed conductor was discovered at a tower associated with its Eagle Rock - Sylmar 220 kV circuit.

 

[DS2021]

Cause of Eaton Fire may be downed power line, witness says

Surveillance video and witness accounts are raising questions about whether the Eaton Fire may have been started by a downed power line.

www.google.com

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Surveillance video and witness accounts are raising questions about whether the Eaton Fire in Pasadena, California may have been started by a downed power line.

The video shows power lines running through Eaton Canyon arcing in the high winds on Tuesday just after 6 p.m. Within minutes, it sparked a fire that exploded in size.

Cal Fire has a copy of the video, and while the person who owns it says they won't release it while the investigation is ongoing, others in the area say they witnessed the same thing.

A photo obtained by KABC that was taken at 6:21 p.m. Tuesday night shows the very early stages of the Eaton Fire.

 

[Betty P]

WAPO Updates:

9 min ago

'Vegetation clearing warnings were ignored'​

"Before a home is threatened, experts say one of the few steps homeowners can take to make their property more fire resistant is clearing it of grass and shrubs, removing fuel. In California, people living in risky areas are required to maintain a buffer around their homes — a five-foot perimeter free of vegetation known as “defensible space.”
But in practice, the rules haven’t been followed uniformly.
Many homeowners are reluctant to remove wooden fences, replant their gardens and trim the lower limbs on pine trees. Aerial images of the Palisades neighborhood taken before the fire show homes surrounded by greenery, a common sight in wealthy areas where residents put a premium on privacy."

Read more about why Los Angeles was unprepared for fire here.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025/01/11/los-angeles-fires-california-updates-palisades-eaton-kenneth/

Something I thought of while watching a lot of people being interviewed about these fires - many of them are renters. That means a lot of residents may have landlords (some who are probably absentee) who failed to do the necessary landscaping work to reduce fire risk.

Has anyone also noticed how close together many of these houses are? Clearing all vegetation from around your home may not be enough to protect it from flying embers, etc.

Just something to keep in mind when there's a lot of criticism about brush clearing.

There's also a possibility that some of the overgrown areas near people's homes are common areas, not under the control of homeowners.

Also glad to see officials on CNN giving an update warning people against overcharging and price-gouging local residents for rent, food, water, essentials, building materials, hotel rooms, car rentals, etc. Good on California for having laws in place that criminalize price gouging during emergencies and shortages.

 

[Herat]

I thought the California Attorney General, Rob Bonta's, statement and presentation this morning was extremely well done, sensitive yet firm and reassuring.

 

[Izzylizzy]

You would hope that ultra-wealthy Californians would also have the ability to have supremely good fire hygiene around their properties and would sensibly reduce the overgrown trees, landscaping, and surrounding bone-dry scrub vegetation.

I'm sympathetic to having shady trees in the California sunshine but the severe lack of attention to established vegetation clearing is astonishing.

It appears that this is just the beginning of the pointing fingers.

 

[Izzylizzy]

I thought the California Attorney General, Rob Bonta's, statement and presentation this morning was extremely well done, sensitive yet firm and reassuring.

@ 6:58

Streamed live 50 minutes ago
'California Attorney General Rob Bonta hosts a press conference alongside local leaders in response to the wildfires in Los Angeles. Attorney General Bonta reminds Californians that price gouging is illegal under state law, shares tips on how to donate safely to charities, and speaks out against looting.'

 

[LaborDayRN]

You would hope that ultra-wealthy Californians would also have the ability to have supremely good fire hygiene around their properties and would sensibly reduce the overgrown trees, landscaping, and surrounding bone-dry scrub vegetation.

I'm sympathetic to having shady trees in the California sunshine but the severe lack of attention to established vegetation clearing is astonishing.

While good fire hygiene definitely would have helped (and should be mandated in these areas), unfortunatly no amount of fire hygiene would have been enough to stop the devistation that has occured IMO.
These fires even ripped through business districts where there was very little vegitation. The Santa Anna winds carried the embers to a myriade of areas. JMO
It's just heartbreaking......

 

[Herat]

While good fire hygiene definitely would have helped (and should be mandated in these areas, unfortunatly no amount of fire hygiene would have been enough to stop the devistation that has occured IMO.
These fires even ripped through business districts where there was very little vegitation. The Santa Anna winds carried the embers to a myriade of areas. JMO
It's just heartbreaking......

So true, LaborDayRN

What we see is that regular firefighting techinques are not possible in these extreme conditions and the regular practices that work under other conditions cannot be performed when the winds are too strong to put up the air tanker resources, the aerial reconnaisance, and even transport ground crews to breakout areas that are remote from roads.

 

[Herat]

People seem to be forgetting that when the Palisades Fire started and was getting out of control, not only were there winds of up to 80 mph, but the humidity was incredibly low at 9%.

That is the kind of humidity that Death Valley experiences in the summer heats of 120+. It is in credible to think that a seaside community would ever have a humidity that low.

 

[slowpoke]

Re: Eaton Fire -
Press Conference 2:00 PM & Community Meeting 4:00 PM

https://twitter.com/x/status/1878161828880187848