In Los Angeles, unprecedented wildfires have been burning for almost two weeks. The fires have killed at least 27 people, displaced thousands of people, and forced many to evacuate their houses. The wildfires started on January 7th, 2025, fueled by fierce Santa Ana winds. Additionally, three people have been charged with suspected arson. They were arrested on suspicion of arson after citizens alerted police. One of them used a barbecue lighter to start a fire, another lit a trash can on fire, and the third person lit brushes on fire.
The two largest fires — the Palisades and Eaton — along with smaller fires have spread to over 40,000 acres (almost 100 times the size of Norval).
An estimated 14,800 homes have been destroyed, and some estimates say the economic losses from the fire could reach $275 billion USD. Firefighters have been fighting against the fires, yet the fires are still a very dangerous situation.
Warning Signs
As climate change has worsened in the past decades, forests have been much more prone to wildfires. NASA scientist Gavin Schmidt says that warmer temperatures and drought have led to more moisture evaporating from the ground around LA, which has made the fire spread more quickly and powerfully.
Before the wildfires got out of control, a smaller fire broke out near Palisades on January 1st. There were warning signs of the fire spreading, with conditions perfect for fires to spread rapidly. However, the Los Angeles Fire Department decided not to deploy an extra 1,000 firefighters to respond to the fires.
Thus, once the first fires started on January 7th, it took a while for Los Angeles to respond to the fires
January 7th
Three fires started on the 7th of January. The first one is the Palisades fire. It started on the morning of January 7th in Palisades and has since burned over 23,000 acres of land. By the evening, the fire spread 3,000 acres and reached the center of Pacific Palisades.
At 6:30pm, the Eaton fire started in the Altadena area, and has now burned over 14,000 acres of land. Lastly, at 1:30, the Hurst fire was ignited near San Fernando. It has burned around 800 acres.
January 8th
On the 8th of January, the wildfires began to spread. Five people had died as the wildfires swept across L.A. The three fires had already burned a lot of land, with the smaller Sunset fire ignited. Thousands of building were scorched, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate the area. The fire department also faced the challenge of depleted water and low water pressure.
January 9th
Another fire, the Kenneth fire was ignited, and burned through 1,000 acres of land. More than 7,000 firefighters and 1,200 fire trucks had been deployed to combat the fires. The death toll continued to rise, and LA Unified School District closed all of its campuses.
January 10th
The Palisades Fire was still at 6% containment and had scorched almost 20,000 acres, while te other fires had burned over 13,000 acres and were only 3% contained. The winds also reached 70mph in some areas.
January 11th
Over 100,000 residents were under evacuation orders, as the Eaton and Altadena fires kept burning. The death toll rose to a confirmed 16 people. New investigations were launched to figure out the origin of the fires. Search and rescue missions also set out to rescue citizens from the fire.
January 12th
The death toll climbed to 24 by Sunday and more than 12,000 structures destroyed, according to officials. The National Weather Service warned that there would still be strong enough winds to cause “explosive fire growth”.
January 13th
The Palisades fire had burned over 23,000 acres, yet was only 13% contained, while the Eaton fire had burned 14,000 acres, and was 27% contained. Some other fires such as the Auto Fire broke out and needed responses from fire departments. Finally, the wind speeds dropped
January 14th – present
Firefighters and the city of Los Angeles are still preparing for the return of winds and are working to contain the fire, as the death toll as of right now has climbed to 27.