The horror of the Los Angeles firestorms is hard to grasp, but emerging photos give a sense of the destruction

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By: Morgan McFall-Johnsen，Kelsey Vlamis

8 January 2025 at 18:05

woman on bicycle on beach boardwalk looks at giant plume of smoke filling the sky in the distance — Watching from afar, it can be hard to grasp just how huge the Palisades and Eaton fires are.
AP Photo/Richard Vogel

The Palisades and Eaton fires are devastating parts of Los Angeles, destroying entire communities.
Photos offer a glimpse at the scale of destruction that occurred in just a day and a half.
The situation is still ongoing and dangerous, with evacuation orders in many areas.

The Palisades and Eaton fires are ripping through parts of Los Angeles and causing mass destruction.

Firefighters are still struggling to contain the blazes, which grew rapidly and have continued for more than 24 hours.

The fires have destroyed at least 1,000 homes. Five people are reported dead. These counts are preliminary, as the situation is still dynamic.

It's difficult to grasp the scale of these fires, but emerging photos paint a grim picture.

The massive Palisades and Eaton fires ripping through Los Angeles show how quickly brush fires can escalate under dry, windy conditions.

a home engulfed in fire with bright orange and yellow flames shooting out of the windows and covering the roof — A home is engulfed in flames during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles County.
Josh Edelson/AFP

More than 70,000 people were under evacuation orders on Wednesday afternoon. Officials have warned that people in many other surrounding regions should prepare to leave their homes at a moment's notice.

Pat Durland, a wildfire-mitigation specialist and instructor for the National Fire Protection Association with 30 years of federal wildfire management experience, told Business Insider that if he lived in the area, he would leave before evacuation orders even hit his home.

"I would have left and gone to the beach or gotten a hotel," he said.

A giant smoke plume was rising over Santa Monica within an hour of the Palisades Fire igniting Tuesday morning.

giant grey clouds of wildfire smoke above santa monica — Smoke from the Palisades Fire rises above Santa Monica.
ALERTCalifornia | UC San Diego

UC San Diego's ALERTCalifornia camera network captured it from the other side of Santa Monica. At that time the fire covered about 200 acres.

So many people had to evacuate that Palisades Drive was gridlocked.

people wearing masks and carrying bags walk down a smoky gridlocked street full of cars — Residents evacuate on foot from the Palisades Fire on Tuesday.
Qian Weizhong/VCG/Getty Images

Many people abandoned their cars and fled on foot.

Since then, the Palisades Fire has burned through more than 15,800 acres. This was the area with evacuation zones early Wednesday afternoon.

map shows the area of the Palisades Fire plus red regions indicating mandatory evacuation zones — The area of the Palisades Fire with evacuation zones as of 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday, from the California state fire agency, CalFire.
CalFire

That's where the acreage stood at 2:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday. Throughout the morning it was increasing hour by hour.

The most up-to-date evacuation orders and warnings are available through CalFire.

Photos are emerging from areas where the Palisades Fire has burned its way through.

blackened burned car with tired melted sitting in burnt rubble under charred palm trees — A neighborhood ravaged by the Palisades Fire.
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

The Eaton Fire in nearby Pasadena also rapidly ballooned overnight and Wednesday morning.

two people stand in front of a burned down house still smoldering under smoky skies — Megan Mantia, left, and her boyfriend Thomas, return to Mantia's fire-damaged home after the Eaton Fire burned it down.
AP Photo/Ethan Swope

The Eaton Fire covered 10,600 acres as of 1 p.m. PT on Wednesday.

Images from that area show a similar situation to Pacific Palisades: frantic evacuations and destroyed homes.

walker lying on sidewalk in front of driveway full of charred ashen cars with fire raging through homes in the background — A walker lies on the ground after the Eaton Fire forced evacuations in Altadena, California.
David Swanson/REUTERS

The smoke from the fires filled the Los Angeles area, darkening the skies and causing unhealthy air quality.

downtown los angeles skyline with skyscrapers disappearing into dark smoke layer — Multiple fires covered the Los Angeles skyline with smoke.
Carlin Stiehl/REUTERS

A powerful windstorm spread the flames quickly, sending embers flying and igniting new spots, even jumping across roads.

embers fly everywhere streaking across the image of a smoky bright orange landscape with a few trees visible as silhouettes — The wind whips embers as the Palisades Fire burns on the west side of Los Angeles.
Ringo Chiu/REUTERS

Hurricane-force winds peaked overnight and Wednesday morning, and firefighters were unable to contain the blazes.

"Despite the efforts we put in with well-trained firefighters and equipment and aircraft, the wind and the weather still are ruling these situations," Durland said of major, fast-moving fires like these.

Another ALERTCalifornia camera captured the rising smoke from a ridge on the other side of the fire about an hour after it started.

camera view of giant smoke cloud in the hills with a helicopter flying through — The view from Temescal Trailhead at 11:56 a.m. on Tuesday shows smoke crawling over the hillside.
ALERTCalifornia | UC San Diego

This was the view from the same trailhead Tuesday night. This camera has since gone offline.

nighttime view of the palisades fire burning across a ridge just beyond a hillside full of homes — The view from Temescal Trailhead at 10:36 p.m. Tuesday shows the Palisades fire spreading west.
ALERTCalifornia | UC San Diego

Bone-dry vegetation provided abundant fire fuel due to a phenomenon called weather whiplash.

yellow firefighting plane drops white substance on burning hillside vegetation — A firefighting plane makes a drop on the Palisades fire.
Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

The last two winters in Southern California have been quite wet, even causing flooding. That led to an explosion of grasses and shrubs, nearly twice as much as a normal season, according to the UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain.

However, this winter has been different. Months without precipitation have dried out all that vegetation, blanketing the LA hillsides with fire fuel.

Grasses and shrubs help spread the fire, but it's "human fuels" that ignite homes, Durland said.

firefighter standing on a roof sprays hose water down at a burning pile of wood and other materials — A firefighter douses a hot spot near a home in the Pacific Palisades.
David Swanson/AFP/Getty Images

"It's bark mulch, it's ornamental grasses, it's structures that are readily flammable," Durland said.

"This is an urban fire. We're burning urban fuels," he added.

That means that cities and homeowners can do something about it. More fire-resistant landscaping and construction can help protect homes from future firestorms like this.

There are always houses that survive wildfires, Durland said, and everyone can learn from that.

two hillside homes with decks with a giant flame of fire burning right next to them — The Palisades Fire approaches homes on Tuesday.
Ringo Chiu/REUTERS

It helps to build homes with ample space between them and maintain a perimeter of at least five feet that's totally free of dry or flammable vegetation or mulch.

Homeowners can also keep their roofs and gutters clear and remove anything flammable from underneath porches and decks.

The Palisades were full of multi-million-dollar homes, which means this could be the costliest fire in US history, Swain said.

a beautiful staircase remains surrounded by debris and flames — The remains of a home's staircase in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.
AP Photo/Ethan Swope

According to a preliminary estimate from JP Morgan, insured losses alone could amount to $10 billion.

The Eaton fire, burning in Pasadena and Altadena, was at 0% containment as of Wednesday afternoon.

A satellite image of Eaton fire burning through Altadena. — A satellite image taken by Maxar Technologies showed the Eaton fire burning through Altadena.
Maxar Technologies

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The horror of the Los Angeles firestorms is hard to grasp, but emerging photos give a sense of the destruction

Shocking videos show Palisades Fire burning out of control in California