Palisades, Eaton fires held in check as crews prep for challenges with winds
Neither the Eaton nor Palisades fires grew Monday and fire officials said they had resources in place Tuesday as crews prepare for another challenging day with strong Santa Ana winds expected.
Containment of the Palisades fire, burning in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Topanga and Mandeville canyons, continued to trend upward, as officials reported 17% containment early Tuesday morning, Jan. 14. The fire remained at 23,713 acres, according to Cal Fire.
Meanwhile, crews inched forward on the Eaton, getting to 35% containment and holding the fire at 14,117 acres Monday, the Angeles National Forest said.
With strong winds anticipated Tuesday, engines, bulldozers and hand crews were staged overnight in communities and foothills near the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “ready to respond if needed,” Angeles National Forest officials said.
Speaking at a press conference Monday morning, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said officials had both ground and air resources ready and they were prepared in the event the fires expand, or a new one ignites.
Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said Monday that strike teams were being prepositioned for any new fire that breaks out in the city.
During the day Monday, crews made “significant progress in establishing containment lines along the eastern edge of the fire near Santa Anita Canyon,” officials said, while helicopters made water-dropping missions near Mount Wilson and air tankers flew fire retardant-dropping missions on the west and northwest portions of the fire in anticipation of the forecasted winds.
Both fires broke out on Jan. 7 and have caused much devastation to local communities. The Eaton fire has damaged or destroyed an estimated 7,000 structures, officials said. That number was more than 5,000 for the Palisades fire.
To date, 24 people died in the fires and 23 people were reported missing, the majority tied to the Eaton fire, authorities said.
Evacuation orders Monday were affecting some 92,000 residents, with evacuation warnings affecting another 89,000, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Whether those numbers changed overnight as some residents were allowed back into their neighborhoods in the Altadena area was not immediately known.
More than 5,000 personnel were working the Palisades fire and an additional 3,200 were battling the Eaton fire, officials said.
A red flag warning for fire weather was in effect until 6 p.m. Wednesday for gusty northeast to east winds and low relative humidity, according to the National Weather Service, which upgraded the event to a particularly dangerous situation from 4 a.m. Tuesday to 12 p.m. Wednesday.
Peak wind gusts could reach upward of 70 mph in the mountains and 60 mph in the coasts and valleys, NWS said.
“Peak winds for this next event will be weaker than those last week,” NWS said in a post on X Monday. “Nevertheless, winds will be strong enough to potentially cause explosive fire growth.”
While officials have not yet determined the cause for either fire, lawsuits filed Monday on behalf of more than a dozen victims of the Eaton fire blamed sparks from an Edison high-voltage power line for starting the blaze.
In Pacific Palisades, officials were looking at a hiking area called Skull Rock as the potential point of origin, according to published reports. The site was the scene of another fire on New Year’s Day.