Containment of Palisades, Eaton fires continue upward trend while winds expected to die down

Containment of the Eaton and Palisades fires continued its trend of gradual increases overnight — and with offshore winds weakening, firefighters may have an opportunity for bigger gains on Thursday, Jan. 16.

The Palisades fire, burning in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Topanga and Mandeville Canyons, inched upward to 22% containment.

Neither fire has grown in size in the last two days, with the Palisades fire standing at 23,713 destroyed acres and the Eaton fire at 14,117, according to Cal Fire.

A red flag warning remained in effect for the western San Gabriel Mountains until 3 p.m. Thursday, signaling dangerous weather for fires. That warning was dropped for all other parts of Los Angeles County at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 15.

Both fires have been burning since Jan. 7 and started during an uncommon windstorm that brought peak wind gusts of 100 mph in some parts.

They’ve wreaked neighborhoods, combining to damage or destroy more than 12,000 structures, officials have said. They have claimed at least 25 lives, with urban search and rescue efforts continuing Thursday to see if more have perished.

Firefighters battling the Eaton fire used aircraft on Wednesday to support crews on the northern edge of the fire and utilized data from infrared flights to find and put out hot spots, Cal Fire officials said.

Crews also put ground-based retardant around the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and cleared brush “at strategic locations in La Cañada,” officials said.

“Calmer but dry conditions will build Thursday with some moisture arriving this weekend,” officials said. “Critical fire weather conditions will likely return next week.”

For the Palisades fire, officials said they expected the fire to “remain within the current perimeter with no additional growth anticipated” as weather conditions “return to seasonally normal.”

Crews continued to establish and improve the fire line and extinguish hot spots while constructing containment lines to limit further damage to structures within areas still at risk, officials said.

As of Wednesday, 58 arrests have been made by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Police Department for crimes such as burglary, curfew violations, drone violations and impersonating firefighters or law enforcement officers. That number may have increased overnight and officials were set to announce those totals at an 8 a.m. press conference.

The two agencies, as of Wednesday morning, were also working 42 active missing persons cases, authorities said.

The causes of both fires are unknown, though lawyers and some victims accuse Southern California Edison for the Eaton fire, while a previous, small fire might have ignited the Palisades blaze.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was investigating the trails near Skull Rock in relation to the Palisades fire’s origin and asking anyone hiking there on Jan. 7 to contact the agency by texting ATFLA to 63975 to create a report and describe anything seen, smelled or heard. That site was also the scene of another fire that broke out just after the turn of the new year.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.