See Photos of Devastating Palisades Fire in California
Simmone Shah
·4-min read
The Palisades Fire burns a residence in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, on Jan. 7, 2025. Credit - Ethan Swope—AP
More than 100,000 residents have been forced to evacuate Los Angeles County as wildfires continue to tear through the region Thursday. The Palisades Fire, which was first reported at 10:30 AM PST on Tuesday, was fanned by wind gusts of up to 60 MPH into Tuesday night. It is now one of five active fires in the area..
As of Thursday morning, the fire had multiplied in size, spread to at least 17,234 acres and was 0% contained, with an expectation that its going to spread due to the strong Santa Ana wind gusts and low humidity fueling the fires.
The second-largest fire, the Eaton fire, was reported by CalFire on Tuesday evening, and had spread to 10,600 acres by Thursday morning. Firefighters are also currently battling the Sunset Fire, Hurst Fire, and Lidia Fire.
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The fire has burned through homes and businesses in the Pacific Palisades, including the Will Rogers’ historic ranch house. The Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire have destroyed more than 2,000 structures as of Thursday morning, according to the Associated Press. In Los Angeles County, just over 215,000 customers were without power, according to Poweroutage.us.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who declared a state of emergency Tuesday night, said early Wednesday morning that the state had deployed over 1,400 firefighters to the region to fight these “unprecedented fires.” As of early Wednesday morning, no fatalities had been reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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