UPDATED 10:20pm, 1/8/2025
The Palisades and Eaton Fire were both active today. Both fires made major advances last night, and throughout the daylight hours, today, and with the exception of some growth to the north on the Palisades Fire, the fires largely burned out previously unburned areas and consumed structures within their morning footprints.
Lookout Livestream Evening Report
Palisades Fire
The Palisades Fire started yesterday around 10:30am in the summit area above Pacific Palisades. It moved quickly downhill, driven by high NE winds and ample amounts of fuel within an area which has not seen major fires in the past 30 years. It was immediately pretty much into dense neighborhoods, and firefighting was difficult in part because of poor access, in part because evacuating traffic slowed the ingress of firefighters after tying upmajor thoroughfares including Palisades Drive and Sunset Boulevard. Over the next 20 hours or so, the Palisades Fire spread all the way up to Malibu, stopping only when it hit the barren scar of the November 2024 Franklin Fire. The fire has burned all the way to the Pacific Coast Highway, from Malibu to Santa Monica. Large portions of the City of Pacific Palisades are completely leveled. The true scale of damage is yet to be revealed, but some smokey aerial photos show a landscape reminiscent of Lahaina or Paradise after their catastrophic fires. We’ll have satellite imagery in next couple days to see the carnage in greater detail.
Fire-mapping planes were grounded last night due to high winds but good mapping was captured today, and we share these perimeters, below. The mapping is several hours old, now and might not really reflect how far the fire has spread into Santa Monica. Satellite heat detections from early this afternoon, and webcams, show the most active remaining parts of the Palisades Fire are on the north side of the fire, where spread is fairly slow as the flames back into the continuing N/NE winds. Fire is moving up towards Topanga, which may be impacted by fire once the offshore winds switch back to prevailing westerlies. Winds are a lighter today than yesterday, but there are not a lot of control lines currently existing on the north side of the fire.
Eaton Fire
The Eaton Fire was very active overnight on Tuesday, and it pushed significantly into Altadena and down towards Pasadena. It’s burning unchecked up in the Angeles National Forest, and portions of it have hit the 2020 Bobcat Fire, which may slow it down. The fire will burn into the 15 year-old footprint of the Station Fire as it moves north. This may or may not slow it down in the backcountry. The Eaton Fire has also been extremely destructive, taking out whole neighborhoods. Here are detailed maps from this evening, captured at 6:30pm, 1/8/2025.
Other Fires
There is a new fire above Hollywood that we don’t have much information on. My gut feeling is that it will get picked up before it grows into a real problem.
Another fire, we don’t have much info on, is the Hurst Fire near Sylmar. It is burning in a 5 year-old burn scar and also is probably done being a major problem.
Weather Outlook
Forecast Discussion for Los Angeles ECC Dispatch
420 PM PST Wed Jan 8 2025
…RED FLAG WARNINGS IN EFFECT FOR LOS ANGELES COUNTY AND MUCH OF
VENTURA COUNTY—SEE TIMINGS IN HEADLINES BELOW…
…RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FOR SANTA BARBARA MOUNTAINS INCLUDING
EASTERN SANTA YNEZ RANGE UNTIL 6 PM WEDNESDAY…
All Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) statements have been expired, however regular Red Flag Warnings remain in effect. Gusty offshore winds and low humidities will continue through Friday for Ventura and Los Angeles Counties. Through Thursday morning, north to northeast wind gusts of 30 to 55 mph will be common across typicalthe typical Santa Ana wind locations, strongest across themountains and foothills. Thursday afternoon into Friday morning, winds will increase with gusts of 30 to 40 mph across coasts and valleys, and 50 to 60 mph gusts common across mountains and foothills with isolated gusts up to 70 mph possible across the highest peaks. Winds will peak Thursday evening into early Friday morning, however will not be as expansive nor as strong as this previous event. Humidity levels of 10 and 20 percent are expected, potentially lowering into single digits in some areas into Friday. Long duration Red Flag Warnings are in effect for much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Friday, however the Warnings for Santa Barbara Mountains will expire on time this evening.
Weak to moderate offshore flow will continue Friday evening into Monday, with the potential for a moderate to strong Santa Ana wind
event Monday into Tuesday.
We’ll get back up here in the morning to give you an update. If you want more fire lore, check out our other videos and check out the archives here on the-lookout.org.
Cover photo by Michael Steinberg.