Another fire broke out in the hills above Hollywood Boulevard Wednesday, further burdening overwhelmed firefighters who are already battling multiple fires in Los Angeles.
The latest fire, near Runyon Canyon, was threatening some of the most popular Los Angles tourist hotspots — including the iconic Hollywood sign — as firefighters battled to contain other blazes.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame, meanwhile, was bustling and the streets around the TCL Chinese Theatre and Madame Tussauds were packed with stop-and-go traffic as sirens blared and low-flying helicopters flew overhead to dump water on the flames, which were only about a mile away. People toting suitcases left hotels while some onlookers walked toward the flames, recording the fire on their phones.
Within a few hours firefighters had made major progress. Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott said they were able to keep the fire in check because “we hit it hard and fast and mother nature was a little nicer to us today than she was yesterday.”
The latest fire comes as firefighters in Los Angeles and neighboring communities are battling the Palisades Fire, the Hurst Fire, the Lidia Fire, and the Eaton Fire, the latter of which, has claimed the lives of five people. At least 130,000 people were under evacuation orders.
Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Los Angeles Fire Department captain Sheila Kelliher described the scorched hillsides, “dramatic and apocalyptic.”
Kelliher said she wached winds “whip up to 70, 80, even 100 miles an hour,” further fanning the flames.”
he White House said Thursday morning that President Biden has been briefed “on the latest impacts of the wildfires across Los Angeles.”
“After returning from the memorial service for former President Jimmy Carter, President Biden will convene Senior White House and Administration officials this afternoon for a briefing on the full federal response he has directed to the wildfires,” it added in a statement.
The White House said Wednesday that Biden will no longer travel to Italy and will instead remain in Washington to focus on “directing the full federal response” to the wildfires.
Biden, who was in California during the outbreak of the fires, met with firefighting officials in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Fox News’ Nick Rojas and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
Dr. Cedric Rutland, a physician and national spokesperson for the American Lung Association, told “Fox & Friends First” on Thursday that particles inside the smoke coming from the California wildfires can trigger adverse health effects.
“All of those particles can stimulate the inflammatory response first in your lung. Some of these particles will diffuse across membranes in your lung directly into your bloodstream, increasing your blood pressure, causing other damage across your body,” he continued.
“There were 80 to 100 mile per hour winds the other day and that was affecting a significant number of residents in all of southern California just because of the fires surrounding Los Angeles,” Rutland added. “As a health care provider, I’m getting phone calls in Orange County about people exacerbating from their respiratory illnesses like asthma, like COPD.”
President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday that the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles are exposing the “gross incompetence” of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass.
“Fire is spreading rapidly for 3 days — ZERO CONTAINMENT. Nobody has ever seen such failed numbers before!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Gross incompetence by Gavin Newscum and Karen Bass…. And Biden’s FEMA has no money — all wasted on the Green New Scam! L.A. is a total wipeout!!!” Trump added.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump said on Wednesday.
Fire officials are hoping calmer winds Thursday morning can help them combat the five Los Angeles area wildfires that have prompted tens of thousands of people to evacuate.
Meanwhile, many stories of survival are surfacing. Aaron Samson, 48, was caring for his 83-year-old father-in-law in his Pacific Palisades home when the time came to flee on Tuesday. They had no car, so Samson flagged down a neighbor who agreed to give them and their belongings a ride.
Samson began recording their escape, with flames and smoke surrounding the two as they abandoned a car. While Samson was retrieving a walker for his father-in-law, a woman could be heard screaming in panic as firefighters continued to usher the crowd along.
“We got it, Dad,” Samson can be heard saying over and over again as they evacuated on Tuesday.
“My father-in-law was saying, ‘Aaron, if we are ever in a position where the flames are right there, you just run and leave me here,'” Samson told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
It did not get to that point. They walked for about 15 minutes before, for the second time in a matter of hours, a good Samaritan picked them up, then drove them to safety in Santa Monica.
As raging fires ravage California, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake, wealthy business magnate Elon Musk announced that SpaceX will supply free Starlink terminals to impacted areas in Los Angeles.
He made the announcement when retweeting footage of a reporter crediting Starlink internet service with connectivity.
The reporter said that Starlink is “the only reason we’re able to hear and communicate with you guys right now because there’s absolutely no cell service at all in this whole area.”
Musk has claimed that wildfires in the Golden State could have been prevented, but regulations get in the way of taking steps to prevent the infernos.
“These fires are easily avoidable, but nonsense regulations in California prevent action being taken, so year after year homes burn down and more people die,” Musk declared in a post on X.
Actor and Los Angeles native Dean Cain told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday that the ongoing wildfires in southern California are a “perfect storm of mismanagement and failure of leadership.”
“The Santa Ana winds aren’t new. Fires in this part of California are not new. We grew up fighting them and knowing what was going on,” he said. “What is new is these decades of just absolute terrible leadership, failure to prepare, insane regulations, bureaucracy. It’s crazy and it all came to fruition today.”
Los Angeles’ budget has been in the spotlight following revelations that Mayor Karen Bass cut funding to the fire department last year while prioritizing spending on the city’s homeless population.
When asked by a reporter about the budget cuts on Wednesday, Bass was captured on video remaining silent.
“It’s absolutely stunning. That is an elected official, the mayor of Los Angeles, cannot answer a direct question in the middle of an absolute emergency,” Cain said in reaction to the video. “That is the kind of failure of leadership that I’m talking about.”
FOX Business’ Breck Dumas contributed to this report.
An aid organization tending to those impacted by the devastating California wildfires says emergency medical equipment and “essential medications” are their greatest needs.
“Right now the greatest need for those impacted by the wildfires are really emergency medical equipment – so they need PPE, personal protective equipment – and all of the things that you wouldn’t necessarily think about in a fire,” Direct Relief Emergency Response Manager Aaron Rabinowitz told “Fox & Friends First.”
“They need absolutely essential medications and also the daily medications,” he continued. “What we are seeing right now are people who are… leaving their homes and cut off to their daily supply of medications.”
“Things that are part of a daily routine, but if you don’t have access to them everyday, they suddenly can become life-threatening,” Rabinowitz also said.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, speaking late Wednesday at a news conference regarding the wildfires, appeared to tell residents to visit the website “URL” if they need help.
“Make no mistake, Los Angeles will rebuild stronger than ever. Right now, if you need help, emergency information, resources and shelter is available. All of this can be found at URL. Los Angeles together is how we will get through this,” Bass said while reading off a script.
The mayor has been facing criticism for being in Ghana for a presidential inauguration there when the fires broke out in her city on Tuesday.
When Bass returned to Los Angeles on Wednesday, she remained silent after being asked by a reporter, “Do you owe citizens an apology for being absent while their homes were burning?”
The City of Los Angeles’ website says fire updates and evacuation orders are being provided by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Actor and longtime Los Angeles resident Zachary Levi expressed strong criticism as California battles devastating wildfires, urging state leaders to be held accountable and describing the situation as “very personal” to him.
“This is the most devastating fire in Los Angeles history,” a visibly shook-up Levi told “Jesse Watters Primetime” Wednesday night. “My family’s from Ventura, California. I grew up there most of my life, and then I was in L.A. for 15 years.”
He further compared the devastating wildfires on the news to “watching a post-apocalyptic war film.”
Levi stated why he believes California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the state’s leadership should be held responsible.
“This is just incredible mismanagement, incredibly poor leadership. I would go so far as to saying that it’s criminally negligent because, I mean, Gavin Newsom has been either the governor for five years or lieutenant governor prior to that for eight, nine years, some of the worst fires we’ve ever had in California under that watch. He clearly knows that the biggest problem that we suffer in California are these fires. And, by the way, the mudslides that follow,” Levi explained.
Thousands of firefighting personnel are currently battling the multiple wildfires in Los Angeles County, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
“More than 7,500 firefighting personnel are on the ground working with local and federal partners to respond to California’s ongoing historic wildfires,” he wrote late Wednesday on X. “Listen to local officials and be ready to evacuate if you’re near impacted areas.”
Newsom added that the deployment includes more than 1,100 fire engines, 31 helicopters and 53 bulldozers.
“For the second night in a row, firefighters will be working through the night battling blazes in Los Angeles,” Mayor Karen Bass also wrote on X. “On behalf of a grateful City, we thank you.”
As of early Thursday, the two largest fires in the region – the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire – remain 0% contained, according to Cal Fire.
The announcement of nominees for the 97th Academy Awards has been delayed due to the ongoing wildfires across Los Angeles County, a report says.
The nominees will now be revealed on Jan. 19 instead of Jan. 17, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer said Wednesday in a letter to members, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Voting for the nominations reportedly was extended by two days as well, to Jan. 14.
“We want to offer our deepest condolences to those who have been impacted by the devastating fires across Southern California,” Kramer was quoted as saying. “So many of our members and industry colleagues live and work in the Los Angeles area, and we are thinking of you.”
More than 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures have been damaged or destroyed and at least five people are dead as multiple wildfires are raging Thursday in Los Angeles County.
The two largest fires – the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, and the Eaton Fire centered around the city of Pasadena – remain 0% contained and have burned nearly 30,000 combined acres.
Cal Fire is reporting some containment with the smaller Hurst Fire and Lidia Fires, while the Sunset Fire, which erupted near Hollywood Hills Wednesday night, appears to be under control, according to authorities who spoke to Fox News.
At least 130,000 people in the region are under evacuation orders. More than 200,000 people are without power early Thursday, according to the website Poweroutage.us.
A Red Flag Warning is currently in effect for Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, as there is “potential for rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior,” the National Weather Service said.
Wind gusts in the region are forecast to reach speeds of up to 55 mph Thursday.
Los Angeles City and County officials also are expected to hold a news conference at 11 a.m. ET to provide more information on firefighting efforts.
Rideshare companies Lyft and Uber announced in separate statements that they will be offering free and discounted rides to residents in the affected areas of the devastating fires plaguing Southern California.
The users will be able to travel to and from shelters with critical resources.
Lyft says users can use the code “CAFIRERELIEF25” for a free Lyft ride worth up to $25. Each user can use the code for two rides maximum.
“Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the wildfires in California,” said Lyft Social Impact Manager Celia Moreno. “At Lyft, safety is our top priority. We’re closely monitoring the evolving conditions and staying in touch with our drivers, riders, and local officials. Lyft is committed to providing access to reliable transportation, especially in emergencies to support communities in need.”
Uber released a similar offer saying users can redeem a free ride up to $40 by applying the promo code “WILDFIRE25” in their Uber app when requesting a ride to a designated shelter location.
Each user can redeem two free trips until Jan. 15.
Shelters being valid at this this time for free Uber rides include:
Pasadena Civic Auditorium – 300 E. Green St, Pasadena
Westwood Recreation Center – 1350 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles
El Camino Real Charter High School – 5440 Valley Circle Blvd., Woodland Hills
Ritchie Valens Recreation Center – 10736 Laurel Canyon Blvd, Pacoima
Southern California Edison (SCE), a power company that services 15 million people across Southern, Central and Coastal California, said the weather conditions in Los Angeles County are too unsafe for power to be restored for the hundreds of thousands experiencing outages.
The company said customers may experience several days of outages as the windstorm and wildfires have made it too unsafe for electric power restorations. An estimated date for restorations was not given.
“This extreme weather event is a rapidly evolving situation. While the most severe winds have started to abate, this weather is expected to continue through the early part of the weekend,” SCE said in a news release.
As of 4 p.m. on Wednesday, 413,639 SCE customers were experiencing power outages and 453,872 were under a Public Safety Power Shutoff watch.
While SCE’s coverage area does not include areas impacted by the Palisades and Hurst wildfires, it does include areas impacted by the Eaton Fire, which has claimed five lives since it began on Tuesday afternoon.
“SCE has transmission facilities on the east side of Eaton Canyon. SCE’s distribution lines immediately to the west of Eaton Canyon were de-energized well before the reported start time of the fire, as part of SCE’s Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) program,” the company said.
The Los Angeles Fire Department reported that the majority of the evacuation zone for the Sunset Fire has been lifted.
The listed exceptions to the lift include the area North of Franklin Ave from Camino Palmero St (East border) to N Sierra Bonita Ave (West border) due to LAFD ensuring that no flare-ups occur in the vegetation and surrounding streets.
Officials are urging residents to be cautious when returning to homes as the firefighters continue to work in the neighborhoods.
