Palisades Fire Decimates Neighborhoods, Businesses

Two Weeks After Its Start, Containment Continued to Grow, Some Residents Able to Return

By SARAH SHMERLING and LILY TINOCO

The Palisades fire—which first began on Tuesday, January 7, in the Highlands—had reached 63% containment at press time on Tuesday, January 21.

The fire burned through 23,448 acres in Los Angeles County, prompting evacuation orders across Pacific Palisades, with additional evacuation orders and warnings expanding from Calabasas to Encino, Mandeville Canyon and Santa Monica.

“Firefighters are making steady progress, and officials are reassessing evacuation orders to ensure safe returns,” CAL FIRE wrote on January 21. “Crews are working with utility providers to repair infrastructure and address hazards like fallen trees and downed power lines. The public is reminded to stay vigilant on current fire conditions.”

A Damage Inspections Dashboard, which includes a detailed map of inspected homes, became available on the CAL FIRE website on January 12. At print time, 857 residential, commercial and other structures were damaged, while 6,380 were destroyed.

Some neighborhoods—like the Alphabet Streets—were left decimated in the fire’s wake. It tore through other streets, like Las Casas Avenue and most of Marquez Knolls, especially closer to Sunset.

When it comes to other neighborhoods—like the Huntington—large swaths were leveled, but some streets, closer to Chautauqua Boulevard, had many homes spared.

Many sites, like Getty Villa, Eames House and Thomas Mann house, were reported to be unscathed at press time, while Will Rogers State Historic Park lost several buildings.

As the Palisadian-Post went to print, some stretches of the evacuation order had been opened to residents only, including the Highlands and Castellammare. Areas that were under evacuation order, with no residents permitted entry, at press time included the Village, Marquez Knolls, the Bluffs and Alphabet Streets neighborhoods. Santa Monica Canyon and the Riviera had all evacuation orders and warnings lifted at press time.

“Thank you all for your patience in this long road ahead,” Councilmember Traci Park wrote when people with proper identification were able to return to Castellammare on January 21, “and thank you to our first responders and public works workers that are working around the clock to get Palisadians back into their neighborhoods as quickly and as safely possible.”

The fire prompted a response from multiple agencies, including Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles County Fire Department, Los Angeles Police Department, CAL FIRE, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, National Guard and more. Firefighters were also present from Canada, Mexico and Israel.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

A Do Not Drink notice from Los Angeles Department of Water and Power remained in affect at print time for customers in the 90272 zip code, as well as portions of 90402. An interactive map to determine if an address is part of the notice is available at ladwpnews.com.

“A Do Not Drink Notice is issued when a water system experiences wildfire impacts and may have fire related contamination,” LADWP wrote. “As a precautionary measure, this notice is being issued until test data is available.”

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