On the morning of January 7, the first of Los Angeles’ vast wildfires broke out in a forested area near Topanga State Park on the northwest edge of the city. Conditions allowed the blaze to spread very quickly: 100 mph winds, very low humidity, and a landscape primed to burn after months without rainfall together sent the fire tearing through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, located between Santa Monica and Malibu.
About 40 kilometers away in the Eaton area in Altadena, a second fire broke out. Along with several other smaller fires, the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires have since burned more than 30,000 acres of land in Los Angeles County, destroying thousands of buildings and forcing 130,000 people to evacuate their homes.
As of Thursday morning, conditions in the Los Angeles area continued to present a high risk for blazes starting and spreading. Fires have engulfed entire neighborhoods, and flames are now threatening some of the city’s famous landmarks, including its iconic Hollywood sign. Thousands of firefighters have been working to try to tame the flames.
Several movie premieres—such as those of the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, the Jennifer Lopez vehicle Unstoppable, and Wolf Man, starring Julia Garner and produced by Ryan Gosling—have been canceled due to dangerous conditions. On Thursday, California authorities ordered the evacuation of the Hollywood neighborhood after a fire broke out a few hundred yards from Hollywood Boulevard. The out-of-control situation has also led the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to postpone the announcement of the Oscar nominations by two days.
US president Joe Biden is receiving real-time information on the situation and has offered “all federal assistance needed” to put out the fires. “FEMA—the Federal Emergency Management Agency—has approved a fire-management grant to support the affected areas and help reimburse the State of California for the immediate costs of fighting the fires,” the president said in a statement on Wednesday. The fires have been declared a major disaster by the president.
Despite efforts, the largest fires—Eaton and Pacific Palisades—are still zero percent contained as of Thursday, with firefighters running low on water. Although wind speeds have slowed from their highs of earlier in the week, it’s expected that the fires will continue to spread and cause more devastation. They are already the most destructive in California’s history.