PinnedA man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of starting the Kenneth Fire, according to Charles Dinsel, senior lead officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
The suspect was detained by members of the community in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Woodland Hills, Dinsel told NewsNation, before police arrived.
"It's being investigated as a crime," he said.
Among seven confirmed fatalities from the devastating Los Angeles-area wildfires, four were identified Thursday.
Rodney Nickerson, 82, died at his home in Altadena after telling his family he felt comfortable waiting out the Eaton Fire.
Victor Shaw, 66, also stayed at home to try to save the house he shared with his sister. He was found holding a garden hose in his hand.
The potential economic loss and damage from the catastrophic wildfires burning in Southern California is estimated between $135 billion and $150 billion, according to updated numbers from AccuWeather on Thursday.
The media company's previous estimate was between $52 billion and $57 billion. The preliminary damage estimate includes both insured and uninsured losses and damage to property, wages, infrastructure, supply chain interruptions, and other disruptions.
“These fast-moving, wind-driven infernos have created one of the costliest wildfire disasters in modern U.S. history,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said in a statement.
The newly erupted Kenneth fire burning near Calabasas in the West Hills of Los Angeles County has grown to 791 acres, according to the latest update from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The fire has spread toward the southwest and is encroaching residential areas in the Santa Monica Mountains near Gates Canyon Park, the incident map shows.
Mandatory evacuation orders are in effect for the neighborhood, which includes an elementary school.
Vice President Kamala Harris canceled her final planned foreign trip in response to the Los Angeles County wildfires on Thursday.
The vice president was scheduled to visit Singapore, Bahrain, and Germany from Jan. 13 to 17. She said she hoped to close out her term by addressing U.S. foreign policy challenges and thanking U.S. servicemembers overseas. Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, was expected to join her on the trip.
Harris lost her presidential bid against former President Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20.
Los Angeles County accidentally issued an emergency evacuation order to all residents Thursday afternoon.
The alert was meant only for those living in the area directly around a new fire that erupted Thursday afternoon in the West Hills area, according to officials.
“I have been informed, the evacuation warning that many of us just received on our phones was mistakenly issued countywide due to a technical error,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn posted on X just after 4 p.m. Thursday.
Another blaze, known as the Kenneth Fire, erupted in Los Angeles County at about 2:39 p.m. on Jan. 9 in the West Hills area near Victory Boulevard.
The fire started near Ventura County, with initial reports of a small 20 acre burn that quickly grew and is spreading through the hills near a heavily populated residential area.
Officials ordered evacuations a little after 4 p.m. for all residents from Vanowen south to Burbank Blvd., between County Lane Road east and East Valley Circle Blvd.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detectives are trying to locate additional people who may have died in the Palisades and Eaton fires but have been hampered for safety reasons, according to Sheriff Robert Luna.
Luna confirmed five deaths between the Palisades and Eaton fires.
Homicide detectives are trying to access all the burned homes to search for additional bodies, but have been delayed because of the ongoing fire and wind conditions, he said at an afternoon press conference.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna has requested the assistance of the California National Guard to help with the Palisades and Eaton fires.
For the last 24 hours, about 400 guard members have been ready to support the fire. They are expected to be on site as soon as Thursday night, Luna said at an afternoon press conference.
The request was made through the sheriff’s department, which is working with the Los Angeles Police Department and other regional police departments.
The federal government will cover all eligible costs associated with California’s efforts to suppress the wildfires currently ravaging the state for 180 days, President Joe Biden said at a Thursday press briefing at the White House.
On Wednesday, he issued a major disaster declaration for California, where the blazes have burned more than 29,000 acres and killed at least five people.
The state has also secured grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to combat the smoldering Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst fires.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell is on the ground in Los Angeles as the city continues to fight historic wildfires.
Criswell joined LA Mayor Karen Bass at the command post for the Palisades Fire, which has burned more than 17,000 acres since Tuesday and remains completely uncontained.
“Thank you to the Biden Administration for your commitment to support Los Angeles not just as we combat these fires but as we rebuild from this disaster,” Bass said in announcing Criswell’s arrival in a social media post on X.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that his country is ready to send hundreds of firefighters to help California battle the wildfires.
“Canada is mobilizing to help fight the wildfires in southern California,” Trudeau announced on social media platform X on Jan. 9. “Canadian water bombers are already in action. 250 firefighters are ready to deploy.”
Trudeau shared a video of one of the Canadian water bombers in action, with the caption “neighbours helping neighbors.”
California Assemblyman Bill Essayli sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom on Jan. 8, urging him to put aside partisan politics and call a special session of the state Legislature to address wildfire mitigation.
“Now is not the time for political posturing or spending millions to 'Trump-proof' California,” Essayli wrote in his letter. “Instead, it's time to take significant action to fireproof our state.”
He said that the four wildfires burning in Los Angeles county “are emblematic of California’s ongoing wildfire crisis.”
The Southern California wildfires that have killed at least five and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the area are expected to leave lasting economic damage of more than $150 billion, a new report suggests.
According to an updated estimate from AccuWeather, the major wildfires that have blanketed the Los Angeles area with thick clouds of smoke and ash could create economic losses between $135 billion and $150 billion.
Paris Hilton is left heartbroken after losing her Malibu home amid the ongoing wildfires sweeping across Southern California, but is using her tragedy to help others in similar scenarios.
Taking to social media on Jan. 8, the 43-year-old said she learned of her loss by watching her home burn down on live news coverage of the devastating fires with a reporter surveying damage along the Pacific Coast Highway.
The Los Angeles Unified School District has confirmed its schools and offices will remain closed on Jan. 10 as wildfires continue to rage across the county.
“The confluence of factors—wind, fire, and smoke—have created unpredictable, complex situations that present potentially unsafe conditions for our school communities,” the district said in its press release on Jan. 9.
This marks the third day that the schools will be closed, following the destruction of Marquez Charter Elementary and Palisades Elementary Charter in Pacific Palisades, and significant damage dealt to Palisades Charter High School.
Firefighters have now fully contained the Sunset Fire in Hollywood Hills, according to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
“Thanks to the bravery and collaboration of our [Los Angeles Fire Department], the #SunsetFire is fully contained,” Bass reported in an update on the social media platform X.
“If you are returning home, please drive SLOWLY and watch the road. Firefighters are still working in some damaged areas.”
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her family will donate $1 million to help California rebuild once the flames have been extinguished.
“My husband and I and our children have pledged $1 million from our Family Foundation to start a fund of support for our great city and state and the great people who live and love there,” Curtis announced via her Instagram account on Thursday.
“I’m in communication with Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass and Senator Schiff as to where those funds need to be directed for the most impact.”
The NBA has postponed the basketball game between the Charlotte Hornets and the Los Angeles Lakers scheduled for Thursday night as Los Angeles continues to burn.
The game was slated to take place at the Crypto.com Arena, about 13 miles from the spot in Hollywood Hills where firefighters are working to extinguish the Sunset brush fire.
The date for the rescheduled game has yet to be announced.
Growth of the deadly Eaton Fire burning east of Los Angeles in Altadena and Pasadena has slowed, but the Palisades Fire spread to 17,200 acres by Thursday morning, according to fire officials.
The two massive and destructive fires continued to burn and remained uncontained, fire officials reported.
Firefighters took advantage of a break in strong winds on Tuesday night, slowing the expansion of the Eaton Fire, which was mapped at about 10,600 acres on Thursday morning.
Nearly 420,000 Southern California customers remained without power on Thursday as fires continued to burn amid strong Santa Ana winds.
In Los Angeles County, more than 213,000 customers were without power, according to poweroutage.us.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reported 90,700 disconnections, while more than 4,000 in Glendale and 1,700 in Pasadena were without power.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said California has made only a “few requests” for military aid in fighting the fires, though his department is prepared to assist as needed.
“We stand ready to surge capability in as quickly as possible,” Austin said at a press conference in Germany.
“I’ve done some things to cause our troops to get in a three-point stance to make sure that ... if the whistle blows, we are ready to move in and provide assistance.”
Catastrophic fires are still burning in Pacific Palisades and the Pasadena area east of Los Angeles, and they have destroyed much of the infrastructure in the communities, Los Angeles County Director of Public Works Mark Prestrella said Thursday morning.
“It’s an absolute tragedy,” Prestrella said.
The county is continuing to assess fire-damaged neighborhoods and communities and is focusing on the recovery of these areas, according to Prestrella.
Nearly 180,000 Los Angeles County residents are under mandatory evacuation orders as firefighters battle several fierce wildfires raging in Southern California.
Another 200,000 are under evacuation warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a Thursday press conference.
The county issues mandatory evacuation orders to residents facing an immediate threat to their lives. Warnings are issued when there is a potential threat to life or property.
The death toll from this week’s catastrophic fires has not yet been determined, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
“Right now, we frankly don’t know yet,” Luna said at a news conference Thursday morning.
Officials said five people had died in the Eaton Fire by Wednesday, although the sheriff said the preliminary numbers he was getting from ground crews about how many had died could be incomplete.
The destruction wrought by a massive wildfire threatening lives and homes in Los Angeles’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood is of historic proportions, according to Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristen Crowley.
“It is safe to say that the Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” Crowley said at a Thursday morning press conference.
The Palisades fire is by far the largest of several brush fires currently torching Southern California, engulfing a staggering 17,234 acres. The fire remains completely uncontained since it first sparked on Tuesday.
Some 20 people have been arrested for looting and other crimes amid the devastation wrought by the wildfires razing Southern California, Los Angeles County officials said on Thursday.
“In the midst of the emergency, we've all seen individuals who are targeting vulnerable communities by burglarizing and looting homes. This is simply unacceptable,” Kathryn Barger, chair of the county’s Board of Supervisors, said at a morning press conference.
“Shame on those who are preying on our residents during this time of crisis,” Barger said, assuring that offenders would be held accountable.
Universal Studios Hollywood and Six Flags Magic Mountain both announced they are closed on Jan. 9.
“Out of an abundance of caution, Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal CityWalk will be closed on Thursday, January 9 as a result of the extreme winds and fire conditions,” the theme park announced on social media platform X.
Universal Studios Hollywood was also closed on Jan. 8 with the initial expectation that it would open the next day.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused President-elect Donald Trump of politicizing the ongoing wildfire crisis after the incoming president blamed his leadership for the fires currently raging through the Los Angeles area.
The governor praised President Joe Biden’s response to the wildfires.
A slew of wildfires circling the Los Angeles area on multiple fronts got closer to the heart of the U.S. movie industry on Thursday as a new fire erupted in the hills near Hollywood, prompting the Biden administration to direct the Pentagon to act.
“The federal government is working closely with the National Guard, which is deployed under [California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s] state of emergency declaration,” DOD spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters.
Elon Musk confirmed on social media platform X that SpaceX will provide free Starlink terminals to the areas around Los Angeles affected by the wildfires.
“SpaceX will provide free Starlink terminals to affected areas in LA tomorrow morning,” he wrote on Jan. 9 in response to a local Fox News clip crediting Starlink for its ability to maintain on-the-ground coverage of the disaster.
The Los Angeles fires is the latest disaster in which Starlink terminals will be provided, following previous deployments during hurricane season, including in areas of Florida and North Carolina after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
The Los Angeles City Fire Department (LAFD) has lifted all evacuation orders related to the Sunset fire in Hollywood Hills West as of 7:30 a.m. PT on Jan. 9.
“The closed section of the Sunset Fire, area North of Franklin, will be OPEN and all evacuation orders LIFTED,” the fire department said in an update.
“We will still have LAFD companies working in the area and ask you to be careful while returning to your homes.”
The source of the initial sparks for each fire is yet to be determined, but environmental factors are being blamed for their rapid spread across the greater Los Angeles area.
Supersized Santa Ana winds—which is an annual weather phenomenon in Southern California but is occurring later and later—whipped up the flames and embers at speeds reaching 100 mph across the region.
The winds were also affected by the recent dip in the jet stream, which brought colder temperatures to the eastern portions of the country.
President Joe Biden will address the nation on Thursday concerning the wildfires razing Southern California.
“This morning, I was briefed on the latest impacts of the Los Angeles wildfires. And later today, following President Carter’s service, I will convene my team for another briefing, and deliver remarks to the nation regarding our response,” Biden announced Thursday morning in a social media post.
Biden received a briefing from local, state, and federal officials at a Santa Monica fire station on Wednesday as the fires blazed through the surrounding area. He returned to Washington to attend former President Jimmy Carter’s memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral.
Los Angeles continues to burn as firefighters work to contain several wildfires that sparked over the last two days, scorching tens of thousands of acres.
Here’s what to know about the fires:
A total of 130,000 people have been ordered to evacuate or prepare to evacuate their homes due to the wildfires, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said on Wednesday.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) warned residents on Tuesday that evacuation orders had been issued due to an immediate threat to life. The orders were described as lawful directives requiring residents to leave immediately. Cal Fire said the affected areas have been closed to public access.
The so-called fire weather, meaning high winds, dry vegetation, and low humidity, is set to continue into Friday.
The City of Santa Monica issued an emergency order late Wednesday night instituting a sunset-to-sunrise curfew in areas where evacuation orders are in effect.
“The Palisades Fire is currently impacting neighborhoods in the northern part of Santa Monica with approximately 2,472 households under a mandatory evacuation order within the city of Santa Monica and 8,338 under a voluntary evacuation warning,” Mayor Lana Negrete said in a statement posted to social media. “This emergency order further assists our first responders and further protects residents as we weather this regional crisis and, ultimately, begin and support recovery efforts.”
Other measures instituted by the order include allowing schools to temporarily operate within non-residential zones and prohibition of price gouging for emergency and recovery goods and services.
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) has lifted most of the evacuation orders brought in as a precaution after the Sunset Fire broke out late on Wednesday afternoon.
Flames were first reported in Runyon Canyon in the Hollywood Hills at about 5:30 p.m., with the fire nearing several iconic Tinseltown landmarks, such as Hollywood Boulevard, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Comedy Store, and the Hollywood Bowl.
The area was evacuated shortly before midnight.
Several A-list actors have lost their homes due to the wildfires sweeping through Los Angeles.
A house belonging to Adam Brody, star of The OC and Nobody Wants This, and his wife, Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester, as well as another home owned by comedian and actor Billy Crystal, were among some 1,000 properties gutted by the blaze in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis, singer Mandy Moore, and former California First Lady Maria Shriver were among more than 100,000 people forced to evacuate to escape the flames ripping through some of the most sought-after real estate in the United States.
After meeting Wednesday with first responders battling unprecedented wildfires currently devastating Southern California, President Joe Biden canceled plans to travel to Italy this weekend, citing the need to focus on the evolving crisis.
The president made the decision to forego what would have been his last international trip before his term ends this month “to remain focused on directing the full federal response in the days ahead,” his press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Biden issued an emergency declaration for the state after meeting with Gov. Gavin Newsom, approving the flow of federal dollars to impacted residents.
As four massive fires engulf Los Angeles, critics are blaming the government for putting lives, homes, and businesses at risk.
“Our first priority is the protection of life, which means a lot of times we’re evacuating people and making sure people get out safely,” said Digiovanna, a former fire chief in Monrovia, part of Los Angeles County.
As wildfires continue to ravage communities across the county, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) announced Wednesday it will close all of its schools and facilities Thursday, citing the continued unpredictability of the crisis and persistent dangers—including multiple active fires and air quality conditions.
“After ample consultation with leaders, after clear examination of the data available and entering a second night of this crisis, it is prudent to announce that all schools across Los Angeles Unified will be closed tomorrow effective immediately,” LAUSD Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said at a press conference Wednesday evening.
“We were hoping conditions would significantly improve, that winds would subside, that the number of active fires would decrease … that there would be a degree of stabilization.
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