LA fires live: Wildfires rage on as officials defend response and dogs search for victims – BBC.com
Four wildfires are currently burning around Los Angeles, with two others now described as being containedThe largest of them is spreading east and now threatens the wealthy neighbourhood of Brentwood – where new evacuation orders have been issuedAt least 11 people have been killed so far and 13 others are missingThe disaster has also led to more than 12,000 homes and other structures being destroyed since TuesdaySenior officials, including the mayor and fire chief, have defended their preparations and response to the firesA forecast for more strong winds, predicted to last until Wednesday, has raised fears the blazes could spread further This video can not be playedPlane drops fire retardant over Los Angeles firesEdited by Adam DurbinFollow the latest developments on the wildfires burning across southern California.We’re pausing our live coverage of the wildfires in Los Angeles for now. Here are the latest major updates on a constantly evolving situation:If you’d like to keep up to date on the fires ravaging LA here’s our latest story.We’ve also compiled some of the most striking images of the destruction, loss and heroism in the city we’ve seen so far.More dramatic images have emerged in recent hours of the fires raging across LA, the destruction they have wrought and the response. Here’s a small selection:Firefighters from across the country, as well as from Canada and Mexico, continue to battle the infernos – including the Palisades Fire, the largest blaze still burningAs the fire changes course and evacuated areas become accessible once more, the scale of the destruction in some neighbourhoods is becoming clearVolunteers have mobilised across the region in order to help the tens of thousands of people who have been displacedAerial vehicles are being used to dump water or other substances on the fires but some are not close to being containedWe’ve just been listening to an update on the Eaton Fire from LA County officials.It’s now more than 14,000 acres and 15% contained, they say, adding that 7,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed. LA County fire chief Anthony Marrone also speaks about the weather forecast over the coming days, which he says will create “elevated critical fire weather conditions” until Wednesday.There will be moderate to strong Santa Ana winds for the next few days, he adds.As a reminder, Santa Ana winds are a unique weather phenomenon in LA that bring strong and gusty east or north-easterly winds blow from inland towards the coast.The dry winds not only create the conditions for wildfire development, but they can also be responsible for the scale of destruction that follows. Kelly ChaseReporting from Los AngelesWe meet another dog Shay, who was recently adopted from Pasadena Humane Society and is now back here.“All of us who work here know her and love her and were so excited to see her adopted. So it’s hard to see her back here even in a temporarily situation, ” Kevin McManus tells me.Shay has been forced to temporarily return to the shelter she was adopted from recentlyOver in the cat wing, a couple race in frantically looking in each kennel. “She’ll be okay, she’ll be okay,” the husband keeps repeating like a mantra. They are looking for their cat Aurora, who is an indoor-outdoor pet so they are hoping she escaped. Trenette Cooper and her husband visited several shelters and even snuck back up to their burnt out home.“We lost everything but we just want our cat,” she tells me. People have been dropping off supplies at a steady clip: food, water, collars, crates, bowls, beds and blankets. Pasadena Humane says they’ve received donations from as far away as Europe and Brazil. These supplies will go to people who need them and will also be sent home with the pets after they are reunited with their owners.“It’s the best gift we can give – here’s your dog who was safe with us. Here’s a crate, here’s some food.”Kelly ChaseReporting from Los AngelesThe sound of barking fills the air as you approach the
Pasadena Humane Society. They’ve taken in at least 450 animals of all sorts
since the wildfires broke out in California: dogs, cats, exotic animals, horses – and even some goats and pigs. Most of the animals here are being looked after for their
owners, for free, as they try to figure out their path forward. Some could be
here for months to come.“The loss of a home, you can rebuild. You can’t rebuild a
family if you lose a family member or pet,” Kevin McManus from the organisation tells me. The initial wave of dogs came from people escaping the
fires. But as animal rescue workers are allowed to search burned out
communities, the injured are starting to arrive. “We had a dog who was found in a burnt building who was
thankfully still alive. He was in rough shape, had some burns,” McManus says. He tells me they were able to reunite the dog with their
owners, but that their family home is gone. So the dog will remain here receiving
treatment until they can figure out what to do. Regan MorrisReporting from Los AngelesNestled in the Santa Monica Mountains, just above the Pacific Ocean, Topanga Canyon is a beloved artists’ haven now surrounded by fire.Authorities in Los Angeles and the surrounding area have urged people to heed mandatory evacuation orders, warning of the likely fatal risks of failing to do so. But many Topanga residents have defied these orders, saying they want to defend their homes and help each other.“We are the renters. We are the artists, the musicians, the surfers,” says Derek Mabra, while rushing to deliver food and supplies to his neighbours. “I can barely afford to live in this neighbourhood but I would do anything to save it.”Mabra started the Heat Hawks – a group of local volunteers dedicated to fighting small fires with hoses, spades and saws.A carpenter by trade, he already had many of the tools. Another resident worked on film sets and showed up with 50 walkie talkies to help everyone stay in touch.The local library in Topanga has working Wifi and has become a hive of activity for the volunteers, who send video and photo updates, share vital information and offers to help.”The mood is very sombre,” 67-year-old Alice Husum, texted me today while sending photo updates. “Smoke is getting darker and winds have kicked up.”Of the four major fires burning across Los Angeles, the largest is the Palisades fire covering more than 22,000 acres. The fire is expanding east and authorities have responded by issuing new evacuation orders, including for parts of the Brentwood area.It’s a quintessential upscale LA neighbourhood, with tree-lined streets and Italian eateries. It’s also home to the world-famous Getty Center art museum, which has now been evacuated.The Encino and Mandeville Canyon communities are also under threat.We heard a little earlier that nearly 4,000 personnel are trying to control the blaze, and 11% of it is contained.LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said earlier today aircraft are helping with a “relentless air attack” on the blaze, which expanded by over 1,000 acres overnight. A local official has put pressure on Donald Trump to visit Los Angeles.In a letter shared on X asking the president-elect to make the trip, LA County supervisor Kathryn Barger cites Trump’s visit during his first term when the area was experiencing another wildfire in 2018.She praises his administration’s response at the time, which she says allowed for “rapid deployment of federal resources” to aid the city.Barger says Trump’s “presence would be deeply felt and appreciated”, adding that he could help support LA residents and thank “our heroic first responders, who have risked their own lives to save others”. Trump is yet to commit to visiting LA, despite local calls for him to do so. In an earlier media conference, LA’s mayor told reporters she had not heard from Trump or his presidential transition team. Some officials hope his presence would help speed up the allocation of federal resources to the response.American technology journalist Taylor Lorenz has been speaking about the role TikTok has played in keeping people in LA up to date during the fires.Lorenz, who appeared on the BBC News channel from Dubai earlier, said she had been using it to stay abreast of updates in her hometown. She said the platform prioritises showing users content which was produced locally to them, meaning it had become a “lifeline” and “essential tool” for some people searching for tips on things like finding donation points, sourcing protective masks and other advice for getting through the crisis.Yesterday, reports indicated the Supreme Court is leaning towards upholding a law which would see TikTok blocked in the US over national security concerns, unless its Chinese owner ByteDance sells the company before it comes into force on 19 January.Lorenz said she expects the ban to go ahead, telling the BBC she believes the US government “doesn’t seem to care about the essential role TikTok plays in our information eco-system”.”I think it’s going to be devastating for a lot of people when it goes away.”Wildfires are tearing through Los Angeles, forcing thousands to flee to safety and destroying many people’s homes and livelihoods.Rescue efforts are ongoing as the firefighters work tirelessly to contain four active fires in the hills around the city. Helicopters have been deploying water to contain the growing Palisades Fire near Encino Hills, an area that’s been placed on evacuation ordersThousands of firefighters are also working on the ground to contain the spreadSome of the fiercest battles against the spreading flames are taking place in the Mandeville Canyon areaSmoke enveloping much of the the city has prompted warnings for people to remain indoors over worsening air qualityThe world-renowned Getty Center (pictured above in 2005) is now under a new evacuation warning zoneThe Palisades Fire, which grew by 1,000 acres overnight, has been moving east and begun to threaten several more areas.Among them is the wealthy neighbourhood of Brentwood – home to the world-famous Getty Center art museum, which has now been evacuated. It is one of the most visited art museums in the US and it is believed that most of its vast collection is well-protected from the wildfires. The largest fire, Palisades, is moving eastwards towards the Getty Center’s neighbourhood of BrentwoodThis it is not the first time the art museum has come under threat by a fire. Back in 2019, the Getty Fire burned through more than 700 acres in the same Brentwood area. At the time, the Getty Center wrote extensively about the strength and resilience of its infrastructure, which it said was designed and built back in 1997 to be “a marvel of anti-fire engineering”.To back such a claim the museum claimed its architecture and landscaping “were designed with fire prevention in mind”, meaning the buildings were made using “highly fire-resistant stone, concrete, and protected steel”.And to keep its art safe, the museum wrote back in 2019, art galleries, library and artwork storage areas all have “state-of-the-art features that make them the safest possible place for art and archives during a fire”.Quoted by the New York Times newspaper more recently, a spokeswoman said on Saturday that the museum has not sustained any damage from the fire – although the active Palisades Fire has meant an evacuation order is in place.As we’ve just reported, the number of active incidents around Los Angeles has been lowered to four. But those ongoing fires are still very significant in size and evacuation orders remain in place, as they continue to rip through and threaten many residential areas.A senior fire official told reporters earlier that the Palisades Fire in the west grew by 1,000 acres overnight, meaning it is now at 21,000 acres. It has been 11% contained. As a result, evacuation orders remain in place for large parts of the region covered by the fire – including one recently issued for the Brentwood and Encino areas.Speaking to the the LA Times newspaper, head of the Encino neighbourhood council Josh Sautter says “people were completely freaked out” as evacuation orders sent a wave of panic through the community.The Eaton Fire, hitting the north of the city, is said to be 15% contained – up from 3% yesterday. It currently covers over 14,000 acres of land.Most of those in Altadena and some in Pasadena threatened by Eaton – particularly in the neighbourhood of Hastings Ranch – have also been ordered to evacuate their homes. Evacuation orders have also been extended to those in Sierra Madre and in Arcadia.We’ve just received this footage of an aircraft loosing thousands of gallons of fire retardant on the hills around Los Angeles.The specialist planes are dropping the bright-red liquid on the surrounding hills and scrub to put out fires and prevent them from spreading further. As our North America correspondent John Cudworth writes, the firefighting aircraft are working alongside water-carrying helicopters to try and hold back the flames from reaching populated areas. Watch the video below:This video can not be playedWe can now bring you the latest from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which says there are four active fires in Los Angeles – down two from earlier. The current active incidents are the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Kenneth fires. The earlier fires raging through Los Angeles were Archer and Lidia, which have now been contained, according to the latest update. Three other blazes – Sunset, Woodley and Olivas – had already been contained.Here’s what we know on the containment levels of each of those still spreading:Click here for context on what firefighters mean when they describe a wildfire as being “contained”.John SudworthNorth America correspondent, in Los AngelesI’m just off Mulholland Drive, up in the hills above Los Angeles in one of this city’s most exclusive neighbourhoods.Right now though it’s the scene of a relentless battle against this latest flare up of the Palisades Fire. We can see the aircraft coming in, in wave after wave, with the helicopters hitting the burning trees and scrub with up to 3,000 gallons of water at a time – refilling their tanks for fresh runs in the nearby Encino Reservoir. They have been joined by giant planes bombarding the area with payloads of bright-red fire retardant.The firefighters are throwing everything at it and for now – they do seem to be holding the fire at bay.Mexico’s president shared a picture of the rescue workers preparing to departMexican firefighters have been deployed to Los Angeles to help bolster efforts to contain the fires.Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, earlier posted a picture of dozens of emergency service personnel in front of two transport aircraft on X – who she said were poised to leave. “You carry with you the courage and heart of Mexico,” she wrote. On Friday, it was reported that another group of Mexican firefighters had already arrived, though it was unclear how many.As we’ve reported previously, Canada has also sent aid to LA, including planes capable of dumping vast quantities of water or other fire retardants onto the flames.The mayor’s media conference has ended, but before it finished Karen Bass was asked whether the fire department is underfunded.In response, she says her focus is on steering LA through this emergency.Bass is also asked about the response of Donald Trump and his incoming administration, who is due to be inaugurated as president in just over a week. She says she has not heard from his team about the wildfires. LA Mayor Karen Bass is taking questions now from the media. She is asked about fire chief Kristin Crowley, who has also just spoke at the briefing. Yesterday there were reports that Bass had called Crowley into a meeting to sack her.Bass responds by saying they are in “lockstep” to solve the crisis, and “if there are differences that we have, we will continue to deal with those in private”.Crowley herself says the pair are “on the same page” and they are there to serve the community. © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
