LA fire department issues new immediate evacuation
The LA fire department issued a new immediate evacuation order at 7pm local time on Friday for the Palisades fire. It affects the following areas:
It covers Sunset Boulevard north to Encino Reservoir and from the 405 Freeway west to Mandeville Canyon.
The area was previously under an evacuation warning, but it is now an immediate evacuation order.
Earlier, US officials declared a public health emergency due to the the California fires.
The LA department of public health said it had declared a local health emergency and issued a public health officer order in response “to the widespread impacts of the ongoing multiple critical fire events and windstorm conditions”. The order applies to all areas of Los Angeles county.
In a statement, the department said:
The fires, coupled with strong winds, have severely degraded air quality by releasing hazardous smoke and particulate matter, posing immediate and long-term risks to public health.
It advises anyone who must go outside for long periods of time in areas with heavy smoke or where ash is present to wear an N95 or P100 mask.
Even as firefighters battle to save Los Angeles from wildfires, city officials continue to argue over the impact of a large budget cut last year on the fire department’s ability to contain the fires.
Writing on Bluesky late Friday night, Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia took fire chief Kristin Crowley’s side. Mejia pointed out that although salaries for firefighters were increased late last year, a city budget cut of $17 million had forced the department to eliminate 61 civilian support positions.
Speaking to CNN on Friday night, Crowley said the cut did “negatively impact our ability to carry out our mission.”
“The $17 million budget cut, and elimination of our civilian positions, like our mechanics, did, and has, and will continue to severely impact our ability to repair apparatus. So with that, we have over 100 fire apparatus out of service. And having these apparatus, and the proper amount of mechanics, would have helped.”
“Seeing City officials in the press ignore the severe impacts of these budget cuts, especially the ones covering for their poor budget decisions to cut a majority of departments’ budgets & even AFTER Chief Crowley told them about the impacts these cuts have had, is DISGRACEFUL,” Mejia wrote.
“BTW, what’s not being talked about is that Chief Crowley requested $914,975,620 for this current fiscal year’s budget which started last July. INSTEAD, the Fire Department got $819,637,423, a budget cut of $17,553,814 from their prior year’s adopted budget of $837,191,237.”
The Palisades fire has grown by about 2,000 acres as firefighters struggle to halt the blaze’s encroachment on the Brentwood and Encino neighborhoods of Los Angeles, where the University of California Los Angeles and the Getty Center are on high alert.
The fire, which started the day at 21,596 acres, grew to 23,654 acres late Saturday afternoon, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection. The fire remains 11% contained.
California governor Gavin Newsom has launched a website aimed at addressing misinformation around the Los Angeles area wildfires.
“There is an astonishing amount of mis- and dis-information being spread online – much of it by so-called leaders and partisan media outlets who seek to divide this country for their own political gain,” Newsom said. “It breaks my heart that families in Los Angeles don’t just have to worry about the fires but also this malicious disinformation as well.”
CaliforniaFireFacts.com, a branch of Newsom’s own website, includes information about water availability, forest land management and LA’s fire department budget.
On Saturday, Newsom also took to denouncing various social media posts from platforms like NewsMax and Fox News, and figures like Elon Musk.
“This is false. Oregon has courageously sent CA some of their best firefighters and equipment — all have been here for days fighting these blazes. To say otherwise is not only incorrect, it’s offensive to the brave men and women who are fighting on the frontlines right now,” he wrote in one post.
Firefighters deployed from Mexico have arrived in Los Angeles, according to the California governor, Gavin Newsom.
In a social media post, Newsom shared footage of a military plane bearing a Mexican flag arriving at Los Angeles international airport. “California is immensely grateful to our neighbors’ support in the fight against the wildfires in Los Angeles,” the governor wrote.
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the country would deploy firefighters and first responders to California in a press conference Friday morning.
“We are going to provide support. Not only because the people and government of Mexico have always been generous, but also because there are many Mexicans in this area of the United States,” she said.
“I feel very happy,” one of the Mexican firefighters told NBC News from the tarmac while readying to deploy. “It’s a pleasure to be able to help all our countrymen and also our neighboring country.”
A longtime Malibu resident, artist and surfer Randall Miod, who was known among friends as “Crawdaddy” or “Craw”, has been identified as a victim of the Palisades fire.
Miod, 55, had lived in a house he nicknamed the Crab Shack, which he shared with his cat The Bu, since 1993.
“He loved Malibu. That was his life,” friend Corina Cline told the Washington Post. “He wasn’t rich. He lived in that little red shack that was kind of run-down.”
“[His home] was his prized possession. That’s the one and only house he ever owned,” his mother, Carol Smith, told CNN. “He just felt so blessed to be able to live in Malibu. That was his dream come true because he’d been surfing since he was a teenager.”
His determination to protect the home led him to stay even after the fires began, Smith said. She added that detectives had found human remains in the home as they inspected the burn zone.
At least 11 people have died in the wildfires surging across the Los Angeles area. As local law enforcement scramble to identify victims and inform their families, details are emerging about seven of the Los Angeles residents killed in some of the worst wildfires to hit the western city in its history.
Residents have organized a donation center including free food at a gas station on the Altadena-Pasadena border.
In an interview with CalMatters, one of the residents who identified himself as George said he had set up the center to receive donations and to donate to people:
Newsom doubles national guard deployment to Los Angeles
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has doubled the deployment of the state’s national guard to Los Angeles amid the wildfires there.
In a statement on Saturday, Newsom announced that he had increased the state’s national guard personnel to 1,680, doubling the number of guards on the ground.
We are continuing to rush in resources to rapidly respond to the firestorm in Los Angeles fueled by hurricane-force winds. The men and women of the California national guard are working day and night to help Los Angeles residents during their greatest time of need. We are grateful for their continued bravery and commitment to be of service to others.”
So far, California has mobilized more than 12,000 personnel including firefighters, guard service members, highway patrol officers and transportation teams to help fight the fires.
Moreover, the response efforts include more than 1,660 pieces of firefighting apparatus, including more than 1,150 engines, more than 60 aircraft, dozers and more than 100 water tenders to aid in putting out the fires.
Both Canada and Mexico have sent firefighters to help Los Angeles fight the blazes.
In a post on X, Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said of the volunteer group: “We are a country of generosity and solidarity.”
Meanwhile, the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, sent crews, aircraft and equipment from Canada to southern California to help battle the fires.
